California State University’s 23 campuses require nearly all students to complete at least one DEI or “cultural competency” course to graduate. A review by Do No Harm found that these mandatory classes—often framed around systemic oppression, intersectionality, and critical race theory—stand in sharp contrast to the University of California system’s recent rollback of DEI mandates.
Course titles illustrate the ideological focus: San Francisco State offers “Queer Crip Lit,” which examines literature through ableism, racism, and transphobia, and “Decolonize Your Diet,” which links food justice to gendered labor and racism in communities of color. Humboldt State requires two DEI courses, including “Decolonizing Public Health.” Cal State East Bay explicitly teaches white supremacy and intersectionality, while Northridge allows DEI classes to replace foreign-language requirements.
Critics, led by Do No Harm’s Laura Morgan, call out the mandates as taxpayer-funded indoctrination that turns students into activists rather than scholars. Cal State’s own style guide discourages terms like “male/female” and “prehistoric” to avoid offending certain groups, and even basic courses such as oral communication now include “rhetorical sensitivity” to equity and inclusion.
A separate state law already requires an ethnic studies course, yet most campuses layer additional DEI requirements on top. Sacramento State’s president recently spoke of wanting to “eliminate whiteness” in campus practices.
Discussion about this post