As promised, here is a thread about #DiversityStatements for scholars on the job market based on a conversation Sarah Pierce Taylor and I had last week at @UChiDivinity and my experience participating in a ton of searches at @Northeastern which takes DEI VERY seriously:
1/When I went first on the market a LOOOOONG time ago, diversity statements were not a thing, and unfortunately a lot of senior faculty who mentor doctoral students have zero experience writing them, so folks often feel on their own trying to figure them out.
2/But higher ed has changed (thank GOD!) so now many jobs require a some sort of statement of commitment to DEI/or will ask an interview question about this topic.
3/Here is my first advice: these are not one size fits all, committees are not looking for "the right answer" or a couple of buzz words...in fact the hiring committee might not even know what THEY mean by DEI...so you REALLY have to be thoughtful.
4/When I was on the market in religious studies years ago I had to write a faith statements to explain my relationship the mission of a Div school. That was the place in my dossier where MY values and commitments were expressed, and that is what a Diversity Statement does today.
5/And don't make the mistake of thinking search committees don't take the ability to articulate a commitment to DEI seriously. At least at my R1, we DEFINITELY DO, and folks who "bomb" this question in an interview do not made it to the final round.
6/What did a "diversity statement fail" look like?
-A canned answer
-An answer that only talks about diversity in terms of learning styles FOR A RACE AND JUSTICE HIRE
-An answer that tries to make diversity an abstract intellectual debate about the merits of Foucault or Marx
7/ Statements/answers that succeeded made it clear applicant understood the hiring institution's commitments to DEI, made clear they had grappled w/ the lack of diversity in higher ed (b/c there is A LOT to fix) and even better, it was an answer the committee learned from.
8/If there have been learning moments, moments when institutions failed at supporting DEI (or YOU failed) or moments where changes improved DEI, share. We are all trying to make higher ed better, and these statements are you thinking out loud with us about this challenge.
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