by Matthew Holloway | Jan 16, 2026 | Education, Home Page Top Story, News
By Matthew Holloway |
An Arizona State University faculty member, who also serves as an associate director, was captured on video acknowledging that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programming continues at ASU despite Executive Orders and U.S. Department of Education (DOE) policies directing the elimination of the programs.
In footage from Accuracy in Media (AIM) circulating online, an ASU official identified as Rebecca Loftus, Associate Teaching Professor and Associate Director of the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice, is shown discussing how DEI efforts persist at the university, saying the programming is now “just not as broadcast as it was before,” according to posts and videos shared on social media platforms.
In January 2025, the DOE announced it was dismantling DEI-related offices, removing DEI references from public-facing materials, and directing staff to eliminate related programs as part of a department-wide policy shift under the Trump administration. The department said the move was intended to end what it described as discriminatory or non-merit-based practices tied to DEI frameworks. It warned that institutions continuing such efforts could face scrutiny over federal funding.
The video, originally posted to YouTube, was later shared on X by Corey A. DeAngelis and circulated more broadly as Instagram Reels and X posts. In the footage, Loftus can be heard making statements that ASU’s diversity initiatives are still in effect, albeit with less public emphasis than in earlier years.
According to AIM, Loftus, speaking with an undercover investigator, was recorded stating that, “Most of our faculty do tend to be a little more on the liberal side. You have to be careful with the language that you use. We’re doing pretty much what we were doing before.”
The outlet reported that she went on to describe a body known as “the idea office,” an internal group responsible for “designing” criminology classes for a “majority-minority student body,” with AIM characterizing such groups as “how DEI-related instruction is being concealed through new internal structures.”
Loftus is later seen telling the investigator: “You’re not going to find very many programs that are going to broadcast it as before because the federal funding for universities, especially state-run universities like ASU… If you have federal funds that are withheld, it really makes a big impact.” She reportedly added that entire classes are still being devoted to race, ethnicity, and gender, and said that ASU has been bringing in outside figures to present these classes.
In a later clip, when confronted about the undercover video, she can be seen telling Adam Guillette, President of Accuracy in Media, that she has “no idea” what he’s talking about and urged him to “talk to our Director” before requesting he leave her office.
ASU’s use of diversity training and DEI programming has been the subject of a legal challenge in recent years.
In March 2024, the Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit on behalf of an ASU faculty member challenging ASU’s “Inclusive Communities” training requirement as violating Arizona law prohibiting certain diversity trainings funded with public money. That lawsuit, Anderson v. Arizona Board of Regents, remains active in the state court system.
The Goldwater Institute’s online materials describe the training as covering systemic bias, privilege, and related concepts.
At the time of this report, ASU administrators had not issued a public response to the video clips widely circulated on social media, nor had the university clarified whether the recording was conducted with consent or in a sanctioned setting.
The footage has been reposted and commented on by multiple users, including calls for questions about the university’s DEI direction. One user suggested contacting the ASU Board of Trustees regarding the issue; however, no official response from the board has been posted publicly as of this report.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Sep 20, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona AG Kris Mayes’ Communications Director Richie Taylor deleted his X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn accounts after screenshots of his alleged posts surfaced on “groypers” and “violence on the right.”
Corey A. DeAngelis, a Senior Advisor with Americans For Fair Treatment, shared a screenshot allegedly taken from Taylor’s X account, which read, “Lots of people learning about groyper’s tonight because of violence on the right in this country.”
The post appeared to advance the unsubstantiated theory that Charlie Kirk’s assassin, Tyler Robinson, is a member of online commentator Nick Fuentes’ fan base, known as “groypers,” who have rhetorically feuded with Kirk and Turning Point USA over the years.
As reported by the Associated Press, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray revealed Tuesday that evidence, including a text confession and a note, shows the suspect targeted Charlie Kirk, stating, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out,” and “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
The comments would seem to preclude the assassin from views that could be “on the right,” as Taylor’s alleged post suggested. Gray declined to address whether Kirk was targeted due to his views on transgenderism on Tuesday, telling reporters, “That is for a jury to decide.”
Last month, Taylor came under public scrutiny for “vicious ad hominem attacks” against Jenny Clark, founder of Love Your School, a nonprofit that advocates for parental rights, school choice, and resources for Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) and special education students.
Following the incident, Clark posted an update saying, “Update: the Head of Communications for @AZAGMayes, @richietaylor – has deleted posts against me which were extremely aggressive, untrue, unprovoked and vicious ad hominem attacks. I make policy arguments supported by available facts, they prefer to personally attack people.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jul 14, 2023 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Americans’ support for school choice is on the rise.
A recent poll from Real Clear Opinion Research showed that school choice has the support of 71% of the 1,000 registered voters who participated in that survey. This number was a seven-point increase from an April 2020 poll.
In this June 27-30 poll, support for school choice came from 80% of Republican voters, 66% of Democrat voters, and 69% of Independent voters. Though the Republican and Democrat support was up from April 2020, the 9% increase in favor from Independents was the most among the political parties.
The question presented to voters on the survey was as follows: “School choices gives parents the right to use the tax dollars designated for their child’s education to send their child to the public or private school which best serves their needs. Generally speaking, would you say you support or oppose the concept of school choice?”
The CEO of American Federation for Children, Tommy Schultz, lauded the news about the growing support for school choice around the country, saying, “School choice support is here to stay, and politicians who ignore this reality do so at their own peril. Parents are the new interest group in town, and legislators would be wise to keep responding to their needs. The days of the old one-size-fits-all model are numbered, welcome news for the countless students who need something different to learn and thrive. AFC is thrilled to continue standing behind parents as they gain more options for their children’s education.”
