Whenever I see the word “social justice” or “diversity” paired with a university setting, I cringe. Why not come right out and say, “only liberals need apply.” Mark Perry has a column about diversity statements which indicate this discriminatory stance on the part of universities who take all tax payer money, not just from liberals who benefit most:
The latest diversity trend in higher education is the increasingly frequent requirement of including a “diversity statement” when applying for an academic position, and in some cases when applying for tenure and/or promotion. Here’s what Dr. Jeffrey Flier, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Higginson Professor of Physiology and Medicine, and former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University said on Twitter last November:
As a dean of a major academic institution, I could not have said this. But I will now. Requiring such statements in applications for appointments and promotions is an affront to academic freedom, and diminishes the true value of diversity, equity of inclusion by trivializing it.
Overall, only diversity statements that adhere to a uniform statement of allegiance to a uniform leftist/liberal/Marxist/progressive view of group identity, group victimization, and a claim for group-based entitlements in higher education will enhance and advance a candidate’s application. Failure to profess allegiance and conform to a uniform, orthodox diversity agenda, an agenda that ignores the most important diversity in higher education—intellectual and viewpoint diversity—will doom an applicant’s job prospects.
Diversity statements will actually be anti-diversity statements of uniform, leftist-liberal-progressive thought that completely ignore the diversity of viewpoints, ideology and thought, and are therefore dangerous and misguided efforts that are threats to academic freedom and will weaken true intellectual diversity.
And it’s not just for job applicants, those applying to graduate programs may be doomed if they don’t bow to political correctness. For example, at one state university, the PHD in counseling psychology has this warning:
Students in the program are required to read this statement and confirm that they will abide by it, and they are evaluated accordingly.
Our commitment to diversity and social justice means that we strive to attend to issues of power, privilege, and oppression in courses, research, clinical practica, and professional service. In these efforts, we are guided by feminist and multicultural principles summarized by Goodman et al. (2004) as a useful compass for social justice work in counseling psychology. These principles are:
Ongoing self-examination, including vigilance regarding power dynamics and the assumptions and values underlying our views, goals, and commitments.
Sharing power, including transparency about power differences, engaging in collaborative processes when appropriate, and fostering the power of marginalized individuals and groups.
Amplifying and attending to the voices and experiences of groups and individuals with relatively less power.
Consciousness raising by attending to how individual or group difficulties may be shaped by political, societal, institutional, interpersonal, and other contextual power dynamics.
Focusing on people’s strengths and engaging these strengths to address challenges, including working toward social change.
Promoting self-determination with the people we work with by developing tools that are informed by the needs and experiences of the constituent communities.
The statements might as well just have people swear they are registered Democrats. How can this be legal at a state university that I assume takes taxpayer funds?
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