Under the pressure from faculty and staff, Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences will be eliminating a requirement for applicants for tenure-track positions to submit a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) statement. The move is aimed at protecting the enthusiasm of conservative applicants.
According to the Harvard Crimson, Nina Zipser, the Dean for Administration and Planning, announced this change on Monday, June 3rd, in response to numerous faculty and staff members expressing concerns that the previous requirement could be confusing for international applicants, who might feel the scope of information collection was too narrow.
In defending the new policy, Zipser wrote, “This broader perspective will recognize the contributions faculty have made to the academic community in various ways, including efforts to increase diversity, inclusivity, and sense of belonging.”
Under the new policy, final applicants will be required to submit two documents – one focusing on “efforts to enhance the academic community” and another regarding teaching and mentoring, explaining how they will help create a learning environment that “encourages students to ask questions and share viewpoints.”
According to the Boston Globe, Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (including undergraduate schools and some graduate schools) began requiring faculty to submit DEI statements five years ago. Critics argue that these statements are a way to test applicants’ political leanings.
Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy has raised objections to DEI statements, accusing them of demanding candidates to “pledge allegiance to some ideological position,” which he says challenges academic freedom.
As a Black scholar, Kennedy wrote in the Harvard Crimson, “I am a left-leaning scholar committed to fighting for social justice, yet the reality exemplified by mandatory DEI statements frightens me, and demands for them should be rejected, whether at Harvard or elsewhere.”
He added, “It is not hard to see that DEI statements tend to heavily favor various left-leaning academic perspectives and subtly suppress applicants with conservative leanings.”
Former Harvard University President Claudine Gay was not only dismissed over allegations of plagiarism but also faced criticism during her tenure for the rise of anti-Semitism and the implementation of the DEI policy.
Vivian Hunt, the newly elected Chair of Harvard’s Board of Overseers (term from June 2024 to June 2025), is a proponent of DEI initiatives, giving her the power to weigh in on the selection of the next Harvard President.
In a 2020 interview, Hunt advocated against neutrality on equality. She said, “A neutral position of meritocracy and equality isn’t good enough; it perpetuates biases within our system. Instead, you must actively create an anti-racist environment.”
(Adapted from a report by The Telegraph)