Posted on Thursday, December 12, 2024
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by Andrew Shirley
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0 Comments
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In the latest blow to “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) programming, the University of Michigan announced earlier this month that it would no longer require DEI statements as part of hiring decisions and is considering a “broader shift” away from DEI policies.
Michigan’s reversal is particularly noteworthy because the school has been a trailblazer in the DEI space, pouring a staggering $250 million into DEI initiatives and hiring some 241 employees to work in DEI offices over the past decade. Since 2016, every graduate of the university has been forced to attend DEI trainings or produce a DEI statement, and every university “unit” is required to have a DEI plan.
The practice of requiring diversity statements in admissions and hiring, a policy employed by Michigan and a majority of other colleges and universities, has become particularly controversial following the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
While the Court in that case ruled that race-based affirmative action programs violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, critics have contended that requiring “diversity statements” is a loophole for administrators to still consider the race of applicants when making decisions for admission or hiring. As detailed by The Chronicle of Higher Education, job candidates are often eliminated from consideration based solely on their diversity statements.
DEI advocates have long insisted that DEI requirements promote a “sense of belonging” and make everything from university campuses to private businesses more “welcoming” for minorities. But a bombshell New York Times investigative report into Michigan’s DEI regime released this October points to precisely the opposite conclusion.
“In a survey released in late 2022, students and faculty members across the board reported a less positive campus climate than at the [DEI] program’s start and less of a sense of belonging,” the Times notes. “Students were less likely to interact with people of a different race or religion or with different politics—the exact kind of engagement DEI programs, in theory, are meant to foster.”
Far from promoting a sense of community on campus, Michigan’s aggressive DEI programming coincided with an explosion in race and gender-based tensions. “Everyday campus complaints and academic disagreements are now cast as crises of inclusion and harm,” the Times writes, stating that DEI has “helped fuel a culture of grievance.”
Perhaps most damningly of all, Michigan’s quarter-of-a-billion-dollar investment in DEI hasn’t even led to an uptick in Black enrollment – a major stated goal of the program. In a state where 14 percent of the population is Black, the percentage of Black students at the school has remained largely stagnant.
Following the initial Times report in October, Michigan said that it had no plans to back down from its support for DEI. Less than two months later, however, the university has done just that. Along with removing the requirement for diversity statements, Michigan reportedly plans to shift a significant portion of its DEI budget “into recruitment programs and tuition guarantees for lower-income students.”
Michigan is hardly alone in its shift away from DEI. In 2023, public university systems in Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin all stopped requiring diversity statements. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences have also discontinued the practice.
The University of North Carolina system, headquartered in Chapel Hill, will also no longer require each school to submit annual DEI reports, and the board recently voted to divert $2.3 million away from DEI programs. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill last year banning DEI programs on state college campuses. In Florida, the state government passed a law limiting public funding for DEI, resulting in the University of Florida system gutting its DEI program.
Even outside of the education space, DEI appears to be in retreat. Walmart recently announced that it will be rolling back its DEI policies. Along with not renewing a five-year commitment for a so-called “racial equity center” the world’s largest employer also will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers based on race and sex. Walmart also told The Associated Press that the company will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors.
Other major American companies, including Ford, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, and Tractor Supply have also reversed course on their DEI policies after facing intense backlash from customers.
After years in which DEI was a seemingly untouchable force in American culture, these developments suggest conservatives may finally be turning the tide in the war on woke.
Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.
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