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Two Nebraska state senators are calling on University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Ronnie Green to resign.
In a letter, the Panhandle’s Steve Erdman and Hasting’s Steve Halloran are calling for Green’s removal after they claim he misled lawmakers and others in state government multiple times during his tenure. Most recently, they say Green misled Governor Pete Ricketts about his support for the university’s equity and diversity plan.
Sen. Erdman claims both Green and UNL’s Board of Regents have been complicit in the spread of left-wing propaganda throughout the university, with the equity plan as the latest example.
“And so over a period of years, they have shifted from… teaching people, how to think, (now) they're trying to tell them what to think,” Erdman said. “And so, the young people come out of these universities, with a whole different mindset than when they enter, and so we need to make sure that we're not trying to indoctrinate these young people one way or the other.”
Erdman takes particular issue with what he believes has been a decades-long focus on multiculturalism in education.
“When I grew up and went to school, we taught American culture,” Erdman said. “And American culture was we've all come from different nationalities or countries or wherever we came from, but we're all Americans now, and that's what we taught. We taught respect to the flag, we taught respect for the country. And we taught civics and those kinds of things. And we were taught all those things that made us feel privileged, or very proud to be an American. And all of a sudden, we're starting to teach culture, other cultures and other things that divide us and not bring us together.”
Erdman, who serves on the legislature’s appropriations committee, says he would consider cutting the university’s funding over the issue.
When reached for comment, UNL directed us to a letter from University of Nebraska President Ted Carter expressing support for the university’s diversity plans and Chancellor Green.