Arizona has been at the front lines of the surge in school choice support. Last year, the Republican-led Legislature passed a historic expansion of the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program, allowing any child in K-12 to apply. According to a June 30 update from the Executive Director of the ESA Program, Christine Accurso, 62,005 Arizona students have now been enrolled.
That same update also showed that the program, under the direction of Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, had largely caught up with the backlog and influx of reimbursements to ESA account holders. As of June 30, the ESA Program only had 1,195 Reimbursement Orders in the queue – down from 24,409 on February 8.
When asked about the increasing support for school choice in Arizona and around the nation, Superintendent Horne told AZ Free News, “We have a lot of excellent public schools in Arizona. But no matter how good a public school is, it may not be able to meet the needs of all students. Rich parents have always had the ability to choose the best school to meet the needs of each of their children and people at all economic levels should have the same ability. In addition, competition improves public schools. The United States has been prosperous, and the Soviet Union was poor, because we had competition which drives people to do their best, while they were a government monopoly. As they used to say in Poland, ‘We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.’ The same applies in education. Competition causes everyone to do better.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jun 11, 2023 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Advocates of Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) are responding to recent attacks on the program.
Last week, Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs launched a political assault on ESAs, reacting to a recent memo from the Arizona Department of Education, which detailed the expected cost for the upcoming fiscal year. Hobbs tweeted, “the school voucher program in its current form is not sustainable, and Republican legislators need to explain why they are forcing this runaway spending on Arizona taxpayers. We need to bring an end to this out of control and unaccountable spending, and I will work tirelessly to make that happen.”
The first-year governor has been working tirelessly to assuage angry members of her own party since she agreed to a negotiated state budget last month with Republican leaders of the Arizona House and Senate. Though she railed against ESAs on the campaign trail and leading up to the budget compromise, Hobbs signed the package that left the historic school choice expansion untouched and uncapped, leaving Democrats and interest groups opposed to ESAs to question her commitment to adhere to such a prominent platform of her administration.
Proponents of Arizona’s ESA program were ready for Hobbs’ – and other Democrats’ – attack, publishing national and local opinion pieces to assure people of the facts. Jason Bedrick and Corey DeAngelis, two national leaders of the school choice movement, wrote a commentary for the Wall Street Journal, entitled “School Choice Saves Arizona Money.” The advocates clarified the cost for ESAs in Fiscal Year 2024 ($900 million) “is barely 2% of total Arizona state spending of $80.5 billion in 2022. Arizona public schools spend about $14,000 per pupil, or $1.4 billion for 100,000 students. If the department’s enrollment projection is reached, school choice would serve roughly 8% of Arizona’s students for 6% of the $15 billion that Arizona will spend on public schools.”
They pointed to a report published by the Common Sense Institute, which found that “current enrollment in Arizona public district and charter schools combined is over 80,000 students below pre-pandemic projections,” saving Arizona $639 million.
Another opinion piece, written by Jon Gabriel for the Arizona Republic, stressed that “the critics of Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts keep claiming the program is too expensive. At the same time, they insist the state spend far, far more on education.” Gabriel highlights that “an ESA student is only allowed 90% what that student would receive in a traditional public school,” arguing that Democrats “are galled to see education funding going directly to students and parents instead of to bloated public school administrations and teachers’ unions.”
Matthew Ladner took his defense of ESAs to Twitter to make a comparison with the Mesa Unified School Direct. He posted, “Mesa Unified was budgeted for $1.3 billion last year to educate 54,000 students. I’m having a hard time getting too excited about less money for 100,000 students. Let’s call ESA ‘a bargain for taxpayers.’”
As of the Arizona Department of Education’s update on June 2, 58,253 students are currently enrolled in ESAs.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Terri Jo Neff | Jun 26, 2022 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
An expansion of Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program has long been a cornerstone platform issue for Conservative lawmakers. And on Saturday, Gov. Doug Ducey made comments which have supporters believing he will sign into law what he called “the most expansive school choice legislation in the nation.”
House Bill 2853 creates a roughly $7,000 education credit for each of the 1.1 million K-12 student in Arizona to attend any school of their choice, whether it be a public, private or charter school, or even homeschooling. Ducey has called passage of the bill sponsored by House Majority Leader Ben Toma (R-Peoria) a “monumental moment for Arizona’s kids and families.”
That sentiment was shared by the Goldwater Institute, which noted Arizona’s new universal ESA expansion provides school choice for all students and “empowers families to choose the best schooling option for their children regardless of their zip code.”
HB2853 will take effect on behalf of the state’s more than 1.1 million students a mere 90 days after signed by the governor. The credit, which is paid out as scholarships, can be used for expenses such as tuition and tutoring, transportation, education tools (i.e. textbooks and computers), and other costs directly related to supporting a student’s educational needs.
Among those across the country recognizing the legislative victory in Arizona is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a longtime advocate of ESA programs.
In addition, Corey A. DeAngelis of the Washington DC-based American Federation for Children tweeted about the bill which now allows all Arizona families to direct their student’s ESA dollars to the educational institution that can best serve the student.
However, organizations such as Save Our Schools have threatened to push back on the new legislation if Ducey signs it. The group advocates for funding the needs of public school systems instead of the needs of individual students, even when a family has determined a private, charter, or home school situation is better for the student than a public school setting.
EDITOR NOTE: The original article has been updated to reflect that Gov. Ducey has not yet signed HB2853 despite his public comments in support of the legislation.
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