{"id":7736,"date":"2023-12-14T19:12:09","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T20:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=7736"},"modified":"2023-12-14T21:07:50","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T21:07:50","slug":"will-challenges-dei-mandates-at-university-of-wisconsin-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=7736","title":{"rendered":"WILL Challenges DEI Mandates at University of Wisconsin Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/will-challenges-dei-mandates-at-university-of-wisconsin-campus\/\">https:\/\/will-law.org\/will-challenges-dei-mandates-at-university-of-wisconsin-campus\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_0 et_section_regular\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_0\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_3_4 et_pb_column_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_0  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n<h1><strong>UW-La Crosse forces students to accept divisive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ideology in clear violation of the First Amendment<\/strong><\/h1>\n<div><strong>The News:\u00a0<\/strong>The Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty (WILL) and the Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) are preparing a legal challenge against the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse for denying a conservative group, Young America\u2019s Foundation (YAF), a student organization designation.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>In violation of the First Amendment, UW-La Crosse is denying the group\u2019s designation because the student organization rightfully refuses to sign onto a \u201cDEI\u201d inclusivity statement that opposes YAF\u2019s values.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>The Quotes:\u00a0<\/strong>Dan Lennington, WILL Deputy Counsel stated, \u201cWe are now seeing the fruits of UW\u2019s radical DEI agenda: students forced to adopt UW-approved beliefs before receiving benefits. This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment. Make no mistake, WILL is ready to challenge discriminatory DEI policies everywhere and anywhere. The school must correct this action, or we are prepared to take further legal action.\u201d\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>James Kerwin, Senior Counsel at MSLF stated, \u201cUniversities are supposed to be havens for free inquiry and expression.\u00a0\u00a0But, like many schools nationwide, UW is going in the opposite direction: outlawing speech and trying to force dissenters to shut up and tow the party line. YAF and MSLF are having none of it.\u00a0\u00a0Government actors like UWL have no business whatsoever telling YAF or any other student group what beliefs it must have and what positions it must take on social issues.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong style=\"font-size: 16px\">Additional Background:\u00a0<\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px\">UW-La Crosse is withholding recognition of YAF as a student organization unless YAF adopts a so-called \u201cinclusivity statement\u201d\u2014a document riddled with recitation of certain political and social policy positions dictated by UW. Some of these statements include a commitment to advancing the interests of individuals who lack \u201cdocumentation\u201d to be legally present in the United States and requiring student groups to state their opposition to the enforcement of valid immigration laws currently in the United States.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>The University is also demanding students to promise that they are \u201ccommitted to\u2026 addressing issues of equity and justice,\u201d through race-conscious policymaking in the university setting and at a broader social level. Such policies are contrary to Supreme Court caselaw, which demands equal treatment of all Americans.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>About Mountain States Legal Foundation:\u00a0<\/strong>WILL is proud to partner with MSLF, a non-profit law firm dedicated to restoring those rights enshrined in the Constitution. MSLF is focused on protecting property rights and economic liberty, defending the right to keep and bear arms, championing free speech and association, and upholding the principle of equal protection. From their headquarters in Colorado, MSLF litigates crucial cases across the nation at every level\u2014even all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>About Young America\u2019s Foundation:\u00a0YAF is the leading organization for young conservatives. With more than 60 years of experience and contacts on more than 2,000 campuses, YAF helps students find support, promote conservatism, and take action. Former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is the President of YAF.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>Read More:\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023.12.14-Letter-to-K-HutsonUWL-DEI-Statement-YAF-Denial.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-link-type=\"web\">Our Letter<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/UW-La-Crosse-Resolution-to-mandate-a-diversity-and-inclusion-statement-in-student-organizations-bylaws7.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-link-type=\"web\">Resolution to Mandate DEI Statement from UW-La Crosse<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_4 et_pb_column_1  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et-last-child\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_team_member et_pb_team_member_0 clearfix  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_team_member_image et-waypoint et_pb_animation_off\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"617\" height=\"980\" src=\"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WILL_Daniel_Color_003_WEB_980x617_100ppi_Sharpened.jpg\" alt=\"Dan Lennington\" class=\"wp-image-9999\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_team_member_description\">\n<h4 class=\"et_pb_module_header\">Dan Lennington<\/h4>\n<p class=\"et_pb_member_position\">Deputy Counsel<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>dan@will-law.org<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<ul class=\"et_pb_member_social_links\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DanLennington\" class=\"et_pb_font_icon et_pb_twitter_icon\"><span>X<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/will-challenges-dei-mandates-at-university-of-wisconsin-campus\/\">WILL Challenges DEI Mandates at University of Wisconsin Campus<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\">Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at https:\/\/will-law.org\/will-challenges-dei-mandates-at-university-of-wisconsin-campus\/ UW-La Crosse forces students to accept divisive Diversity, Equity,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7736"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7738,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7736\/revisions\/7738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}