(José Niño, Headline USA) A Kent State University educator preparation director stated that diversity, equity and inclusion opponents “want to keep the white men in power and they want to come and overtake public education” in covertly recorded video recently released by Accuracy in Media, according to The College Fix.
Jennifer Walton Fisette, director of educator preparation in the College of Education, Health and Human Services at Kent State University, made the comments in undercover footage released by the conservative activism group.
Accuracy in Media has released a series of undercover videos over the past year taken at colleges and universities in primarily Republican controlled states exposing staffers and faculty discussing methods to circumvent DEI bans. Kent State became the latest target.
According to The College Fix, an Ohio law nearly one-year old bans DEI programs and training but does not expressly forbid it within curricula, prompting debate on whether academic coursework falls under the ban on training.
The five-minute edited video released by AIM last Monday shows Walton Fisette discussing how DEI remains a valued ideology in some classrooms.
“One thing I can say about Kent State University and our teacher ed programs … they’re all about diversity, equity and inclusion,” Walton Fisette said in the video.
“It’s not being forced through a Trumpian lens. It’s taking away the buzzwords, having to be more careful of how you’re talking about equity and inclusion,” she stated regarding efforts to curb DEI.
Asked by AIM’s undercover investigator why DEI is problematic, Walton Fisette responded “ultimately it’s just to keep white men in power. This is what it’s all about. And if we dumb down education, then we can continue to do that. So that’s what the ultimate goal is.”
Later she added about anti DEI efforts “Their thing is anti-higher education, anti-public education. … They want to keep the white men in power and they want to come and overtake public education.”
Walton Fisette and Kent State University’s media affairs division did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“This woman is clearly a taxpayer-funded political activist and extremist,” Accuracy in Media President Adam Guillette said in an interview. “I cannot understand why any Ohioan should be forced to pay the salary for a political activist.”
Guillette said he believes “hidden-camera investigative journalism is by far the most honest and transparent form of journalism.”
AIM has numerous higher education videos slated for release in coming months, most notably focused on campuses in red states with DEI bans that are “bending, breaking, or circumventing laws.”
“We have an incredibly talented team of hidden-camera investigative journalists who use a variety of ruses to expose malfeasance, fraud, and lawbreaking,” he stated.
Asked whether he is surprised campus employees continue getting caught on camera admitting to DEI tactics despite the lengthy nature of AIM’s undercover project, which has prompted nationwide headlines and led to employee terminations, Guillette said it has become a pattern.
“The shock to me is that these people meet with our investigator for five to ten minutes, and simply because they think they have found an ideological kindred spirit, they are more than happy to brag about breaking state law,” Guillette said.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
