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CBS News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Pentagon orders military leaders to pull library materials on diversity-related issues
Washington — The Pentagon has ordered military leaders to remove and review library materials related to diversity, anti-racism and gender issues within the next two weeks. The order was sent Friday to leadership and is the latest step in the Trump administration's broad effort to purge so-called diversity, equity and inclusion content from federal agencies. "The Department's instructional materials should be mission-focused and not promote divisive concepts and gender ideology," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. Military leaders must identify any library materials at their educational institutions that are "potentially incompatible with this core mission" and "appropriately sequester those materials" by May 21, according to the order. The materials will then be reviewed and "an appropriate ultimate disposition" will be determined, it states. A temporary panel, the Academic Libraries Committee, will provide guidance on process and developed a list of search terms to help identify the materials requiring review. The terms include "affirmative action," "allyship," "anti-racism," "critical race theory," "discrimination," "diversity in the workplace," "gender identity," "transgender people" and "white privilege," among others. "Those terms and guidance are to assist solely with the preliminarily identification and sequestration of materials to be further reviewed," the order says. Several military institutions received similar orders in recent weeks to review their materials, including the Naval Academy, which removed hundreds of books on the Holocaust, histories of feminism, civil rights and racism.
Boston Globe
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Pentagon directs military to pull library books that address diversity, anti-racism, gender issues
Educational materials at the libraries 'promoting divisive concepts and gender ideology are incompatible with the Department's core mission,' the memo states, adding that department leaders must 'promptly identify' books that are not compatible with that mission and sequester them by May 21. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up By then, the memo says, additional guidance will be provided on how to cull that initial list and determine what should be removed and 'determine an appropriate ultimate disposition' for those materials. It does not say what will happen to the books or whether they will be stored away or destroyed. Advertisement According to the memo, a temporary Academic Libraries Committee set up by the department will provide information on the review and decisions about the books. That panel provided a list of search terms to use in the initial identification of the books to be pulled and reviewed. The search terms include: affirmative action, anti-racism, critical race theory, discrimination, diversity, gender dysphoria, gender identity and transition, transgender, transsexual and white privilege. Advertisement Early last month the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, removed nearly 400 books from its library after being told by Hegseth's office to get rid of those that promote DEI. About two weeks later, the Army and Air Force libraries were told to go through their stacks to find books related to diversity, equity and inclusion. The Naval Academy's purge led to the removal of books on the Holocaust, histories of feminism, civil rights and racism, and Maya Angelou's famous autobiography, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,' based on the list of 381 books that have been taken out of its library. In addition to Angelou's award-winning book, the list includes 'Memorializing the Holocaust,' which deals with Holocaust memorials; 'Half American,' about African Americans in World War II; 'A Respectable Woman,' about the public roles of African American women in 19th century New York; and 'Pursuing Trayvon Martin,' about the 2012 shooting of the Black 17-year-old boy in Florida that raised questions about racial profiling.
