Dan Morenoff testified in a hearing titled Restoring Excellence: The Case Against DEI.
I appreciate the Committee allowing me to contribute to its consideration of the status of so-called “DEI” in higher education. Below I briefly summarize existing law, its incompatibility with certain institutional norms across higher education, and steps the current Administration is taking to address those inconsistencies, before turning to the need for Congress to act to codify those steps and to ensure federal law never again promotes the very discriminatory practices it prohibits.
I. THE LINCOLNIAN CONSTITUTION
The Founding Fathers gave us the great American Experiment, but the refounders of the post-Civil War period crafted the legal architecture of modern America. Their work (writing and ratifying the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, as well as passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and more) redefined the relationship between the states and the federal government. More, it formally committed our nation at both the state and federal levels to a shared national citizenship and the equal protection of the law.
Dan Morenoff is the executive director and secretary of the American Civil Rights Project.
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