Diversity Done Wrong: The Unjust Firing of Dr. Tabia Lee

Dr. Tabia Lee joins ACTA’s Michael Poliakoff and Steve McGuire to unpack her shocking story of being fired from her position as the faculty director for the Office of Equity, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education at De Anza College in California. As Erec Smith (another recent guest on Higher Ed Now) stated on the Cato Institute’s website, Dr. Lee’s transgression was “asking questions about DEI initiatives, fighting for viewpoint diversity, and upholding classical liberal values.”

Smith went on to write, “For these alleged transgressions, Dr. Lee, a black female academic. . . was denied tenure and relieved of her duties. As I’ve similarly experienced, Dr. Lee is being punished for being ‘the wrong kind of black person:‘ one dedicated to classical liberal understandings of equality, individualism, reason, and free speech. The fact that a black person can be accused of perpetuating white supremacy for upholding these tenets and basically abiding by the same understanding of diversity indicative of the Civil Rights Movement should be the last straw for those discouraged and disquieted by contemporary diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and a wake up call for those encouraged to implement such initiatives.”