UMich ends required DEI statements in hiring — but stops short of cutting funds to DEI programs
Jennifer Kabbany - Fix Editor •December 5, 2024
The University of Michigan on Thursday announced it will no longer require diversity statements in faculty hiring, promotion and tenure decisions — but several members of its Board of Regents at their monthly meeting denied reports they plan to cut DEI spending at this time.
In announcing the decision on diversity statements by Provost Laurie McCauley, campus leaders pointed out that most faculty surveyed “agreed that diversity statements put pressure on faculty to express specific positions on moral, political or social issues.”
The top-down decision means different departments can no longer formulate their own rules on diversity statements, as had been the practice.
“Critics of diversity statements perceive them as expressions of personal identity traits, support of specific ideology or opinions on socially-relevant issues, and serve as a ‘litmus test’ of whether a faculty member’s views are politically acceptable,” according to a faculty working group. “Thus, as currently enacted, diversity statements have the potential to limit viewpoints and reduce diversity of thought among faculty members.”
As for the DEI funding issue, some “regents have indicated they are likely to seek cuts to the school’s large D.E.I. bureaucracy to offset the expansion, though those decisions will not be finalized until Michigan formulates its next annual budget,” the New York Times reported.
At least two regents said rumors that there are plans to make major cuts at Thursday’s meeting to the institution’s DEI spending are false.
But the rumors had prompted protests — including one outside the meeting room Thursday. Several speakers during public comment implored the board to retain DEI programs, calling them an important and vital safety net and support for students of color.
Keith Riles, a longtime physics professor at the University of Michigan, is the one person who spoke against DEI during public comment, calling it a “particularly toxic form of affirmative action because of its relentless focus on grievance ideology.”
He also accused the Board of Regents of allowing on campus a variety of illegal programs that purposely overlook white and Asian males to favor of other identity groups.
He told the regents “this university is one lawsuit away from another humiliating trip to the U.S. or perhaps Michigan Supreme Court. … All it takes is one person with legal standing, and I suspect there are several hundred if not thousands who have that legal standing.”
Riles told the regents they are culpable because they “signed off on these programs, including the $15 million-plus per year that is squandered on the salaries of DEI administrators who collectively have done more harm than good.”
Riles is one of many critics of the university’s behemoth, $250 million 10-year-old DEI bureaucracy. Earlier this year, The Fix reported that UMich employs nearly 250 employees focused on DEI with payroll costs exceeding $30 million annually. UMich DEI efforts have included a DEI manager for its botanical garden and a $100,000 hip-hop performance party for its DEI 2.0 launch.
Regent Sarah Hubbard on Sunday had told Fox News that the Board of Regents will consider cutting diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices and programming after its DEI efforts have faced intense “scrutiny.”
Hubbard posted on X on Thursday that the university is “making moves in the right direction to signal to the world we’re open for business for students and families from all walks of life.”
“We’re removing barriers to diversity of thought and I expect this will bring more points of view to our faculty. This sends a message to everyone about our need to be intentional regarding a variety of opinions on issues of the day,” she wrote.
MORE: UMich regent: Board re-thinking DEI statements, programs after intense ‘scrutiny’
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