The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued a new statement last week proposing standards for diversity, equity, and inclusion in what it calls “faculty evaluation.”
The statement specifically references the DEI statement as a useful tool for increasing and sustaining faculty diversity and champions critical race theory and gender studies.
“Universities will leverage DEI standards, including the DEI Statement, which requires faculty to demonstrate the professional competencies needed to realize diversity goals, including recruiting and retaining historically underrepresented students.” ” the association said in one of its policy recommendations.
This association is made up of faculty members from universities across the country.
“The committee rejects the idea that the use of DEI standards in faculty evaluations is definitively inconsistent with academic freedom,” the Wednesday, Oct. 9, statement said. “On the contrary, when properly implemented according to sound standards of faculty governance, DEI standards (including the DEI Statement) will help recruit, hire, and retain a diverse faculty with the wide range of skills necessary for excellence. can be a valuable element in efforts to improve education, research, and service. ”
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Many universities require diversity statements. A 2021 study found that about a fifth of university jobs require applicants to provide such a statement.
AAUP’s statement challenges the idea that requiring faculty applicants to demonstrate a commitment to DEI is the same as requiring a comprehensive view.
“Criticisms of DEI statements and other standards often confuse social and institutional values with imposed orthodoxy,” the report says. “Blanket or abstract critiques of DEI standards fundamentally, and often intentionally, misunderstand and misrepresent this distinction.”
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Later in the statement, AAUP addresses advocacy for identity-based research.
“Such attacks portray fields and entire disciplines, including ethnic studies, critical race theory, and gender studies, as “political” and “ideological” projects rather than serious subjects and areas of research. It is important to consider mechanisms that can be easily reinforced and actually facilitated. ” is written.
A number of states, including Florida, Texas and Utah, have moved in the past year to ban public funding for diversity, equity and inclusion.
In response, the university eliminated its DEI office and stopped requiring DEI statements. ID-based student groups can no longer receive funding from public universities.
For example, the University of Alabama’s student government eliminated the “Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” and replaced it with the “Vice Provost for Belonging and Wellness.”
Campus Reform has reached out to the American Association of University Professors for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.
