The College Fix

Tax dollars fund ‘mindfulness meditation,’ ‘knitting circles,’ ‘anti-bias education’

The Department of Justice poured more than $100 million into “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives at schools from K-20, including grants to Temple University, Bowling Green State, and Pennsylvania State Universities, a watchdog report found.

The universities received funding for “restorative justice, DEI, and social emotional learning,” according to Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit that advocates for parental rights.

“While SEL was originally intended to teach children skills like self-awareness, self-management, and goal setting, the definitional shift to ‘Transformative SEL’ prioritizes equity and ‘the collective’ — it has become another avenue to bring DEI into the classroom,” the report states.

Vice President Caroline Moore told The College Fix via email that “the current Department of Education believes this politicization of public schools is more important than English, science, history, and math.”

“There is clearly a divide between those who believe these programs are critical to education and those who believe fundamentals like English, math, science, and history are paramount when it comes to helping students succeed and contribute to the world around them,” she said.

She also said there’s no benefit to introducing politics into the classroom. Schools should foster the free exchange of ideas and focus on teaching students subjects like mathematics, science, history, and English without trying to advance political or social ideologies.

Additionally, Moore told The Fix that PDE held a recent poll showing that “Americans, no matter their background, want to restore public schools so that students graduate with the skills they need to be self-sufficient, not to feel guilty for their supposed privilege…”

“Taxpayers want accountability and transparency in funding of public schools; however, the Department of Education has been deceitful in providing funding across the country,” she said.

MORE: Education Department spent at least $1 billion on DEI under Biden

One grant, in the amount of $1.8 million, went to Bowling Green State University “to develop student mental health curriculum in rural and high-poverty districts that involved ‘mindfulness meditation, yoga, and knitting circles,'” the report states. 

The description of the award states “mental health first aid, social-emotional learning, stress management” and “positive communications” are “critically important for reducing violence” such as “bullying” and “aggression” in schools.

Temple University, in partnership with various K-12 school districts, was awarded a sum of nearly $1.7 million to fund various “comprehensive and innovative violence prevention” measures for “at-risk and systems-involved youth … from high violence, high poverty and high trauma communities in Philadelphia.”

One initiative includes “training in community policing, trauma informed conflict emphasizing racial/historical and intergenerational trauma, impacts of social media on conflict and conflict escalation and management, anti-bias education, restorative practices.”

In addition, the DOJ awarded Pennsylvania State University nearly $1.8 million to combat cyberbullying in K-12 schools.

The project aims “to meaningfully advance equity in violence prevention for communities historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization (People of Color (POC), women, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ community),” according to the report.

The Fix reached out to Temple, Penn State, and Bowling Green State Universities as well as the Department of Justice via email in the last two weeks to ask about the reasoning for the way the funds were used. None responded.

Other grants included $2 million to Alabama State University, $1.5 million to Michigan State University, and $1.3 million to Texas State University for similar programs.

MORE: DEI courses consume 40 million hours of undergrad time: report

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