Wokeness By Any Other Name

     Would wokeness by any other name small as odious? The University of Tennessee is trying to find out by replacing their “Division of Diversity and Engagement” to “Division of Access and Engagement” because too many people have noticed that “diversity” is a Leftist dog whistle for discrimination and exclusion.

“The UT System’s Division of Diversity and Engagement, which is tasked with promoting diversity, equity and inclusion across all campuses, will soon be renamed as the ‘Division of Access and Engagement’ in an effort to better reflect the division’s mission, as well as move away from some potentially divisive terminology.

“Those who work within the division are responsible for ensuring that campus environments remain inclusive and accessible for all students, faculty and staff of the university. This work is meant to promote ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ and is more often referred to simply as DEI. In the past, DEI has been instrumental in the uplifting of minority groups, who may otherwise lack a voice.”

     And they come right out and say that the name change was because the good people of Tennessee increasingly oppose “DEI” and it’s insidious agenda.

“According to Guy Harrison, the newly-appointed director of DEI for the School of Journalism and Media, the move is an effort to detract attention from state politicians who have begun to take issue with discussions of diversity in recent years.

“‘We are in a very ultra-conservative state, and there are political actors who would completely do away with DEI, whether it’s the title or the work that we do,’ Harrison said. ‘And this kind of protects us from them a little bit. But I wish it wasn’t necessary … we shouldn’t need to whitewash the word diversity out of things, just not to alarm certain people.’”

     And what was the deciding factor? The prohibition on the state pushing woke “divisive concepts”.

“This comes more than a year after alarms began to be raised statewide surrounding discussions of race and gender on higher education campuses, due to the passing of Tennessee bill SB 2290, often referred to as the ‘Divisive Concepts’ bill.

“With vague and overly complex language, the law has effectively disseminated fear and confusion across state campuses, worrying faculty about what is and isn’t acceptable to teach in classrooms as the political landscape of the nation continues to shift.”

     This should serve as a warning to those opposed to the “DEI” agenda (which more honestly stands for “discrimination, exclusion, and inequality”) that the people who believe in wokeness and the Leftist ideology are still there and still pushing their indoctrination—they simply got ahead of themselves and pushed too strongly on a society that still wasn’t ready yet.

     All they will do is start working sub rosa again, and work to make the population more receptive to their proscribed truth.

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