Conservatives have long criticized universities for using diversity statements to require job applicants to detail their efforts to improve opportunities for marginalized or underrepresented groups.
Critics have called the statements arbitrary and coercive, and one lawsuit seeking to end the practice in California has called them a “modern-day loyalty oath” harking back to a time when professors were required to denounce the Communist Party.
But the use of diversity statements continued to grow, eventually becoming a requirement for applications for teaching positions at many of the nation's most prestigious universities. That appears to be changing.
Harvard University's School of Arts and Sciences and Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently announced that they will no longer require diversity statements as part of their faculty hiring process.
The decision by two of the country's leading higher education institutions is likely to influence other universities to follow suit.
“A switch has now been flipped,” said Jeffrey S. Fryer, a former dean of Harvard Medical School. He said many of the professors on hiring committees may have hesitated to voice concerns about mandatory diversity statements in the past. “But I think the voices of the largely silent professors who have questions about the implementation of these programs, and especially these diversity statements, are being heard.”
The University of California system first mandated diversity statements nearly a decade ago, and to proponents of the mandate, such statements were necessary if universities wanted to create environments that were welcoming to their diverse student body.
Some universities now use the statement early in the recruitment process to screen applicants before they even get an interview, while others consider it after applicants have been shortlisted.
But when Harvard and MIT asked faculty about the value of their diversity statements, they found little support.
Some of the most enthusiastic advocates of diversity initiatives are, at best, half-hearted about requiring applicants to submit statements.
“It has value, but I also think there are limits to its value,” said Polette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.
Granberry Russell said she believes conservatives have misrepresented the diversity statement and condemned all diversity programs, but she believes the way to ensure a diverse applicant pool is to identify candidates from different backgrounds early in the hiring process.
“I don't believe a diversity statement is a substitute for a hiring process,” Granberry Russell added.
At Harvard, there's still room for applicants to write about their diversity efforts in a broader context: Finalists for teaching positions are expected to describe their “efforts to strengthen the academic community” and discuss how they would promote “a learning environment where students are encouraged to ask questions and share ideas.”
The Harvard and MIT decisions come amid a broader review of efforts to ensure educational institutions reflect the nation's diversity, commonly referred to as diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. More than two dozen states, including Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Ohio, have passed laws limiting diversity programs in education. Corporate America is also reexamining its diversity policies.
Harvard and MIT face continuing external pressure from angry donors, alumni and others over the issue, and the U.S. Department of Education and House committees that oversee education are investigating both schools for failing to combat anti-Semitism on their campuses.
Other universities have also faced lawsuits over diversity statement mandates. A California lawsuit challenges the University of California system's application of diversity statements, arguing that job applicants are forced to state certain political positions before being hired.
“This was like a political litmus test for what you had to say to get a foot in the door for a job,” said Joshua P. Thompson, an attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is suing the University of California over the diversity statement requirement. “The Constitution prohibits it.”
Thompson said he hopes the Harvard and MIT decisions will spark a shift in approach across academia. “Harvard and MIT are two giants in this field,” he said, pointing to the outsized influence of the two universities. “Where they go, many will follow.”