A person walks on campus at University of Minnesota. (Glenn Stubbe/Star Tribune)
Some "optional" themes for the students include "Black Lives Matter," "people over property," "defund the police," and "all power to the people."
Course documents also include a "social identity wheel activity guide" that helps students figure out their different identities, including if they fall into a "privileged" or "marginalized" group.
Minnesota law, signed by Gov. Tim Walz in 2023, requires districts to offer ethnic studies at the high school level by 2026‑27, and provide instruction in elementary and middle school by 2027‑28. The state is currently building implementation plans in order to do this, which presumably would include the University of Minnesota.
"It is deeply concerning to see the University of Minnesota’s ethnic studies initiative working directly with K–12 teachers and students on ideological concepts like the guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter movement and exercises that ask students to sort themselves into ‘privileged’ or ‘marginalized’ groups," Paul Runko, senior director of strategic initiatives in K-12 programs for Defending Education, exclusively told Fox News Digital after the report’s release.
"This goes far beyond teaching about history or culture — it’s about imposing a particular worldview in the classroom. UMN is yet another example of how political agendas developed in higher education are filtering down into K–12 schools, shaping what children are taught and how they see themselves and others."
Protesters in Michigan rally against President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI policies, denouncing federal rollbacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. (Dominic Gwinn/Getty Images)
"Minnesota and many other institutions have framed political activism and divisive ideology as legitimate academic study under the guise of Ethnic Studies," Dugan explained.
"However, courses focused on questions like ‘how indigenous feminists have theorized from ‘the flesh’ of their embodied experience of colonialism,’ and calling for students to "consider how indigenous women are articulating decolonization and the embodiment of autonomy through scholarship, cultural revitalization, and activism," show their framing to be dubious at best."
Dugan added, "UMN's Ethnic Studies initiative is proof that the deeply divisive and ideological curriculum contained in Ethnic Studies is not just a higher education problem. By cloaking outright political activism in academic terms, the program aims to sneak divisive ideology into the state curriculum. Encouraging 6th grade students to embrace slogans like ‘Defund the Police’ has no place in our schools."
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bombshell-report-exposes-deeply-concerning-midwest-university-initiative-pushing-far-left-k-12-lesson-plans