John Sailer Profile picture
Aug 5 6 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Last week, the DOJ released guidance for federal funding recipients.

The memo—which clarifies how nondiscrimination law should be applied—is a huge development for universities. A lot of their worst policies are looking more fragile than ever. 🧵 Image
2/ The DOJ specifically highlights the use of racial proxies. Hiring on the basis of "cultural competence" or using diversity statements is unlawful if the purpose is to give an advantage to specific racial groups.

This is an even bigger deal than it might seem. Image
3/ Universities often take on large-scale hiring programs that select for an emphasis on "equity."

Inevitably the programs recruit ideologues. More importantly, this criteria is justified because it's seen as a way to favor minorities. It's right there in their own documents ⬇️ Image
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4/ The memo notes that "diverse slate" policies are, likewise, unlawful. Image
5/ As I've reported over the past month, many universities routinely conduct "diversity checks" at every stage of the faculty hiring process (e.g., Cornell ⬇️).

This practice was funded and spearheaded by the federal government. Now, the DOJ is correcting course. Image
Worth reading the full memo: justice.gov/ag/media/14094…

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More from @JohnDSailer

Jul 29
NEW: George Mason University's largest college required every faculty hiring committee to carefully document how it prioritized diversity.

Through FOIA, I’ve acquired dozens of these reports. The records are eye opening…🧵 Image
For several years, these inclusive search plans were required for hiring in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

One committee openly stated that it discussed “diversity”—which included “demographic diversity”—as a part of candidates' strengths/weaknesses. Image
Meanwhile two other search committees explained how they had crafted their job advertisements to signal their desire to “make a diversity hire.” Image
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Read 7 tweets
Jul 7
NEW: Universities across the U.S. have embraced diversity checkpoints in faculty hiring.

Administrators monitor the demographics of applicants throughout the process, with consequences for searches that don't "pass muster"—according to a trove of records I've obtained.

🧵 Image
In one email—acquired via a records request—UT Austin professor Carma Gorman asked diversity-dean John Yancey whether her search committee’s pool was sufficiently diverse to advance.

The dean said yes, but if the numbers dropped “then things don’t look good anymore.” Image
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At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the Human Resources director would send weekly “diversity of the pool reports,” which would continue up to the selection of finalists.

If the makeup was deemed “insufficient,” more administrators would get involved. Image
Read 14 tweets
Jun 30
DOCUMENTS: At Cornell, search committees that were hiring biomedical scientists had to pass four "checkpoints" to make sure their pools were "sufficiently diverse."

"That certainly looks like a Title VII violation," one legal expert told me when discussing the program.

🧵 Image
In 2021, Cornell received a $16 million NIH grant for the Cornell FIRST hiring program—aiming, in the proposal’s words, to "increase the number of minoritized faculty" at Cornell and beyond.

I acquired a trove of documents that show how this played out. Image
According to a proposal and set of progress reports, the program's leadership team screened applicants at four separate stages—the initial pool, longlist, shortlist, and finalist slate—to ensure “as diverse a pool as possible.” Image
Read 10 tweets
Jun 2
DOCUMENTS: The University of Michigan’s “anti-racism and racial justice” cluster hire wrapped up last year—recruiting at least 20 new professors.

I’ve acquired the proposals via a record request. They show how U-M aggressively hired social justice activists.

🧵🧵🧵 Image
For a cluster focused on the arts, a proposal declares that the new faculty will teach students to become "change agents," as art should aim to "challenge policies" which "perpetuate white supremacy." Image
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The cluster search in "data justice" was especially aimed at recruiting scholars in critical race studies," decolonization, and racial capitalism.

Adding: "UM needs to show these new faculty that we believe that it is not the job of the oppressed to reform the oppressor..." Image
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Read 12 tweets
May 29
Trust in higher ed has crashed over a decade.

Why?

My take: because in that time, universities launched huge ideologically-charged faculty hiring schemes.

But these schemes are legally vulnerable. They came hand-in-hand with overt discrimination.

🧵
I’ve acquired hundreds of documents describing the inner workings of social justice university hiring schemes.

Just in my capacity as an investigative journalist, I’ve found dozens of examples of universities seemingly violating civil rights law—and hiring based on race.
1) “Our aim is specifically to hire a Black, Indigenous, or Latinx faculty member.”

At the University of Colorado Boulder, the Faculty Diversity Action Plan funded special faculty position, if departments could demonstrate how the role would enhance diversity.

Many of the roles created through these programs were overtly ideological, like the one for a German studies professor who examined fairy tales, folklore, and fantasy through a “critical race studies perspectives.”

When @ and I acquired the proposals, we found that many just openly stated the intention to discriminate.

— “Our commitment, should we be successful with this application, is to hire someone from the BIPOC community.”

— “This cluster hire has the goal of doubling our underrepresented faculty in the college.”

— “[This search] emphasizes hiring Black, Indigenous, Asian American, Latinx, and Pacific Islander faculty”

— “We have an urgent and qualified need for BIPOC femme/women of color faculty in an Africana Studies focus who will contribute to the social science division thematic cluster hire in racism and racial inequality.”Image
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Read 8 tweets
May 28
Today, I argue that the challenge of higher education reform can be boiled down to one issue: the talent pipeline.

If we rewire the academic talent pipeline, the reform movement will succeed. If not, no other list of policies will suffice. Image
2/ Universities have long provoked criticism. But acute mistrust is a recent trend. Ten years ago, 57% of Americans had high confidence in higher ed, and only 10% had “little or none.” Today, only 36% have high trust, and 32% have low-to-no confidence.

What changed? Image
3/ The rise of what I call the “scholar-activist pipeline” helps explain the shift.

Over the past decade, universities—from Columbia to Ohio State to UVA to Texas A&M to CU Boulder—invested aggressively in ideologically-charged hiring schemes, recruiting 100s of new professors. Image
Read 8 tweets

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