Bakersfield College can’t fire professor for anti-DEI beliefs

FRESNO, Calif. (CN) — A federal judge ruled Friday that a community college can't fire or discipline a professor for his opposition to policies promoting diversity, equity and inclusion — commonly referred to as DEI — but it can require the teacher to take mandatory DEI training as a requirement to participate on faculty screening committees.

The ruling is temporary, since it came in the form of a preliminary injunction, meaning the case is active and can still proceed to trial.

Daymon Johnson is a history professor and leader of the Renegade Institute for Liberty, a right-wing faculty coalition that claims to stand for "diversity of thought and intellectual literacy through the free and open discourse of American ideals." The former leader of the group, Matthew Garrett, a tenured professor of history and vocal critic of DEI policies spreading across the Kern Community College District, was suspended in 2023, pending drawn-out process to terminate his employment. Garrett sued the district, which later agreed to settle the case for $2.4 million, and Garrett resigned. Apparently fearing he'd be next on the chopping block, Johnson also sued, rather preemptively.

"Bakersfield College has already subjected Professor Johnson to a lengthy and intrusive investigation merely for criticizing and questioning a colleague’s views on RIFL’s Facebook page," Johnson wrote in the most recent version of his civil complaint. "Although it ultimately cleared Professor Johnson of violating any actual rules, the process was the punishment."

In the suit, Johnson claims he's afraid to express his beliefs, both online and on campus, for fear of "being subjected to further investigations and termination."

Diversity, equity and inclusion — sometimes paired with "accessibility" and called DEIA — is a broad set of policies and goals that have been adopted by a wide range of state and local governments, universities and businesses. They might include diversity goals for hiring and sensitivity training, or more controversial measures like unconscious bias training. Johnson and Garrett say DEI represents a sort of "groupthink" that pressures everyone to conform to left-wing ideologies or be forever branded a racist.

While DEI policies were all the rage in the years following the George Floyd protests in 2020, they have fallen out of fashion since President Donald Trump outlawed them in the public sector at the beginning of his second term and started accusing private employers of discrimination against white people. Diversity targets have also been the subject of numerous lawsuits, particularly in California.

"The state has recently doubled down on its commitment to the 'diversity' and 'antiracist' ideologies by adopting a set of regulations that command faculty to adhere to and implement these ideologies, in their very concepts of self and in every facet of their existence on campus, including in their curriculum and pedagogy," Johnson wrote in his complaint. "Obedience to the state’s pervasive, all-encompassing political cult is now required to teach, work or lead within California’s community colleges."

In 2024, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit for lack of standing, since Johnson had yet to experience any of the harms he was suing over. But three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit revived the lawsuit last year on appeal, finding the teacher had "adequately alleged a ‘credible threat’ of enforcement."

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Kirk Sherriff, who had previously dismissed the case, handed Johnson another partial victory, temporarily enjoining Bakersfield College "from investigating, disciplining or terminating Johnson ... based on Johnson’s proposed social or political speech."

"Johnson has shown that his intended speech would be in his capacity as a professor and would concern matters related to scholarship or teaching, or that it would be in his off duty capacity as a private citizen (including as a public academic)," Sherriff wrote in his 27-page ruling.

The ruling did not, however, "preclude defendants from requiring that Johnson take Bakersfield College’s mandatory DEIA training to be eligible to serve on a faculty screening committee, and it does not apply to official speech as a faculty screening committee member."

"As Johnson adamantly maintains that he will not take the DEIA training that is a prerequisite for service on a faculty screening committee, he fails to show a likelihood that he would serve on such a committee," the Joe Biden appointee wrote.

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