{"id":122310,"date":"2023-02-13T00:04:36","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T05:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=122310"},"modified":"2023-02-12T23:56:03","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T04:56:03","slug":"university-of-calgary-diversity-chief-calls-conservatives-ignorant-and-racist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/university-of-calgary-diversity-chief-calls-conservatives-ignorant-and-racist\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Calgary diversity chief calls conservatives ignorant and racist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>ANALYSIS:<\/strong> <em><strong>Diversity task force leader does not appear &#8216;inclusive&#8217; to conservatives<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The co-chair of University of Calgary&#8217;s new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucalgary.ca\/equity-diversity-inclusion\/presidential-task-force-edia\/presidential-task-force-edia-membership\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">task force<\/a> has some strong views about conservative activists and Republican politicians, though she is tasked with creating an &#8220;inclusive&#8221; institution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUCalgary is embarking on an initiative to become a more welcoming, equitable, diverse, inclusive and accessible institution, where every member of the campus community can flourish,\u201d the provost\u2019s office wrote in its email to the university community.<\/p>\n<p>The task force is \u201ccomposed of representatives from [the] campus governance bodies and associations\u201d and intentionally includes \u201cvoices from members of equity-deserving groups: women, Indigenous peoples, racialized\/visible minority persons, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQ2S+.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, one co-chair of the task force has some strong views against conservatives, including President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n<p>Malinda Smith, vice provost for DEI and a political science professor, accused DeSantis of \u201cpromoting ignorance\u201d when he decided to reject an experimental African-American Studies Advanced Placement class that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/desantis-reminds-big-education-who-is-in-charge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">included<\/a> lessons on \u201cBlack Queer Studies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPromoting ignorance: Hypocrites advocate unfettered speech+enable hate speech, yet ban African Studies courses, decry antiracism lessons, ban books\u2014Atwood, Maas, Morrison!\u201d Smith wrote. The tweet thread also criticized a school board that decided not to include 21 books in its library.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Welcome to 2023<\/p>\n<p>Promoting ignorance: Hypocrites advocate unfettered speech+enable hate speech, yet ban African Studies courses, decry antiracism lessons, ban books\u2014Atwood, Maas, Morrison!<\/p>\n<p>Madison County School Board bans 21 books from high school library<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UJX5Nw8e1q\">https:\/\/t.co\/UJX5Nw8e1q<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ownx7mF6JN\">pic.twitter.com\/ownx7mF6JN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dr. Malinda S. Smith (@MalindaSmith) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MalindaSmith\/status\/1617174612122664960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 22, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo to euphemisms. The racist mindset bent on renormalizing anti-Black legislated racism,\u201d Smith wrote, along with a link to an article about DeSantis\u2019 decision.<\/p>\n<p>She also accused black\u00a0<em>Daily Wire<\/em> commentator Candace Owens of being a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MalindaSmith\/status\/1504829446036996096\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fascist<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The reversal of <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> in June 2022 also prompted Smith to refer to former President Donald Trump as an \u201cunsavoury person\u201d and imply that Supreme Court justices were deceptive on their abortion jurisprudence views.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-122316\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MalindaSmith.Twitter72.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MalindaSmith.Twitter72.jpg 525w, https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MalindaSmith.Twitter72-342x300.jpg 342w, https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MalindaSmith.Twitter72-456x400.jpg 456w, https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MalindaSmith.Twitter72-125x110.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike the unsavoury person who nominated them, these justices are unlikely to face consequences for deceiving,\u201d the political science professor tweeted.<\/p>\n<p>Five justices voted to reverse\u00a0<em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> but only three were appointed by Trump, while Justice Samuel Alito was a President George W. Bush appointee and Justice Clarence Thomas was appointed by President George H.W. Bush.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReversals, backlash. The judges believe this is what the colonial, slave-owning patriarchy of the past wanted,\u201d Smith wrote. \u201cThe Court has highlighted ongoing need to expose this ugly history &amp; credulous idea that originalists can divine what the originators could never imagine about the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The same day, June 25, she said that the \u201cfar right\u201d was trying to suppress voters. \u201cFar right extremists are mobilized, Activists restrict voting, suppress the votes, control electoral power at municipal, state, federal levels,\u201d she tweeted. \u201cThey work to control all institutions. They are in a \u2018battle\u2019 for hearts and minds.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">On language, power, psyops, dark web, echo chambers:<\/p>\n<p>Far right extremists are mobilized, Activists restrict voting, suppress the votes, control electoral power at municipal, state, federal levels. They work to control all institutions. They are in a \u2018battle\u2019 for hearts and minds <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2gghwe0CVW\">pic.twitter.com\/2gghwe0CVW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dr. Malinda S. Smith (@MalindaSmith) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MalindaSmith\/status\/1540866122517565441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 26, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Smith has not returned a <em>College Fix<\/em> request for comment on her social media activity.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Fix<\/em> reached out to the sponsors of the task force, inquiring about what diversity means to them, if they have considered ideological diversity, what their goals are and what they believe is lacking at the university in terms of diversity.<\/p>\n<p>The University of Calgary\u2019s media team responded and said it did not have anyone available to answer questions.<\/p>\n<p>Among the current 19 members of the task force, one was born in Vietnam, one was born in the United States, at least 12 are white, and four are black. At least one is from Montreal, and one has experience living in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>There are no indications of Indigenous members working with the team, despite the university advertising the task force as one that \u201cencompasses representatives from our campus governance bodies and associations and is intentional in its inclusion of the voices of members of equity-deserving groups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/white-people-need-to-work-on-their-whiteness-sociologist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">White people need to &#8216;work&#8217; on their whiteness, sociologist says<\/a><\/p>\n<p>IMAGES: Malinda Smith\/Twitter<\/p>\n            <div class=\"article-truncate-control\">\n                <button class=\"show-complete-article\">\n                    Read More                <\/button>\n            <\/div>\n\n        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANALYSIS: Diversity task force leader does not appear &#8216;inclusive&#8217; to conservatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1291,"featured_media":122322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1085,1077],"tags":[28025,16027,48123,1615,30305,13956],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MalindaSmithDeSantis72.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Oh4L-vOK","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122310"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122310"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122415,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122310\/revisions\/122415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}