• UCLA accounting lecturer Gordon Klein was placed on leave and banned from campus after refusing to grade black students more leniently in the wake of the George Floyd protests.
• After a counter-petition signed by more than 76,000 people, Klein was allowed to return to the classroom.
• The principles of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) have become guiding principles in higher education, valued as equal to or even more important than the basic function of the university.
• DEI has become a priority for many of the organizations that accredit universities, and universities are pressured to adopt DEI measures.
• College students are now required to take DEI, anti-racism, or social justice courses, and DEI is becoming a de facto academic discipline.
• Faculty position listings at universities across the country illustrate how a focus on race, gender, social justice, and critical theory can be crucial to landing a job.
• DEI initiatives are becoming increasingly prevalent in higher education, with many universities now considering faculty members’ contributions to DEI as a criterion for hiring, promotion, and tenure.
• The federal government is also doing its part to infuse DEI into the sciences, with the Department of Energy’s Office of Science mandating that all new research proposals include a Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research (PIER) Plan.
• This fixation on DEI can have a stultifying effect on medical research, and eventually medical care, as it crowds out other, more consequential areas of scientific research.
• Jonathan Haidt, a professor of ethical leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business, has warned about this redefinition of racism and the rise of ideological groupthink in academia.
• Organizations such as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and the National Association of Scholars have issued numerous statements opposing DEI requirements that violate the First Amendment.
Published January 9, 2023. Visit The Free Press to read the original post.