BIRMINGHAM — The Alabama Republican Party (ALGOP) passed a resolution supporting legal efforts to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and bureaucracies and mandatory diversity training in public universities and other public institutions.
During its meeting on Saturday morning in Birmingham, the party approved the resolution, during which they also elected new leadership.
According to the resolution, DEI policies — which proponents claim promote the representation and participation of different identity groups — do not fulfill their alleged purpose. Instead, they "have actually stifled intellectual diversity, prevented equal opportunity and discriminated against anyone who dissents from these policies."
"The state of Alabama is committed to ending discrimination in all its forms," the resolution reads. "Critical to this commitment is the obligation to treat citizens equally as individuals … as part of this commitment, the state of Alabama is dedicated to providing higher education equally to all people, promoting fair treatment and full participation of all people and will not discriminate in admissions or employment at public institutions of higher learning."
Now that the resolution has been adopted, a copy will be sent to the Republican members of the Alabama Legislature and the U.S. Congress, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and other Republican office holders, clubs and coalitions within the state.
"One of the number one issues I hear from people across Alabama is concern about our education system, and the values we are teaching our children," ALGOP chairman John Wahl said in a statement to 1819 News. "That concern ranges from teaching elementary school children about transgender lifestyles, to institutes of higher education undermining traditional values and American free market principles. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs may have started out with good intentions, but they have become a tool being used to socially engineer our students. We all want to respect diversity, and fighting for equal rights has been an important value of the Republican Party since our foundation, but the vast majority of DEI programs do not accomplish these goals. In fact, they usually do the exact opposite, they divide us and indoctrinate our children with woke policies that do not represent our Country or our culture."
"The Republican Party's resolution is pretty simple," he added. "Stop indoctrinating our students with liberal bias while calling it Diversity, Equity and Inclusion."
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email will.blakely@1819news.com or find him on Twitter and Facebook.
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