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Professors, students appeal ruling on Alabama law banning DEI initiatives at public universities

A group of students and professors at public universities across Alabama asked an appeals court to halt an Alabama state law banning DEI initiatives following a July Department of Justice mandate.
The Alabama measure took effect last year and bars public schools and universities in Alabama from using state funds for programs endorsing `divisive concepts`, while permitting classroom instruction given in an `objective manner without endorsement`.
Faculty and student groups reported immediate effects as Dana Patton, political science instructor and plaintiff , said the law forced her to change curriculum and remove material, while last year five students complained, and student affinity groups and Black student publications closed.
U.S. District Judge David Proctor ruled that a professor's academic freedom does not override public universities' control of classroom content and wrote the law `does not banish all teaching or discussion of these concepts from campus or, for that matter, even from the classroom,`.
Plaintiffs' counsel says the law, if upheld, could make universities mouthpieces of the state, risking frivolous probes and limiting professors' ability to present vetted research, Antonio Ingram warned.

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