Would-be professors will not be asked to pledge allegiance to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to be considered for a job at the University of North Carolina, reports Kendall Tietz on Fox News. UNC's board voted to ban DEI statements for use in admission, hiring, promotion and tenure.
Last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told state universities to stop using diversity statements and base hiring on merit, reports the Texas Tribune.
About one in five university jobs require DEI statements, according to an American Enterprise Institute survey and another by the American Association of University Professors. Another 40 percent of institutions are considering the idea.
DEI statements are modern-day loyalty oaths, writes John Sailer on Tablet. A candidate who rejects race-conscious policies or espouses colorblindness, will receive a fatally low score.
For example, the huge California Community College system requires a "race-conscious pedagogy and/or curriculum."
At the very least, mandating a DEI statement "encourages cynicism and dishonesty," states the Academic Freedom Alliance.
I've seen talk of training chatbots to churn out DEI statements.
DEI statements, already legally dodgy, may not stand up to legal scrutiny if affirmative action is overturned, writes Musa al-Gharbi on Heterodox. "Mandatory DEI statements are increasingly used in hiring as a means of getting around laws prohibiting the selection of candidates on the basis of their ideological or demographic characteristics. In some cases, these statements are used as an initial screen, eliminating huge numbers of candidates before committees even consider their qualifications, publications, teaching history, etc."
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