Whenever someone asks, “Is wokeness growing or abating?”, I always say “growing.” True, more people are speaking up against “wokeness” (which I loosely define as performative “Social Justice” that accomplishes virtually nothing), but yet it’s still spreading quickly through American institutions. In fact, it’s spread so widely that it almost seems like a parody of itself, so much so that it’s often hard to tell wokeness from satires on wokeness.
Here’s one example: a job advertised in the Chronicle of Higher Education for an “assistant professor of literacy” at California State University at Fullerton (CSUF). The relevant department is “The Department of Literacy and Reading Education.”
Click below to read the ad (and weep):
The entire ad involves the University patting itself on the back for being diverse and promoting diversity, and the diversity requirements (including a detailed statement that’s probably illegal) far outstrip all other professional qualifications.
Excerpts from the ad (emphases are mine)
The Department of Literacy and Reading Education at California State University, Fullerton, invites applications for a tenure‐track assistant professor position in foundations of literacy (PK-12), as well as literacy leadership, with appointment to begin Fall 2024.
California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) is a minority-serving institution and an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. CSUF is firmly committed to increasing the diversity of the campus community and the curriculum, and to fostering the Guiding Principles of Social Justice as well as an inclusive environment within which students, staff, administrators and faculty thrive. Candidates who can contribute to this goal through their teaching, research, advising, and other activities are encouraged to identify their strengths and experiences in this area. Individuals advancing the University’s strategic diversity goals and those from groups whose underrepresentation in the American professoriate has been severe and longstanding are particularly encouraged to apply.
CSUF is committed to retaining all faculty and has established affinity groups you can join to support your success.
Yes, CSUF could serve minorities, but is that the same thing as being a “minority-serving institution”? Who knows? But the ad was posted about a week before the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action on the basis of race, and, at any rate, that form of affirmative action has been outlawed in California for a long time.
And what are the “Guiding Principles of Social Justice”? Ten to one this demands adherence to a specific ideology, a form of compelled speech that is also illegal.
“Affinity groups” are sex-specific or, more often, ethnicity-specific groups for say, only Hispanics, only blacks, only Asians, and so on. (It goes without saying that there are no “white affinity groups”.) The invitation for the candidate to join one of these groups presumes that the candidate should be from a minority ethnic group. That requirement is also illegal, but this is a sneaky way to practice affirmative action when hiring.
You can read the ad for yourself, and unless I miss my guess, most readers will find it very like a parody. Just for completeness, here are the requirements for applying. I’ve put everything referring to diversity, including the detailed requirements for a diversity statement, in bold:
Application
- A complete on‐line application must be received by electronic submission to be considered. To apply, please visit http://hr.fullerton.edu/careers/Faculty.php, choose full-time faculty, search for position 529407, and provide the following required materials:
- cover letter of application in which you respond to the required and preferred qualifications
- curriculum vitae
- teaching philosophy statement
- Unofficial graduate school transcripts
- statement on commitment to just, equitable and inclusive education (see below)
- This statement provides the candidate’s unique perspective on their past and present contributions to and future aspirations for promoting diversity, inclusion, and social justice in their professional careers. The purpose of this statement is to help the department identify candidates who have professional experience, intellectual commitments, and/or willingness to engage in activities that could help CSUF contribute to its mission in these areas.Diversity is a defining feature of California’s past, present, and future. Increasing the diversity of our educators to better reflect the population of California is just one aspect of the College of Education’s dedication to just, equitable and inclusive education. Diversity refers to the variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic region, and more.All College of Education students leave with a perspective that recognizes, honors, and respects the knowledge and strengths all learners bring from their communities and identities. This perspective is known as Just Equitable and Inclusive Education (JEIE) and is evident in all our programs. College of Education students use this perspective to make community-based assets an integral component of curricular and pedagogical development to enhance academic success. In this way, our students learn to value and draw upon students’ backgrounds not only to support them in developing skills leading to success in the broader society, but also as a mechanism to transform our schools and communities. We believe that all faculty and staff who work for the College must share these same commitments.The diversity statement should focus on your commitment to a Just, Equitable and Inclusive Education. The diversity statement will be assessed based on knowledge, experience, application, and expertise as it relates to JEIE. The strongest statement will have an emphasis on the intersectionality between JEIE and a social identity or marker (social class, race, gender, sexual orientation, language, etc.)This statement can take several different forms and should address at least one of the following
- Your contributions to advancing principles focused on JEIE.
