A faculty director of the Office of Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education at De Anza College in Cupertino, California, says her contract was not renewed after she questioned the school’s so-called “anti-racism” policies. The diversity director, a black woman, added that she experienced “hostility, harassment, and bullying” after speaking out.
Dr. Tabia Lee told Inside Higher Ed that her contract is being terminated after she questioned antiracist “orthodoxy,” objected to the college’s land acknowledgments for an Indigenous tribe, and tried to bring a “Jewish inclusion” event to campus.
Lee added that additional reasons for her contract not being renewed by the college included her declining to join a “socialist network,” refusing to use the terms “Latinx” and “Filipinx,” and inquiring why the word “black” was capitalized but not “white.”
The former diversity director, who is black, added that an employee in her diversity office accused her of “white speaking,” “whitesplaining,” and supporting white supremacy.
Lee is now receiving support from the nonprofit organization, Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), and says she is not ruling out filing a lawsuit against the college.
“I encountered a lot of hostility; a lot of resistance to me even asking questions,” Lee told FAIR of her experience after she asked questions about De Anza College’s “anti-racism” language.
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"When I began to question [certain DEI initiatives in my workplace]…FAIR was instrumental in protecting me so that I could continue to…serve our California community colleges and keep them as safe spaces for academic freedom & freedom of expression."
– Tabia Lee pic.twitter.com/xmQNbZn7Je
— Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) (@fairforall_org) January 15, 2023
The former diversity director added that FAIR has helped her as she “navigated hostility, harassment, and bullying by people who have adapted a neo-reconstructionist ideology of anti-racism.”
“When I began to question and just merely ask about those things, I experienced tremendous and extreme ostracization,” Lee said.
“People have literally attacked me just for doing what I always taught my students to do, which is to think critically, to respect diverse opinions and viewpoints, and to exercise their own freedom of expression,” she added.
“When people cannot question Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, it threatens our democracy,” Lee affirmed.
A Foothill-De Anza Community College District spokesperson told Breitbart News that “Without commenting on any specific matter, we can share that faculty members have comprehensive due process and appeals rights both under the law and negotiated through their bargaining unit.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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