DOCUMENTS: Through a records request, I have acquired the University of Missouri's rubric for evaluating diversity statements.
As usual, the rubric proves the critics' point: DEI evaluations invite viewpoint discrimination.
As it turns out, Mizzou routinely uses diversity statements in hiring.
According to its Inclusive Excellence Plan, the College of Arts and Science has expanded its use of the statements. The college of agriculture has committed to using them for “all faculty applications.”
Mizzou’s Division of Biological Sciences (why is it always biology?) heavily weighs diversity statements.
Its website advertises its “equal weighting of the research, teaching, and inclusion and equity statements" in the first round of faculty job application reviews.
Meanwhile, Mizzou’s training on “Best Practice for Inclusive Excellence in Faculty Hiring” encourages hiring committees to assess job candidates’ contributions to DEI using a pre-established rubric.
Again, the Mizzou rubric I obtained through a FOIA request perfectly illustrates how diversity statement policies invite viewpoint discrimination.
Though innocuous-sounding, the phrase “diversity, equity, and inclusion” doesn't imply a set of neutral values.
In practice, it implies a set of controversial views about race, gender, and social justice. Again and again, this is demonstrated by university DEI initiatives.
By now, it should be obvious that diversity statements will inevitably function as ideological litmus tests—and huge failures of priority.
Unfortunately, they’re alive and well at the University of Missouri.
Read the full story, and take a look at the rubric, at @MindingCampus. Through top-quality research and reporting, we're documenting the ways that DEI has invaded higher education to the detriment of our public and private universities.
@tabletmag UCSF—one of the top medical research institutions in the country—recently created a separate Task Force On Equity and Anti-Racism in Research.
The report makes dozens of recommendations aimed at injecting DEI into UCSF's research priorities.
@tabletmag The UCSF task force builds on layers of prior DEI bureaucratic expansion, spanning nearly a decade.
The “Anti-Racism Initiative,” for example, established dozens of new policies, such as “evaluating contributions to diversity statements in faculty advancement portfolios.”
NEW: At Texas Tech, each search committee in the biology department was required to submit a report on how they evaluated job candidates’ diversity statements.
Through a records request, I’ve acquired these reports. I explore them @WSJopinion.
@WSJopinion One document shows the department’s overall scoring matrix, which allots a large portion of points to the candidates’ diversity statements.
In other words, a diversity statement could easily make or break a biologist’s job prospects.
@WSJopinion This is troubling given how the department evaluated DEI contributions.
One search committee, for example, penalized a candidate for espousing race-neutrality in teaching.
NEW: In 2016, student activists at UT Austin called for sweeping changes to university policy in the name of social justice.
Specifically, they wanted a “comprehensive restructuring of academic policies.”
My latest for @NAS_org shows exactly how UT Austin has obliged.
🧵
@NAS_org Since 2016, UT Austin adopted its “University Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan,” then its “Strategic Plan for Faculty Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity,” then another university-wide DEI plan.
All while its many colleges and schools built up in their own DEI programming.
@NAS_org In other words, that “comprehensive restructuring” is well under way. My report examines these plans, and explains exactly how DEI has become embedded throughout UT Austin.
THREAD: Since the UNC Board of Governors proposed (effectively) ending diversity statements, a few critics have made arguments either in favor of DEI statements or DEI more broadly.
Some have argued that I’m overstating my case. For clarity, I want to lay out what I’ve said.
First, there are dozens of documented cases of institutions explicitly weighing DEI/diversity statements heavily.
Even weighing on par with teaching and research. Many institutions have evaluated diversity statements before anything else in an application.
A few examples:
1) The NIH FIRST grant program funds cluster hires at 12 institutions, aiming at roughly 120 new faculty jobs.
The explicit condition for employment through the program, noted in many grant-award announcements, is “a demonstrated commitment to DEI.”