{"id":2211821,"date":"2024-04-02T21:10:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T01:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/harvard-professor-calls-to-end-mandatory-dei-statements\/"},"modified":"2024-04-02T21:10:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T01:10:27","slug":"harvard-professor-calls-to-end-mandatory-dei-statements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/harvard-professor-calls-to-end-mandatory-dei-statements\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvard professor advocates for abolishing required DEI declarations"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fharvard-professor-calls-to-end-mandatory-dei-statements%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2211821&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Harvard Law \u2062School professor Randall \u200dL. Kennedy criticized mandatory diversity, equity, and \u200cinclusion (DEI) \u200cstatements as &#8220;ideological pledges of allegiance,&#8221; \u2062highlighting concerns about academic \u200cfreedom. Kennedy argued against compelling\u200b professors to conform to DEI \u2063ideology, emphasizing the impact on free expression and diversity of thought within academia. He raised questions about\u2063 the coercive nature of DEI requirements and their implications for scholarly independence.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/harvard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Harvard<\/a> Law School professor Randall L. Kennedy called on Tuesday for the end of mandatory <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dei\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>diversity, equity, and inclusion<\/a> statements, calling them \u201cideological pledges of allegiance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy wrote an op-ed as part of a Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard calling out DEI ideology and the practice of forcing prospective <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>professors<\/a> to submit a statement describing their \u201corientation toward diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy requiring academics to profess \u2014 and flaunt \u2014 faith in DEI, the proliferation of diversity statements poses a profound challenge to academic freedom,\u201d Kennedy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/column\/council-on-academic-freedom-at-harvard\/article\/2024\/4\/2\/kennedy-abandon-dei-statements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>wrote<\/a> Tuesday, even while describing himself as \u201ca scholar on the left committed to struggles for social justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy overreaching, by resorting to compulsion, by forcing people to toe a political line, by imposing ideological litmus tests, by incentivizing insincerity, and by creating a circular mode of discourse that is seemingly impervious to self-questioning, the current DEI regime is discrediting itself,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>The piece comes as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2944165\/harvard-sees-small-drop-in-applications-as-it-weathers-controversy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Harvard has taken heat<\/a> over the past several months regarding antisemitism, plagiarism, and affirmative action loopholes, all of which have seen critics blame DEI ideology at some level for their outgrowth.<\/p>\n<p>Using an application from Harvard\u2019s Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Kennedy noted a requirement to answer several questions signaling both belief in the ideology and action taken on its behalf. \u201cHow does your research engage with and advance the well-being of socially marginalized communities?\u201d one question he cited asks, while another asks, \u201cDo you know how the following operate in the academy: implicit bias, different forms of privilege, (settler-)colonialism, systemic and interpersonal racism, homophobia, heteropatriarchy, and ableism?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDEI statements will essentially constitute pledges of allegiance that enlist academics into the DEI movement by dint of soft-spoken but real coercion: If you want the job or the promotion, play ball \u2014 or else,\u201d the law professor wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy went on to describe the stranglehold the DEI bureaucracy has on academic freedom, such as creating an inability to question its importance and discouraging conservative thought in academia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn addition to exerting pressure towards leftist conformity, the process of eliciting diversity statements abets cynicism,\u201d he said. \u201cDetractors reasonably suspect that underneath the uncontroversial aspirations for diversity statements \u2014 facilitating a more open and welcoming environment for everyone \u2014 are controversial goals including the weeding out of candidates who manifest opposition to or show insufficient enthusiasm for the DEI regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy\u2019s piece ran in tandem with the opposing viewpoint, as is the practice of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard. That piece, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/column\/council-on-academic-freedom-at-harvard\/article\/2024\/4\/2\/hall-dont-eliminate-improve\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>authored<\/a> by philosophy professor and Council co-president Edward J. Hall, argued not to \u201celiminate\u201d but rather to \u201cimprove\u201d DEI.<\/p>\n<p>However, Hall did criticize the ideological origins of the hiring practices as when the \u201cpost-modernism-infested corners of academia, began to break out into the mainstream,\u201d where \u201cone began to hear pronouncements like: \u2018The teacher who refuses to interrogate the structures of oppression within which they operate will merely reproduce those structures in their classroom\u2019; \u2018the best teachers enable students to find their own truths\u2019; \u2018the very distinction between \u2018teacher\u2019 and \u2018student\u2019 enacts systemic violence.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorse, the radical theories lurking behind such pronouncements began to affect college and university governance,\u201d Hall continued.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hall argued that diversity statements themselves should not be the target of frustration with DEI, defining them simply as a \u201cstatement describing [a candidate\u2019s] approach to teaching.\u201d He touted the purpose of the Council, which places high importance on \u201clearning to treat with intellectual seriousness and honesty the wide range of ideas and perspectives that live within our diverse community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we should direct that anger at its proper target: not diversity statements themselves, but rather the horribly\u00a0distorted view\u00a0that has taken hold about what they should contain,\u201d Hall concluded.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harvard Law School professor Randall L. Kennedy urged the cessation of compulsory diversity, equity, and inclusion statements, denouncing them as &#8220;ideological pledges of allegiance.&#8221; In an op-ed for the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard, Kennedy criticized DEI ideology and the requirement for potential professors to provide such statements<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2211822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/iStock-1405261196-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2211821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/iStock-1405261196-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2211821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2211822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2211821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2211821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2211821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}