University of Idaho president rejects indoctrination claims

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The president of the University of Idaho said Friday that “conflict entrepreneurs” using scare tactics and a false social justice narrative to claim students were being indoctrinated led to a $500,000 cut in the school’s budget last year.

Scott Green told the Legislature’s powerful budget-setting committee that he was confident there was no indoctrination taking place, but “conflict entrepreneurs and those who earn their living by scaring people with such illusions have made these claims, which surfaced and were used to cut our budget.”

He also told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that an independent study by a law firm was unable to substantiate the indoctrination allegations by an influential libertarian group called the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which wants to abolish public education.

The study by Hawley Troxell was made public the same day Green spoke, and a copy was obtained by The Associated Press.

“After conducting a thorough and independent investigation, we were unable to substantiate any of the allegations contained in the IFF report,” the Hawley Troxell investigation states in the 26-page report. “UI’s initiatives related to diversity and inclusion stem from independent factors and are not designed to indoctrinate anyone with social justice ideology, including students and university employees alike. Nor did we identify any evidence suggesting such indoctrination has taken place.”

Wayne Hoffman, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, didn't return a call from the AP.

Republican lawmakers cut $2.5 million from higher education budgets last year based on claims that universities were indoctrinating students. Besides the $500,000 cut to the University of Idaho, Boise State University saw a $1.5 million cut, and Idaho State...