Noem pushes to bar 'critical race theory' from universities

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota's public universities shouldn't be teaching certain concepts of race and racism, Gov. Kristi Noem said Tuesday, in line with a nationwide GOP movement to keep critical race theory out of classrooms.

In a letter to the Board of Regents that oversees the state's six public universities, the Republican governor targeted critical race theory and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project," describing them as misleading “students into believing the country is evil or was founded upon evil.”

Noem's letter — released on the anniversary of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis — comes amid a national reckoning on the influence of race and racism on policing and other realms of American life.

Conservatives across the country have decried critical race theory as an attempt to pit various racial groups against each other and teach that certain groups are responsible for past injustices. Others say the theory is simply a way to look at how race and racism have undoubtedly shaped the nation. The New York Times' 1619 project focuses on the legacy of slavery throughout the nation's founding and history.

The Board of Regents has a policy of protecting freedom of expression as “the right to discuss and present scholarly opinions and conclusions on all matters both in and outside the classroom without Board or institutional discipline or restraint.”

However, Noem called for the Board to set a policy “to preserve honest, patriotic education," defining that as cultivating "both a profound love of our country and a realistic picture of its virtues and challenges.”

Noem did not cite specific instances of anything currently being taught that she found objectionable. But she asked the Board of Regents to look into whether state funds were being used for...