- How you incorporate principles of JEIE into your instructional practices, your research and/or service activities.
- How you have personally experienced JEIE.
- Your experiences and/or qualifications that enhance your ability to work with diverse students, faculty, parents, and community stakeholders
- a list of three references with relevant contact information
Of the 533 words in the list of candidate qualifications, 396, or 74%, refer to what they call the required “statement on commitment to just, equitable and inclusive education”. This is just a fancy and duplicitous way of saying “diversity statement” without using those hot-button words. But then at the end they slip up and say this:
The diversity statement should focus on your commitment to a Just, Equitable and Inclusive Education. The diversity statement will be assessed based on knowledge, experience, application, and expertise as it relates to JEIE.
So it is a diversity statement after all! Note too that one of the job qualifications is this:
Demonstrated experience in anti-racist teaching and in the preparation of professionals who model and advocate for just, equitable, and inclusive education.
Tell me that this is not asking the candidate to conform to a specific form of ideological “antiracism”. (Hint: it’s closer to Kendi than King.)
Similarly, note that they’re clever in how they define diversity:
Diversity refers to the variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic region, and more.
So you might think they’re simply looking for viewpoint diversity, which is fine. But I don’t believe them. They are looking for ethnic diversity, pure and simple, but can’t get away with saying it straight out, because it’s illegal. Note that they could simply say “ideological and viewpoint diversity” above without going into detail, but then they couldn’t mention ableism, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and all the things that make CSUF look virtuous.
Finally, I got this ad from Luana Maroja, and after I wrote the above I asked her for her take, which she gave me and allowed me to publish with her permission. Note that there is some overlap, but not too much, between her comments and mine.
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Luana’s comments:
Here are my impressions (words in italics are copied directly from the ad):
“CSUF is firmly committed to increasing the diversity of the campus community and the curriculum, and to fostering the Guiding Principles of Social Justice”
What are the guiding principles of Social Justice? This can mean many things – from “ungrading” courses to allowing people to express their opinions freely.
“Individuals advancing the University’s strategic diversity goals and those from groups whose underrepresentation in the American professoriate has been severe and longstanding are particularly encouraged to apply.”
Here they make clear that they are not really a “equal opportunity employer” as they state earlier.
In the qualifications section they implement more ideological biases, which don’t seem to be crucial to success in this current job (they appear instead to be ideological litmus tests):
“Demonstrated advocacy for, or experience working with intersecting social groups and communities historically underserved and marginalized by educational policies and practices”
“Demonstrated experience in anti-racist teaching and in the preparation of professionals who model and advocate for just, equitable, and inclusive education”
They initially dump the term “diversity statement” and replace it with “statement on commitment to just, equitable and inclusive education (see below)” I guess this is possibly to distract people who are concerned with “diversity statements”. . . But then they forget to remove diversity statement further down (see below).
Notice that here they do not mention “diversity of political views“, which is one aspect which really enhances diversity which I am sure the college lacks:
“Diversity is a defining feature of California’s past, present, and future. Increasing the diversity of our educators to better reflect the population of California is just one aspect of the College of Education’s dedication to just, equitable and inclusive education. Diversity refers to the variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic region, and more.”
Once again the emphasis is on identity politics:
“All College of Education students leave with a perspective that recognizes, honors, and respects the knowledge and strengths all learners bring from their communities and identities. This perspective is known as Just Equitable and Inclusive Education (JEIE) and is evident in all our programs.”
Finally, here they forget they should not be using the term “diversity statement” and don’t use the euphemistic term from earlier in the ad:
“The diversity statement should focus on your commitment to a Just, Equitable and Inclusive Education. The diversity statement will be assessed based on knowledge, experience, application, and expertise as it relates to JEIE. The strongest statement will have an emphasis on the intersectionality between JEIE and a social identity or marker (social class, race, gender, sexual orientation, language, etc.)”
So, overall this is such an over-the-top litmus test that one does not even need to read the whole ad to know that. It will discourage any non-woke or even white person to from applying. It also reduces the pool of candidates, which is never a good idea as this might overlook talent. And talent is really needed given how poorly minorities are doing in CA.