Arizona public universities are not properly teaching American civic courses as outlined by state guidelines, according to a report.
The Goldwater Institute recently released a report showing that Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona are incorporating elements of diversity, equity and inclusion into their teaching of American Institutions civic courses.
The report said the Arizona Board of Regents requires these schools’ American Institutions courses to “prepare graduates to pursue careers or advanced degrees, and participate fully as informed citizens in a robust constitutional democracy based in values of individual freedom, self-reliance, and equality under the law, and constructive dialog through civil discourse.”
Timothy Minella, the Goldwater Institute’s director of higher education, told The Center Square that all three Arizona universities are “utterly failing to adequately educate students on American history and American civics.”
The Center Square reached out to the three universities, but they did not respond before press time.
The universities should be required to abide by Arizona state law regarding civics instruction because “part of the historical mission of these institutions [is] to not only prepare students for careers, but to prepare them for thoughtful citizenship,” according to Minella, who authored the report.
At these schools, many of the classes students take don’t look like they will feature DEI or identity politics curriculum, but, when examined more closely, they show “the language and ideology of DEI being inserted into civics,” Minella said.
ASU and NAU claim to have “robust” civic requirements, Minella said, adding that the report shows this is not the case.
They are “pushing DEI and identity politics under the guise of civics,” he said.
At ASU, available courses that meet the American Institutions requirements include “Anthropology of American Democracy” and “Social Services Perspective of Government.”
The report said the class “Anthropology of American Democracy” focuses on “the claim that American society oppresses certain groups.” In the class “Social Services Perspective of Government,” the report found that only four of the 11 units covered topics such as federalism and state constitutionalism.
Of the classes offered at Arizona State University for American Institutions, the report said 59% of them don’t meet American Institutions’ requirements.
At Northern Arizona University, the report said the school offered classes for American Institutions courses such as “Sociology of Chicanx and Latinx Communities” and “Indigenizing Museums and the Art World.”
According to Minella, the University of Arizona has not established courses for American Institutions as part of its general education program.
The school said it will implement a civic requirement in the fall of 2026, but Minella said the Goldwater Institute obtained syllabi for these courses and found that they “are completely inadequate.” He cited the focus on identity politics rather than America’s foundational principles.
Minella said it is “completely unacceptable” for UA to be doing this after having years to work out what it needed to do to meet the state’s guidelines. According to Minella, the school “utterly failed.”
To help address the concerns of Arizona’s public universities not following the state’s teaching guidelines, Minella told The Center Square that the Arizona Board of Regents and state Legislature “should consider withholding appropriations for the universities until they get their act together.”
Furthermore, the Arizona Legislature is considering passing House Concurrent Resolution 2044, a proposed constitutional amendment that would go before the voters in November if approved.
Minella described HCR 2044 as eliminating “mandatory DEI coursework in general education programs of Arizona public universities.”
HCR 2044 is a “very important step the Legislature needs to take in order to make it clear once and for all that mandatory DEI is wasteful and does not advance the education of students in Arizona,” Minella said.
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