The field of diversity, equity and inclusion appears to be on life support. Governors across the nation are introducing requirements to limit their influence over state-funded institutions.
Many university administrators are reading the tea leaves and completely disbanding their DEI offices. Although, anyone who thinks the DEI establishment intends to quietly surrender without a fight needs to think again.
The DEI warriors are doing what they do best: commiserating at a conference to work out their countermeasures. It is not surprising that an ideology built on the location of victims can mask their intentions with appropriate rhetoric.
How can we move forward?
Earlier this month, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) held its annual conference in Seattle, Washington. The conference brought together a record number of DEI professionals, with 1,150 people in attendance.
The title of this year’s conference was How we persist, a nod to recent actions taken by state governors. In the conference’s foreword, NADOHE President Paulette Russell said the question the DEI community needs to ask is:
“How do we approach what we do strategically because some of us are exhausted and we are racing to catch up.”
In advising conference attendees on how to manage burnout in what appears to be a dying career field, much of the advice focused, predictably, on mental health. However, some councils focused more on avoiding policies than functioning within them.
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Smile for the camera
Thanks to citizen journalism, many of the ideologies that took hold after George Floyd’s death have begun to lose support. This includes the DEI apparatus.
One piece of advice to DEI professionals this month was:
“Don’t assume that the people who say they support you are really your allies.”
This helpful tip was largely inspired by recent undercover videos of university DEI administrators admitting to circumventing state laws. One of these DEI administrators was suspended after revealing to an undercover reporter that he continued to promote banned policies.
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Texas UT Tyler DEI administrator Tarecka Payne told the reporter that despite the recently signed law banning most DEI practices, this is still being done. Ms. Payne explained bluntly:
“No, you can still do it. You just have to be creative.
He went on to say that he spends a fair amount of time devising ways to work outside the law:
“I plot and plan.”
Texas is one of about 30 states that have introduced bills aimed at eradicating DEI. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey recently signed a bill banning DEI programs in public schools, universities and state agencies.
The Kentucky House voted to cut funding to DEI offices at public universities. The University of Florida has laid off all of its DEI positions.
Real consequences
The conference was not full of bad ideas and conspiracies. Thomas Edison State University President Emeritus George Pruitt dropped this bit of truth:
“Diversity also means diversity of ideas and perspectives.”
It is disconcerting that a group of diversity professionals need to be reminded of what diversity should have meant all along. However, for most industry players, including the federal government, the focus is not on diversity of thought.
Just look at the National Institute of Health (NIH) grant requirements to witness the true meaning of “diversity” as used today. Cornell University is one of many to receive grants from the NIH to support its professors in the following fields:
- genetics
- computational biology
- neurobiology
Each candidate had to submit a “diversity contribution statement” to be considered. Universities that follow the same rules for these Institutional Recruiting for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) grants include:
- Northwestern University
- UC Berkeley
- University of South Carolina
- University of New Mexico
Focusing on “diversity,” as the DEI establishment defines it in any scientific field, is dangerous, let alone genetics, biology, and neuroscience.
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Final thoughts
NADOHE President Paulette Russell told the conference:
“We shouldn’t be in this race, but we are. We have taken many things for granted. We took it for granted that we were doing the right thing.”
It’s nice to know that there is recognition within the DEI community that perhaps they weren’t “doing the right thing.” Elizabeth Weiss, an anthropology professor at San Jose State University, provided this exclusive statement:
“This paranoia of seeing racists under every desk, combined with petty academic rivalries, is like McCarthyism meets mean girls.”
Ms. Weiss was the victim of the DEI cult’s attempt to erase her for speaking scientific truths, enough to fill a forthcoming book titled On the Warpath: My Battles with Indians, Pretenders, and Awake Warriors. In the book, she talks about her university’s attempt to exclude her from her department for taking a photo with a skull.
Ms. Weiss was also excluded from an anthropology committee because of her scientific claim that a skeleton’s sex is binary. Researcher and astronomer Beatriz Villarroel told us:
“As a postdoc, I have faced some difficult discrimination and harassment from other scientists for my choice to work with a scientist who has been canceled.”
Ms. Villarroel continued by stating:
“When a professional research community is prepared to punish a young scientist for his associations, it is not combating harassment but is simply working to uphold a false image of moral virtue.”
It is promising to know that state legislators are fighting the DEI mental virus. It is critically important to recognize that the DEI machine still exists if only repackaged and sold under a new acronym or disguised in grant and job applications.
Lawmakers won’t be the ones to save higher education. They will be courageous professors willing to risk their jobs to do what they are meant to do: tell the truth.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
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