John Sailer Profile picture
Feb 23 8 tweets 4 min read
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.

mindingthecampus.org/2023/02/23/doc…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with John Sailer

John Sailer Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @JohnDSailer

Feb 23
In the long run, DEI initiatives could have an enormous effect not just on university curricula—but also on scientific and medical research.

No better case study exists than that of UC San Francisco. My latest in @tabletmag.

tabletmag.com/sections/news/…
@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. Image
@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.” Image
Read 21 tweets
Feb 7
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.

wsj.com/articles/how-d…
@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.
Read 11 tweets
Feb 6
The News & Observer recently called a UNC’s “compelled speech” ban “a solution in search of a problem.”

As I explain for @NASorg, you can only think this if you’re simply not paying attention. A quick thread.

nas.org/blogs/article/…
@NASorg As anyone who reads my work will know, diversity statements are ubiquitous throughout higher education. Image
@NASorg The rubrics for evaluating these statements, moreover, lend credence to the idea that they constitute political litmus tests. Image
Read 6 tweets
Feb 2
Across the country, new faculty jobs increasingly require a narrow specialization in race, identity, social justice, and critical race theory.

And of all places, Ohio State University might be the worst offender in the nation.

🧵

mindingthecampus.org/2023/02/02/fac…
Right now, OSU’s seeks a professor in “Philosophy of Race” and a physics professor whose expertise is in “educational equity.”

It recently sought an archaeologist who studies “decolonization, feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and/or Indigenous ontologies.”
A truly striking number of the new faculty job listings at Ohio State read like calls to progressive activism. (See below for more examples.)

This isn’t by accident. OSU’s faculty-packing is the result of a top-down agenda, which will shape the university for years to come.
Read 16 tweets
Jan 24
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.

Here are a few takeaways.
Read 31 tweets
Jan 23
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.”
Read 29 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(