Are DEI Mandates for University Faculties a Bad Idea?

Open to Debate

Education, Society & Culture, News, Government, Politics

4.5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

More American colleges are adopting DEI as a core value, affecting professors' tenure, hiring, and promotion. Has what was intended as solidarity turned into a “loyalty oath”? Those who agree say evaluations based on DEI statements harm professors who may not embrace an agenda, affecting academic freedom. Those disagreeing say the statements aren’t intended to push a viewpoint but to reward a professor’s actions. Now we debate: “Are DEI Mandates for University Faculties a Bad Idea? Arguing Yes: Randall L. Kennedy, Professor at Harvard Law School Arguing No: Brian Soucek, Law Professor and Chancellor's Fellow at University of California, Davis Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is open to debate. I'm John Donbent and here's a flashback relevant to the topic we're taking on today.
0:08.0	About 75 years ago, American universities went through what was considered a very bad patch in terms
0:14.1	of academic freedom.
0:15.8	It was the early days of the Cold War.
0:18.1	There was a hunt on for communists in the United States to expose them and oust them from
0:22.3	positions of influence.
0:24.1	And in the arena of higher education, this led to requiring faculty and aspiring faculty
0:29.4	to sign what were called loyalty oaths.
0:31.7	These were documents in which they would
0:33.0	forswear any association with the Communist Party, past or future, and also
0:36.4	pledge allegiance to the Constitution in the United States. Take the oath or
0:40.4	lose your job. That was the deal. Well today we are hearing accusations
0:44.8	that loyalty oaths are making a comeback but communism is not part of this
0:48.3	conversation. Instead it is DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion, a trio of goals that are framed as a way to create
0:57.2	more supportive campus environments for those who come from groups seen as previously
1:01.1	marginalized by American academia.
1:03.5	To move toward this goal,
1:05.5	hiring practices at a growing number of colleges and universities
1:09.0	is said to be about 20% of schools right now,
1:11.0	are requiring job applicants to complete what is called a DEI statement
1:15.5	where they are asked to detail the ways in which in the past and in the future they plan
1:20.4	to exercise DEI values in educating students and teaching and mentoring them.
	...

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