Report Finds DEI Courses Required for Graduation at Two-Thirds of Colleges Surveyed

A Speech First report cited by Campus Reform found that 165 of 248 colleges reviewed require students to complete a diversity, equity and inclusion course before graduating.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

A new report found that roughly two-thirds of colleges and universities surveyed require students to complete diversity, equity and inclusion-related coursework in order to graduate.

The findings, reported by Campus Reform, were based on a Speech First report that reviewed general education requirements at 248 institutions. According to the report, 165 of those schools, or 67%, require at least one DEI course as a condition of graduation.

DEIReport by yourNEWS Media

The report said 33% of the colleges reviewed did not offer DEI courses. Among the schools with DEI course requirements, 59% were public universities and 41% were private institutions.

Speech First said its review found students were being directed into required courses that, according to the organization, promoted left-wing ideological perspectives and political advocacy. The findings come amid continuing debate over the role of DEI in higher education and whether such requirements conflict with federal efforts to remove DEI policies from schools.

Speech First Executive Director Cherise Trump told FOX Business that the organization began examining graduation requirements after hearing from students about DEI-related programming on campus.

“We had heard about some of the trainings through freshman orientations and some of the online modules,” Trump said. “But we had not heard that you have to take full semester-long courses in order to graduate, so we wanted to look more into this, and that’s when we started digging.”

One example cited in the report was Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit institution, which offered a course titled “Bad Catholics.”

According to the course description, “The goal of this course is to explore contemporary voices of loyal dissent in the catholic church.”

“The course will begin by exploring questions of teaching and authority, belief and dissent, and belonging and ‘cancel culture’ from theological and philosophical perspectives. We will then explore voices of dissent from Feminist theologians, Black and Latinx liberation theologians, Queer theologians, and Eco-theologians,” the description states. “These four areas of dissent demonstrate the plurality of discourse among contemporary Catholic theologians and the struggle over orthodox belief and right practice that takes place under asymmetrical power relations.”

The report adds to a broader national dispute over DEI programming in education, with critics arguing that such requirements amount to political instruction and supporters of DEI initiatives saying they are intended to broaden student understanding of identity, history and institutional access.

Speech First’s findings indicate that DEI-related coursework remains embedded in graduation requirements at many colleges and universities despite political opposition and federal efforts aimed at reducing DEI policies in education.