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diversity



  • Texas Legislation Takes Aim at University DEI Programs

    The legislature would prohibit the operation of DEI offices on public campuses in Texas and maintain a list of university staff who violate the law, with consequences for employment. 



  • The Three Little Letters that Have DeSantis on the Attack

    by Khalil Gibran Muhammad and Erica Licht

    By defunding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs in Florida's colleges, the governor is putting the state out of step with research-driven findings about how institutions and workplaces can incorporate diverse populations like Florida's – students, campuses and employers will pay the price for political posturing. 



  • Yes, DEI Can Conflict with Academic Freedom—and Academic Freedom Should Win

    by Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron Snyder

    Many scholars have crafted careful rationales for why free inquiry and formal policies on inclusion can coexist peacefully. The Hamline University incident shows that, in a moment of crisis, administrators won't deliberate, but will follow a policy script in ways that disempower faculty, infantilize students, and become blunt instruments for reactionaries.



  • Miami Was Once a Model for Diversity Training—But it was Always Controversial

    by Catherine Mas

    Beginning in the 1970s, Miami-Dade County led the way in exploring ways to train health and human services professionals to interact with the area's diverse populations with respect and effective communication. The conflicts exploited by the "Stop WOKE" Act date back to this period. 



  • The Defeat of Identity Politics

    by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

    Philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò argues that the rhetoric of diversity has allowed an "elite capture" of racial justice movements that strips those movements of the impulse to transform society. Historian Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor reviews his new book of essays.



  • Can Affirmative Action Survive the Supreme Court?

    by Nicholas Lemann

    The moderate Republican appointee has always served as the Justice to protect modest versions of affirmative action. What will happen in a pending case now that such Justices are gone from the court? The historical trajectory of supposedly meritocratic admissions offers clues.



  • Social Fissures have Made Building a Broad Liberal Coalition Hard for 50 Years

    by Steven M. Gillon

    Hostility toward the welfare state, frequently driven by the idea that government programs unfairly benefit minorities at the expense of whites, has prevented the Democratic party from consolidating a political majority for decades. Worshipping fallen heroes like Robert Kennedy obscures the political work needed to build and keep a coalition.



  • Higher Ed’s Shameful Silence on Diversity

    by Hasan Kwame Jeffries

    Right-wing diatribes about diversity training often ended with a call for Trump to issue an executive order banning federal agencies from holding them. So it was not unexpected when, on September 22, Trump signed an executive order forbidding diversity training within the government.



  • Princeton, Betsy DeVos, And The Need For a Real Debate About Race

    by Jonathan Zimmerman

    Although the Department of Education investigation of Princeton is likely in bad faith, Jonathan Zimmerman contends that Princeton's self-flagellation about its institutional racism reflects a rising orthodoxy, not a deep debate about how the university operates.


  • The "Critical Race Theory" Controversy Continues

    Florida's legislature is working to implement the agenda laid out by Governor Ron DeSantis, including eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives and putting control of faculty hiring in the hands of university presidents, not faculty.