The United States Air Force Academy in Colorado has removed the “Diversity and Inclusion Studies” minor from its official list of “majors and minors.”
The minor was available on the website as late as Jan. 9, but as of Jan. 24 is no longer being offered.
An archived version of the Diversity and Inclusion Studies minor page states that the program was designed to “[p]repare cadets to lead inclusively within a diverse organization, act responsibly in a diverse society, and meet cross-cultural challenges in a diverse world.”
The program was meant to help students “[a]nalyze, synthesize, and apply a broad range of theories of, and methodologies for, the critical study of diversity and inclusion, including how diversity and inclusion change in varied historical and social contexts.”
Courses that were a part of the minor included “Gender, Sexuality, and Society,” “Diversity and Security,” and “Gender and Sexuality in History.”
The page for the minor is no longer available, except in archived form. Air & Space Forces Magazine confirmed its closure.
The group Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) filed a lawsuit against the Air Force Academy on Dec. 10, alleging that the institution’s consideration of race in its admissions process violates the equal protection principle of the Constitution.
The lawsuit states: “The United States Air Force Academy is one of the American military’s premier institutions and the most prestigious source of commissioned officers in the Air Force. It is also one of the last remaining universities to expressly consider race as a factor in admissions.”
SSFA contends that the Academy “has no justification for using race-based admissions.”
This legal action follows the Supreme Court’s decision in June 2023 that prohibited race-conscious admissions policies in civilian universities but did not explicitly address military academies.
High-ranking military officials have promoted the ideology of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within the armed forces.
For example, General Charles Q. Brown Jr., the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been a prominent advocate for DEI within the military.
[RELATED: Students for Fair Admissions takes U.S. Naval Academy to court over affirmative action]
In a 2020 interview, Brown spoke of how DEI considerations play an important factor in his hiring decisions: “All of us have to seek out those diverse candidates to bring them in. That’s what we’re trying to do in the Air Force.”
He added that “I purposely build my office . . . my team [to be] diverse. . . . I hire for diversity.”
The Air Force Academy seemingly dropping this minor mirrors a similar occurrence at the United States Military Academy at West Point, which also recently removed its Diversity and Inclusion Studies minor from its website.
An anonymous Academy official confirmed to Campus Reform that the Academy has ended its Diversity and Inclusion Studies minor.
Twitter/X: @womackche
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
