Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
The other day, taking as my source the publisher of the MIT-centered satirical site The Babbling Beaver, I reported on the Beaver’s claim that MIT had become the first major university to ban diversity statements. Although the site is snarky and not every assertion it makes is true, the publisher affirmed that this one was. … Continue reading MIT’s banning of diversity statements now official
This piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education discusses an issue we’ve taken up here before: is it legal to require applicants for university jobs to submit DEI statements? The piece gives both sides of the argument, although I’ve long thought that such statements should be always be illegal on two grounds: they are irrelevant … Continue reading The legality of diversity statements
Yes, this is an op-ed from the Wall Street Journal, but if you neglect all of their op-eds, which of course lean right, it will still be your loss. Click to read (it’s archived here). It shows that the NIH—and not for the first time—is requiring diversity statements to hire researchers, a requirement that may … Continue reading The National Institutes of Health adopt possibly illegal tactic of using “diversity statements” when funding new positions
It was inevitable that when universities began requiring diversity statements for prospective faculty, postdocs, and grad students, sites would pop up telling you how to write a good statement. (Some places will even charge to help you!) This site, from the MIT Communication Lab (click on screenshot below) is fairly extensive, covering not only the … Continue reading MIT tells prospective faculty how to write a successful diversity statement
Even if you’re in favor of efforts to increase diversity in colleges and organizations, as I am, and favor some form of affirmative action, as I do, that doesn’t mean you should endorse the use of “diversity statements” when applying for jobs and promotions, which I don’t. They are an affirmation of political fealty which … Continue reading The Academic Freedom Alliance denounces required diversity statements for academic positions
Several readers sent me the article in The Atlantic below by Conor Friedersdorf, who regularly criticizes woke statements and initiatives in that popular magazine, and is thus on the road to being demonized as an alt-righter or even a Nazi. But, as usual, he takes a heterodox but eminently reasonable stand on an issue regarded … Continue reading Conor Friedersdorf on why mandatory diversity statements for academic hires are both wrong and hypocritical
Clearly a lot of people feel that there’s good reason for academics applying for their first job to include “diversity statements” in their application package, for this is becoming de rigueur for nearly every place except the University of Chicago. And even here we “encourage” applicants to discuss how they’d address the issue of teaching … Continue reading A woke person opposed to diversity statements
I’m not sure whether this new requirement is legal, since the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the flagship campus of a state (governmental school), but that University is now, according to Inside Higher Education (IHE), beginning to require diversity statements for all faculty members who want to be considered for tenure or promotion (and … Continue reading University of Illinois now requires diversity statements for tenure and promotion
