Back in late 2021, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) voted to require all student-athletes agree to a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion pledge and take an online course about “implicit bias” in order to participate in athletics at their school. Concerned parents, student-athletes, and coaches contacted MFI to alert us to this egregious example of compelled speech and ideological indoctrination.
MFI blew the whistle on this unconstitutional requirement, and because of our advocacy MIAA’s attorney announced that they would not be enforcing their policy. However, some schools didn’t get the message, and when the 2022 school year began, parents reported that certain schools were still trying to enforce the DEI pledge requirement. MFI reached out to these schools, and they backed down from this outrageous violation of free speech.
Since then, we have made great strides in protecting the rights of students to participate in athletics without being required to sign pledges forcing ideological conformity in conflict with their beliefs. But there is still more work to be done.
Parents of student-athletes, pay close attention to every requirement that you or your student are obligated to complete when registering for sports at school. (Not sure if your school is part of the MIAA? See this list.) If the MIAA DEI pledge or equivalent verbiage is being required, do not comply. Instead, document the incident and contact our legal center. We need your help to make sure that every MIAA school knows that they cannot require students to pledge allegiance to progressive dogma in order to play sports.
Please support MFI with a generous gift today so we can continue to protect parents’ and students’ rights in public schools.
