Idaho Republican Explains 'Diversity' Is Bad For America, Because Cows

Devin?

Republicans in the Idaho legislature have been mad about diversity lately, after the interim president of Boise State University said in a June newsletter that diversity and inclusion were good things, and outlined a few things the university was doing to promote a diverse student body and faculty. A rightwing group, the Idaho Freedom Foundation, angrily denounced the newsletter as a shocking attempt to "pander to leftist ideologues with radical views of 'inclusivity.'"

That was followed by a letter written by state Rep. Barbara Ehardt informing BSU's incoming president Marlene Trompf that the newsletter was "disconcerting" because it didn't "reflect Idaho values." Twenty-seven other Republican House members signed on to Ehardt's letter, which listed a whole bunch of diversity things that are definitely not good for Idaho, because as anyone knows, diversity is actually very divisive and racist!

This drive to create a diversified and inclusive culture becomes divisive and exclusionary because it separates and segregates students.

Ehardt thinks all sort of things are "segregation," and "antithetical to the Idaho way," among them,

• Support for multicultural student events including Pow Wow, Rainbow Graduation, Black Graduation, Project Dream, etc. instead of helping all students;
• Six graduate fellowships for "underrepresented minority students" instead of merit-based awards;
• A gender-based violence community-coordinated response team, instead of letting the police handle the matter;

She's also very upset about the suggestion that instructors should waste "valuable time assessing the proper use of names and pronouns" when college should instead only involve "educational pursuits that lead to a career." Fortunately, she stopped before insisting that if a student has some weird foreign or ethnic name that's hard to pronounce, instructors should just substitute a name of their preference.

The letter was also very bothered by other insanely lavish spending on "diversity," like these:

• $25,000 to be allocated to departments to expand their searches through additional media advertising to attract a more diverse pool of candidates;
• $30,000 from Student Affairs to support multicultural student events, including Pow Wow, Rainbow Graduation, Black Graduation, Project Dream;
• A program that forces Boise State students to financially support the food pantry, housing, emergency loans to students, and more—even as they struggle to pay for their own tuition!

Why, yes, that would be out of a total FY 2019 Boise State University budget request of over $234.5 million. Clearly, all that diversity will break the bank. And if you want to get all technical about it, the "segregated" graduation events are open to all, and the students also walk in regular commencement. Somehow, Ehardt and her GOP pals aren't demanding an end to "segregated" commencement events for the School of Nursing, international students, or first-generation college graduates, but give them time. Also, that outrageously expensive food pantry? Completely supported by donations , just l ike Yr Wonkette. 

Since that mid-July letter, BSU students held a rally in support of diversity programs, and not a single kid screamed "death to whitey!" But how would you know, since the demonstration was probably segregated, huh?

On the Republican side, things have gotten even dumber, if possible. At a town hall Wednesday in Twin Falls, Majority Leader Mike Moyle said that, come the next legislative session in January 2020, Republicans will definitely introduce legislation to rein in all this costly, divisive diversity, although he offered no hints as to what it might be. Probably elimination of state funding for any university offices or activities that promote diversity, because this Moyle is all about making cuts.

Then Moyle got weird, explaining there's nothing "racist" about signing on to a letter claiming that diversity is a form of segregation, and pointing out that a university is really a lot like his ranch:

"I've got red cattle out there, I've got black cattle out there. ... It doesn't matter, they're all cattle" he said. "It's really easy to call somebody a racist because they don't like the way the words were written."

How true is this? When we are fattening up young people for their eventual conversion into meat, there really is no reason to pay attention to anything other than whether they are nicely marbled. All credit to Rep. Moyle: That's a terrific description of how college prepares one for the corporate world.

Asked for comment, Rep. Moyle's herd said they knew what he had in mind, and planned to make a break for it like the Polish Freedom Cows. MOO!

[ Idaho Statesman / Idaho Statesman / Twin Falls Times-News ]

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