AFA condemns DEI statements at universities: 'Encourages cynicism and dishonesty'

The AFA opposes the growing trend of universities requiring DEI statements for applicants. Academic freedom is allegedly threatened by DEI statements, according to the AFA. DEI advocates propose integrating DEI into the hiring process to bring awareness to academic inequity and discrimination.

The AFA released a press release in August, saying, “The demand for diversity statements enlists academics into a political movement, erasing the distinction between academic expertise and ideological conformity. It encourages cynicism and dishonesty.”

According to a published press release, DEI statements should be paused until their proper use and function can be explored. 

An example of a DEI statement uses wording such as: “your experience with or knowledge of inclusion, diversity, equity, and belonging efforts and your plans for incorporating them into your teaching, research, mentoring, and service” according to the press release. 

Despite their popularity in academia, AFA believes they contain "conspicuously disturbing features."

According to AFA, applicants who must submit DEI statements will feel pressured to say what the university expects. Hiring those who will comply with or fit under specific DEI criteria is suspected by AFA to be motivated by ulterior motives. 

AFA says, “The growing regime of DEI testing through forced pledges of conformity threatens to impose a suffocating orthodoxy, penalizing expressions of DEI skepticism though such skepticism exists across a wide ideological range that includes not only right-leaning scholars but left-leaning scholars as well.” 

As a result of DEI statements, AFA believes the university's well-intentioned plan for increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion will be adversely affected.

Walter Olson wrote an article for the Cato Institute on the constitutionality of universities requiring DEI statements. Higher education institutions are increasingly requiring DEI statements from applicants for academic, administrative, and staff positions. 

DEI statements include questions about previous studies, community involvement, and cultural background, according to Olson. A candidate's belief on certain issues seems to be measured by some questions. The constitutionality of requiring such statements is discussed by Olson by UC Davis law professor Brian Soucek. 

He says those applying may be judged based on the university's position, which may compromise their academic integrity. According to Olson, such questioning could undermine First Amendment principles.

Several medical schools asked applicants to summarize their commitment to DEI or express their views on DEI, according to a report by Laura L. Morgan. In her introduction to the report, Morgan writes, “the goal, it appears, is to turn ideological support for health equity and social justice initiatives into a credential that increases an applicant’s chance of acceptance, to screen out dissenters, and to signal to all applicants that they are expected to support this new cause.” 

According to Ned Khatrechettri, internship coordinator at the University of Utah's College of Humanities, there is a particular way to implement these DEI standards and statements in universities. The article can be found on the AACU website. 

To hire faculty and staff, the University of Texas System has created Offices of DEI. UT System universities are committed to "Inclusive Hiring," according to their website. Their site says: “Recruiting, hiring and onboarding practices help reduce turnover and ensure UT System Administration has the right talent in place to help meet its initiatives in a productive and effective way.”