EXCLUSIVE: University Officials Attack ‘The Whites’ While Illegally Continuing DEI, Complaints Allege

Three Ohio universities have been hit with complaints after administrators were filmed boasting that illegal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) discrimination continues at their schools, and blaming white people for making it an issue.

Hidden camera footage filmed by Accuracy in Media (AIM) at Ohio State University, Kent State University, and the University of Cincinnati show staff members intent on evading state and federal directives by making cosmetic changes to conceal but continue such DEI. Some were even caught blaming “white men” or “the whites” for making the deception necessary. Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) filed federal complaints Monday against each of the schools, in materials shared exclusively with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

At Kent State, a woman in charge of preparing future teachers told an undercover AIM investigator that the Republican push to reform education and end discriminatory practices is just meant “to keep white men in power.”

“This is what it’s all about,” Jennifer Walton-Fisette stated. “If we dumb down education then we can continue that. So that’s what the ultimate goal is.”

Walton-Fisette admitted that the school — and particularly the College of Education — is continuing its DEI effots.

“One thing I can say about Kent State University and our Teacher Ed program — they are all about diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Walton-Fisette said in the AIM video. “It’s not being forced through a Trumpian lens — it’s taking away the buzzwords and having to be more careful of how you’re talking about equity and inclusion.”

She also suggested the pro-DEI push extends beyond the Kent campus, saying that even at the state level, “they are all about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”

“Kent State University is committed to following state law, including full compliance with Senate Bill 1,” a university spokesman told the DCNF. “Simply put, Kent State complies with the laws of the state of Ohio. The employee in the video does not speak for Kent State as an institution and appears to be largely expressing her personal point of view.”

University official explains that DEI is still on campus despite bans. (Screenshot / Accuracy in Media)

An Ohio State administrator echoed these concerns about having to treat white people equally in a separate AIM video.

“The ‘whites’ are there too, not just the underrepresented,” Melissa Newhouse, an administrative assistant to the dean’s office, said in the video in reference to the school’s recently revamped multicultural center. “They brought the people with the privilege there too.”

The legislators pushing anti-DEI laws, Newhouse said, “want American white people to be in there.”

“Because of the law, we had to change signs and centers,” Newhouse said, according to AIM. “We’re very diverse and are extremely passionate about that, and we are doing what we can. They’re still doing things.”

However, those forced changes to the programs and signage are in name only, the complaint details, as administrators continue to push the banned policies. At the same time, Ohio State continues to benefit from “a lot of grants for equity and access in education” funded by Apple, Newhouse said in the video.

When later confronted by AIM investigators, Newhouse denied the statements and claimed the video of her making them must be fake.

“That’s AI. It’s gotta be. That’s not me saying that,” she insisted.

University staffer denies saying DEI is still on campus despite bans. (Screenshot / Accuracy in Media)

A spokesman for the university told the DCNF that Ohio State is complying with the law and they are looking into the AIM video. “The individual in the video has no oversight of academics, curriculum or other college programming,” the spokesman said.

In another AIM video, sociology program director at the University of Cincinnati Katherine Jones admitted that discussions and critical analyses of “race, class, gender, sexuality, intersectionality” appear “in pretty much all of our classes.”

“n the Sociology Department this is like a core of our curriculum. I mean, we can’t really strip it out. It’s baked into what we talk about and what we teach,” Jones told an undercover investigator. “The administration has said over and over again this is not to impact our curriculum … We are still teaching the same things we have always taught and we are prioritizing those types of analyses.”

The University of Cincinnati did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Ohio state law prohibits DEI practices at universities, especially the existence of departments or job and scholarship descriptions that rely on racial characteristics. President Donald Trump’s day-one executive order also bans the federal funding of such initiatives.

PPT is asking the Departments of Education, Justices, and Health and Human Services to investigate these universities and properly “discipline” them.

“Too many of our country’s higher education institutions appear to be obsessive in the pursuit of these discriminatory policies,” Michael Chamberlain, director of PPT, told the DCNF. “Even in the face of state laws, federal orders, and Supreme Court decisions, they opt to expend their energies hiding, evading, and concealing what they are doing rather than change course. Maybe the attention of the American public and oversight bodies will provide incentive for them to reconsider.”

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