New York Times Uses Groupthink, Not Evidence, To Claim ‘DEI’ Works

As the Supreme Court appears poised to strike down decades of racially discriminatory affirmative-action policy, The New York Times’ “The Morning” newsletter last week suggested that such social engineering policies lead to better outcomes, declaring that “research shows that students learn more in diverse groups and employees are more productive.”

Yet it turns out the very research to which the Times linked admits that virtually no evidence actually exists to support the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programming — which treats individuals based on their skin color — taking over campuses and companies across the nation. Rather, the authors of the cited 2022 piece, “Assessing Affirmative Action’s Diversity Rationale,” acknowledge that DEI skeptics such as Harvard Law School Professor Randall Kennedy are “correct that the existing empirical literature on diversity in education is lacking,” and even repeats the fact, just a few lines later, that “the empirical evidence on the effects of diversity has remained lacking.”

Read the rest of the op-ed in The Federalist.

Matt Beienburg is the Director of Education Policy at the Goldwater Institute. He also serves as director of the institute’s Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy.