MIT Advises How to Write a Winning Diversity Statement

At Why Evolution is True, Jerry Coyne posts on how to please the DEI department by writing an acceptable diversity statement.

The MIT site says this:

A diversity statement alone is unlikely to get you an interview or a job offer, but a well-written diversity statement may enable you to stand out among a large pool of qualified candidates.

. . . in reality, in some places like Berkeley, if your diversity statement isn’t up to muster you have no chance of getting a job, no matter how good your academic qualifications are (see here and here). And since you have to talk about efforts you have made in the past to increase diversity, as well as your philosophy of diversity, you have to start doing social-justice work well before you intend to apply for jobs. Woe to those students who have immersed themselves wholly in quantum mechanics or classical literature out of the love of the field and of knowledge. Without a track record in promoting diversity, as well as a philosophy of diversity, those people are doomed.

I don’t of course object to universities encouraging diversity efforts as a way to “broaden” a candidate, but there are many ways to be broad besides fighting for equity of races and genders. These include doing general outreach to high schools, writing popular books and articles on your field, doing an internship at a newspaper or other organization,, and so on. But those don’t count nearly as much as showing your history of fighting for equity. And is this attempt to turn universities from places of learning into instruments of specific types of social justice that bothers me. As Stanley Fish said (it’s a book title): “Save the world on your own time.”

And, in the end, DEI statements may be illegal. As my colleague Brian Leiter (a law school prof) pointed out, such required statements, if used to cull candidates, may constitute illegal “viewpoint discrimination”. As he notes:

I recommend that those applying for jobs in the University of California system say only this in the diversity statement: “I decline to supply this statement which constitutes illegal viewpoint discrimination in violation of my constitutional rights.” There are already lawyers gearing up to bring legal challenges; I hope they act soon. If you have been rejected from a University of California search, and suspect it was on grounds of insufficient ideological purity about “diversity,” please get in touch with me. I can connect you with one public interest legal organization looking for plaintiffs.

FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) is also concerned about Diversity Statements. Here is an excerpt from FIRE:

FIRE is concerned by the proliferation of college and university policies requiring faculty applicants or current faculty to demonstrate their commitment to “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” often through a written statement that factors into hiring, reappointment, evaluation, promotion, or tenure decisions. In our newly released Q&A and full Statement on the Use of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Criteria in Faculty Hiring and Evaluation, we explain how DEI statement policies can too easily function as ideological litmus tests that threaten employment or advancement opportunities for faculty who dissent from prevailing thought on DEI.

Over the past few years, FIRE has heard from countless faculty members concerned that their university’s DEI statement policy violates the First Amendment, academic freedom principles, or both. Numerous complaints have prompted FIRE’s intervention.

Our statement provides guidance to universities to ensure they respect faculty members’ expressive freedom when seeking to advance DEI.

Continue ReadingMIT Advises How to Write a Winning Diversity Statement

Race and Racelessness

Latest Episode of Common Sense (by Bari Weiss). This is a wide-open starkly unpoliticized discussion about "race."

Today’s episode is borrowed from the feed of the great podcast The Fifth Column. Usually hosted by Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch, this episode, which aired in July of 2022, features Kmele and two guests who have become elder statesmen around the persistent issue of race in America: John McWhorter and Glenn Loury.

Over the past few years John, Glenn, and Kmele, each have written, discussed and lectured exhaustively on anti-racism, the role race plays in America, and the changing meaning of the word “racism” itself. In this episode, they talk about the inadequacies of regarding people solely by their racial category, the dignity of the individual and what a future might look like if we were to abolish race all together. While all three men bring a contrarian streak to this discussion, you’ll find that they have big disagreements when it comes to questions of race abolition and the so-called “racial reckoning” of 2020.

Continue ReadingRace and Racelessness

Woke Food Fights

I just finished reading today's NYT article, "Food Is Identity. For Korean Chefs Who Were Adopted, It’s Complicated. Koreans raised by American families are exploring a heritage they didn’t grow up with through restaurant cooking — and finding both fulfillment and criticism." Here is an excerpt:

As Korean food continues to influence American dining, with Korean fried chicken and bibimbap appearing on all types of menus, a variation on that interplay is unfolding in the kitchens of chefs with backgrounds like Mrs. Hong — Korean adoptees who came to the United States in the 1970s and ’80s. These chefs are coming to terms with a heritage they didn’t grow up with. And they are enthusiastically expressing it through the very public, and sometimes precarious, act of cooking for others.

In the process, they’re finding fulfillment — and sometimes attracting criticism from other Korean Americans that their cooking isn’t Korean enough.

An estimated 200,000 Koreans have been adopted globally since 1953, roughly three-quarters of them by parents in the United States, said Eleana J. Kim, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of “Adopted Territory: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging.”

Yes, let's keep dividing people against each other and publishing articles pretending that this finger-wagging attitude is worth discussing at the NYT (or anywhere). How about this alternative? We should honor people who cook well, regardless of their immutable characteristics or upbringing. How incredibly stupid and destructive have some of us become regarding this idea of cultural appropriation? Check out this article by Jonathan Turley: "White Owners Of Mexican Food Truck Shut Down After Being Accused of Cultural Appropriation." Here's an excerpt:

Kali Wilgus and Liz “LC” Connelly thought that they had realized their dream when they opened Kooks Burritos in Portland Oregon. They were even more excited when the local newspaper Williamette Week decided to do a feature article on their new business. The two women recounted how they watched Mexican women making tortillas on a trip to Baja California and adopted what they saw. That admission however led to furious accusations that the two white women were guilty of “cultural appropriation.” They eventually shutdown their food truck.

And, of course, let's keep dividing people into two--count'em--two "colors." After all, it has been such an incredibly successful strategy for the U.S. so far. If you think I'm exaggerating, take a look at the "anti-racist" teaching materials common in many of our schools. They are all over the internet, though most legacy media outlets won't give you links to these poisonous materials. Those who embrace these newish "anti-racist" teaching materials apparently forgot who Martin Luther King was.

As Matt Taibbi pointed out in his book, "Hate,Inc., "[W]hat most people think of as 'the news' is, in fact, a twisted wing of the entertainment business."

Continue ReadingWoke Food Fights

Kemi Badenoch Targets the Racist idea that there is a “Black” Way of Thinking

Is there one legitimate "Black Point of View"? One would think so if one follows progressive politics. Kemi Badenoch (who until recently was vying for Tori Leadership in the U.K.) points out that there is no such thing as the "Black" way of thinking. In fact, it is a deeply racist idea.

Continue ReadingKemi Badenoch Targets the Racist idea that there is a “Black” Way of Thinking

Glenn Loury and John McWhorter React to School District Dumbs Down the Math Curriculum in the name of “Equity.”

Glenn Loury and John McWhorter react to a recent decision of the Princeton School District to dumb down the math curriculum in the name of "equity." John McWhorter sums up the problem: In the view of some school administrators, "It is not authentically black to be nerdy."

Here is an article describing the problem: "Opinion: Princeton Public School parents express concerns about school district’s ‘new direction’"

Continue ReadingGlenn Loury and John McWhorter React to School District Dumbs Down the Math Curriculum in the name of “Equity.”