The University of Michigan has ditched its controversial diversity hiring rules, following a vote by board members.
Under its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy, the university had required staff to discuss how they would advance diversity when applying for jobs, promotion and tenure. It was viewed by critics as a way to evade the ban in place on affirmative action.
“As we pursue this challenging and complex work, we will continuously refine our approach” to DEI, said Laurie McCauley, the university provost, following the ruling.
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Ms McCauley announced the decision following a landmark report from an eight-member faculty working group, which examined the use of DEI statements across multiple universities and surveyed nearly 2,000 faculty members.
Commissioned in June, the review found that “diversity statements have the potential to limit viewpoints and reduce diversity of thought among faculty members”.
It added that most faculty members surveyed believed diversity statements “put pressure on faculty to express specific positions on moral, political or social issues”.
‘Watershed moment’
John D Sailer, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, called Michigan’s decision a “watershed moment”.
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The about-turn comes as the university’s regents consider a broader overhaul of its sweeping DEI programmes.
The statements have proliferated in recent years in states such as Michigan and California, where hiring based on racial preferences is prohibited.
Despite laws banning affirmative action, there have been multiple reports of job applicants being eliminated from consideration based solely on their diversity statements.
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, at least nine states have banned diversity statements, with universities in Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin putting an end to the practice last year.
Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have also ditched the statements.
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One of the university’s diversity programmes required candidates to state how they would advance diversity through research into “race, gender, diversity, equity and inclusion,” “significant academic achievement in the face of barriers” or “commitment to allyhood through learning about structural inequities”, according to The New York Times.
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A strategy document for the university’s botanical gardens and arboretum warned against using the traditional combination of an English name and Latin name on plaques next to its plants, amid concerns they could erase “other forms of knowing”.
* Original Article:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/12/06/university-of-michigan-ditches-woke-dei-hiring-rules/
