The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced this month that it has stopped using diversity statements for faculty hiring. While several public universities in red states have already done the same, MIT was the first elite private college in a blue state to make such a move. However, it may be too little too late to salvage elite universities’ reputation as one of the most illiberal places in America.
In recent years, American colleges and universities have fully embraced the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) ideology. They have spent enormous resources to build up DEI bureaucracy on campuses, often at the expense of academic excellence, and embedded DEI in many aspects of the college administration, including hiring. One of the most controversial DEI initiatives requires a DEI statement from anyone applying for a faculty position. The DEI statement typically includes three elements:…
