How DEI Is Supplanting Truth as the Mission of American Universities

The principles commonly known as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are meant to sound like a promise to provide welcome and opportunity to all on campus. And to the ordinary American, those values sound virtuous and unobjectionable.

But many working in academia increasingly understand that they instead imply a set of controversial political and social views. And that in order to advance in their careers, they must demonstrate fealty to vague and ever-expanding DEI demands and to the people who enforce them. Failing to comply, or expressing doubt or concern, means risking career ruin. 

In a short time, DEI imperatives have spawned a growing bureaucracy that holds enormous power within universities. The ranks of DEI vice presidents, deans, and officers are ever-growing Princeton has more than 70 administrators devoted to DEI; Ohio State has 132. They now take part in dictating things like hiring, promotion, tenure, and research funding.

More significantly, the concepts of DEI have become guiding principles in higher education, valued as equal to or even more important than the basic function of the university: the rigorous pursuit of truth. Summarizing its hiring practices, for example, UC Berkeley s College of Engineering declared that excellence in advancing equity and inclusion must be considered on par with excellence in research and teaching. Likewise, in an article describing their cultural change initiative, several deans at Mount Sinai s Icahn School of Medicine declared: There is no priority in medical education that is more important than addressing and eliminating racism and bias.  

via www.thefp.com

So sad and so true.