ASU Professor Challenges Mandatory DEI Training in Arizona Supreme Court
Owen Anderson, a philosophy and religious studies professor at Arizona State University (ASU), has petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to allow his legal challenge against the university's mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training. Anderson claims that ASU's DEI training violates an Arizona law that prohibits state agencies, including universities, from requiring employees to participate in training that assigns blame or judgment based on race, ethnicity, or sex. A lower court previously ruled that Anderson lacked legal standing to challenge the policy, stating that the statute does not provide a clear private right of action for individuals. Anderson, represented by the Goldwater Institute, argues that without an implied private right of action, the regulatory body, the Arizona Board of Regents, which controls university policy, would be solely responsible for enforcing a law it may be violating. 
