FGCU to host ‘Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Week’ training

FORT MYERS, Fla. (FLV) – Florida Gulf Coast University’s Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance will host a “promoting equity” workshop on March 29.

The event is headlined around a “Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion” – or DEI – “Inclusion Week,” which the event page said is March 27-31.

“Adapted from W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz’s Do the Work! Workshop will entail understanding your role in promoting equity in your neighborhood through self reflective exercises that encourage using your personal experiences, expertise, and connections to promote equity,” the event description said.

It will take place online via Zoom.

FGCU told Florida’s Voice that no employees are required to attend the training and that no employees will be taught their skin color causes them to be ‘oppressed’ or ‘oppressor.’

The university, which is taxpayer funded, has a dedicated DEI office.

“Florida Gulf Coast University is committed to developing capacities for living together in a democracy whose hallmark is individual, social, cultural, and intellectual diversity,” the website said. “It fosters a climate and models a condition of openness in which students, faculty, and staff engage multiplicity and difference with tolerance and equity.”

“FGCU is a school where diversity is embraced. Diversity is part of FGCU’s mission statement, and as such, we truly believe in creating and fostering an environment that is not only diverse but inclusive for all,” it said.

“FGCU does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, sex, gender identity/expression, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status, or genetic predisposition,” the office’s page said.

The Florida Legislature is currently taking up a proposal that would effectively end DEI and critical race theory agendas and “bureaucracy” at public universities.

FGCU said that they do not comment on pending legislation, like the proposal on DEI.

It would prohibit expenditures that promote, support, or maintain any programs or campus activities that support diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as CRT.

Additionally, the bill, which was filed by Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, forbids universities from using diversity, equity, inclusion statements, and CRT filters as part of the hiring process.

The bill also specifically prohibits any federal or state funds from being used to promote programs at universities that include “preferential treatment or special benefits to individuals on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or religion.” 

FGCU has been caught up in multiple controversies on anti-conservative bias in instruction and promoting critical race theory.