[Woke loyalty test...] UMass Boston ditches 'litmus test' demand for new professors to back DEI

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://nypost.com/2023/12/01/opinion/umass-boston-ditches-demand-for-new-
professors-to-back-dei/

Want a job at the University of Massachusetts Boston? Well, until
recently, you’d have to pledge your commitment to Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion first.

The worrying requirement came to light in a job ad, requiring would-be
assistant professors in computer science to write a “diversity statement
that reflects [their] commitment to diversity equity and inclusion” as
part of their job application.

And applicants for a lecturer position in the department of health science
were required to demonstrate a commitment “to support[ing] our goal of
ensuring an inclusive, equitable, and diverse workplace and educational
environment.”

That’s a political litmus test if I’ve ever seen one.

Thankfully, the school has quietly dropped the requirement, after being
called out by First Amendment watchdog group the Foundation for Individual
Rights and Expression (FIRE).

Required DEI statements, according to FIRE, “encroach on faculty’s First
Amendment right not to adopt prescribed views.”

“Their subjective criteria could easily also be abused to penalize
applicants with minority, dissenting, or even simply nuanced views on DEI-
related issues that may not dovetail perfectly with the university’s
goals,” FIRE program officer Haley Gluhanich wrote in a letter to the
university.

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/dei-computer-
science-job-posting-73108950.jpg?quality=75&strip=all

FIRE
FIRE’s right. Requiring professors to profess allegiance to vague and
highly-politicized concepts of “equity” and “inclusion” is undoubtedly an
infringement upon their academic freedom.

Besides, what exactly does DEI have to do with computer science?

In my book “The Canceling of the American Mind,” my co-author Greg
Lukianoff and I argue that it’s about time all colleges drop required DEI
statements.

“To any sensible person, a statement requiring you to explain your
commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is a political litmus
test,” Lukianoff, who serves as president and CEO of FIRE, told The Post.
“There is literally no way that’s not being abused as a way to evaluate
someone’s politics.”

Although promoting “diversity” sounds like a laudable goal on face value,
the DEI bureaucracy that’s taken over college campuses and corporations
alike is divisive.

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/2021-02-23-coca-
cola-15067113.jpg?resize=1024,682&quality=75&strip=all

A controversial diversity training provided to Coca Cola employees urged
workers to be “less white.”
Champions of DEI can be hugely alienating, like “White Fragility” author
Robin DiAngelo who advised people of color to “get away from white people”
and diversity consultants who instructed Coca Cola employees on how to “be
less white.”

I’ve seen this firsthand. When I was 14, my classmates and I were divided
into “affinity groups” based on race and segregated into separate
buildings to discuss our experiences — all in the name of “equity.”

Even as a young teen, I already felt alienated by DEI. No doubt professors
seeking employment may feel the same — but they may also feel pressured to
betray their conscience for the sake of securing a paycheck.

No college or university that purports to protect the free speech and free
conscience of their faculty should require a commitment to any concept or
philosophy — let alone one that’s so controversial.

UMass Boston dropping the requirement is a victory for academic freedom,
but that’s only a start.

A 2022 survey of large colleges by the American Association of University
Professors found that 46% use DEI criteria in the tenure-granting process.

Another survey conducted by FIRE also showed that half of professors agree
that DEI statements are political litmus tests that violate academic
freedom.

And they’re correct that viewpoint discrimination really is happening in
the hiring process.

A survey conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, found that
76% of applicants for a professorship in life sciences were eliminated
from the pool solely on the basis of their diversity statements.

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/cancel-culture-
undermines-trust-threatens-
55025854.jpg?resize=674,1024&quality=75&strip=all

It’s worth asking again: how in the world does a professor’s views on DEI
impact their ability to teach students about the sciences — life, health,
computer or otherwise?

If only certain views on DEI are allowed, campuses — where merely one in
ten professors consider themselves conservative, according to recent
numbers from the Higher Education Research Institute — will undoubtedly
become even more insulated echo chambers than they already are.

“At a time when viewpoint diversity is at a historic low among professors,
to now suddenly apply a political litmus test is just nuts,” Lukianoff
said. “If anything, universities should be looking for heterodox opinions,
but they’re doubling down on conformity-inducing measures.”

Public colleges aren’t even allowed to require professors to pledge
allegiance to the United States for the sake of their freedom of
conscience — and rightfully so.

Why in the world, then, should they be able to demand a pledge to the
creed of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?


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We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

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No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
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President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
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