Many top colleges ‘training a cadre of political commissars’ through DEI certificate programs: Watchdog

Many American colleges and universities are offering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) certificates that are not only a "George Floyd anti-racism push" cash grab, but also wildly misleading, according to the founder of CriticalRace.org. 

"This is essentially training a cadre of political commissars on DEI to run corporations, to infiltrate and to advance in corporations," William A. Jacobson told Fox News Digital. 

CriticalRace.org, which monitors CRT curricula and training in higher education, has expanded its database to include schools that offer DEI certificates. These certificates, often earned online, allow people to put the names of prestigious schools on their resume when they didn’t actually attend the school, but rather paid for a certificate program displaying its name. 

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CriticalRace.org, which monitors CRT curricula and training in higher education, has expanded its database to include schools that offer DEI certificates.  (Fox News Digital)

Jacobson, Clinical Professor of Law at Cornell Law School and founder of the Legal Insurrection website, founded CriticalRace.org’s sprawling database that has also examined elite K-12 private schools, America's top undergraduate programs, military service academies, medical schools and others. 

"When people think about it, they should think about critical race theory as the theory and diversity, equity and inclusion as to how that theory gets implemented. So, diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, are the action items by which critical race theory is pushed into education and also corporations and government," Jacobson said. 

CriticalRace.org details the exact curricula and training at each school, along with contact information and an overview of every university. 

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"One of the things we began to notice is nonacademic DEI certificates being issued by colleges and universities. They have programming, and they have separate entities which offer for-pay education certificates on diversity, equity and inclusion," Jacobson said. 

"One of the reasons we thought that was important is that DEI is no longer just in higher education. What started on campuses did not stay on campuses," he continued. "It's now in corporate America."

After reviewing America’s top 100 colleges and universities, CriticalRace.org found that 48 schools offer DEI certificate programs. Among schools that list the cost of its DEI certificate program, CriticalRace.org found that the average cost is over $4,000, with Northwestern University’s certificate costing the most at $24,788. 

"These are big moneymakers for higher education. They don't incur very much overhead, these are done online, these are programs that can be repeated, you don't need to create new content every time," Jacobson said. "The universities that do this are essentially cashing in on the George Floyd anti-racism push." 

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After reviewing America’s top 100 colleges and universities, CriticalRace.org found that 48 schools offer DEI certificate programs.  (Adobe Stock)

Jacobson also noted that DEI certificates can also be seen as a negative on a resume, to some, as backlash to the movement has made national news. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, both Republicans, banned DEI in state colleges and universities this year. Some high-profile DEI officers have been accused of plagiarism and some major companies have scaled back DEI initiatives. 

According to data provided by job site Indeed, DEI-related job postings in 2023 declined 44% as two driving forces behind the reduction in DEI at companies have emerged. The first is a shift in priorities amid layoffs, and the second is the threat of discrimination lawsuits.

Prominent figures have also come forward pressing for the abolition of DEI altogether in recent months, contributing to backlash against such programs. Tech mogul Elon Musk, The Free Press founder Bari Weiss, and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman have all called for an end to DEI – all making headlines in the process.

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Cornell Law School professor and Legal Insurrection Foundation president William A. Jacobson founded CriticalRage.org. (FOX)

"So, at a time when the mainstream media is covering the retrenchment in hiring for DEI positions, these schools are going nonstop, taking people's money for DEI certificates to advance them in a declining market, without disclosing that, and we think that’s very deceptive," Jacobson said. 

"You may be spending money on a certificate which not only doesn't help you, but might hurt you," Jacobson added. "Having the certificate may actually be a detriment to your resume." 

DEI Certificate programs were found at major colleges and universities in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C. The complete breakdown can be found on CriticalRace.org. 

CriticalRace.org is a project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to campus free speech and academic freedom, which also runs the Equal Protection Project.

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Fox News Digital’s David Rutz and Breck Dumas contributed to this report.