Diversity Statements Are the New Faith Statements
Inside Higher Ed | Justin P. McBrayer
Diversity statements as part of the faculty hiring and advancement process are now ubiquitous, professor of philosophy Justin McBrayer shows, and are akin to attesting one’s religious faith.
“Diversity statements too often require people to make claims that they neither understand nor have evidence for,” McBrayer explains. “Most scholars hold their diversity-related beliefs as a matter of faith rather than evidence. In that way, they are no different from the applicants writing religious faith statements…”
How do these statements work?
“Applicants are supposed to know the differences among inclusion, equity, diversity and belonging. They need experience with each. They should have a track record and/or plans to incorporate each of them into teaching, mentoring, service and research. Successful applicants will be committed to a goal of building an antioppressive recruitment strategy… Suppose you were a physicist: if you can’t say how you would incorporate diversity and inclusion in your research on nuclear fusion, you’d better not apply.”
Then, “at the screening stage, the already-narrowed applicant pool can be winnowed further on the basis of diversity contributions (or rhetoric) before academic credentials are even considered. Some colleges grade diversity statements with a rubric and assign applicants a diversity score as part of the first round of cuts.”
How pervasive are these statements?
“Last fall the American Enterprise Institute released a report on the prevalence of DEI statements in university hiring. AEI found that 68 percent of job ads in the fall of 2020 mentioned diversity, and 19 percent required a separate diversity statement… [It’s] even higher for elite schools and tenure-track jobs… and these numbers are already two years old…positions requiring diversity work is even higher [now].”
Signaling race/ethnicity, loyalty and progressive ideals:
“[DEI] Statements…invite applicants to identify themselves by race, ethnicity, gender, etc., thereby priming search committee members by flagging features that are supposed to be irrelevant in a job search… [the statements are also] a signal of loyalty to administrators, fellow institutions and donors…progressive ideals on DEI reliably signals an applicant’s loyalties… How you write about diversity will be a reliable indicator about how you think and teach and vote on a wide range of other issues.”
What is the result?
“Even setting aside questions of whether it’s legal to require diversity statements at public schools (arguably not) and whether doing so helps students (there’s no evidence that it does), doing so likely contributes to the further intellectual polarization of the academy…That’s something that should worry anyone interested in building communities that are trustworthy, intellectually diverse and vibrant.”
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