University of California Eliminates ‘Diversity Statements’ in Latest Blow to the Discriminatory DEI Regime

The movement to eliminate toxic “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) from our nation’s institutions of higher learning keeps racking up win after win.  

In the latest victory for liberty on campus, the University of California system (UC) has ended “diversity statements”: ideological loyalty oaths intended to weed out anyone who refused to endorse the DEI agenda.   

Applicants for faculty positions were required to submit statements that discussed their commitment to advancing DEI. In practice, these statements forced candidates to support DEI’s obsession with identity politics and “social justice.” UC’s rubric for assessing diversity statements downgraded applicants who endorsed “treat[ing] everyone the same.” They were expected to agree that people should be treated unequally to rectify supposed injustices.  

Institutions in the UC system often eliminated the majority of applicants for a position based solely on their diversity statements. In 2018, for example, a hiring committee rejected 600 of the 800 applicants for a position through their diversity statements alone, regardless of their academic qualifications.  

The widespread use of diversity statements, which UC pioneered, exacerbated an already severe imbalance in the ideological leanings of faculty on campus. The diversity statement requirement might as well have been a giant “no conservatives, libertarians, or moderates need apply” sign. The practice further cemented the left’s dominance of higher education. 

Now, the UC system is finally recognizing the incompatibility of the diversity statement with open inquiry, free speech, and liberal education. UC joins several major universities—including the University of Michigan, the Arizona public university system, and MIT—that have also abandoned the practice.   

But to fully eradicate DEI from public universities, state legislators must pass targeted legislation that eliminates DEI bureaucracies, DEI practices, and required DEI courses. Policymakers should look to Goldwater’s Abolish DEI Bureaucracies reform and the Freedom from Indoctrination Act.  

Across the country, Goldwater will continue to fight for these policies that will restore universities to their core missions: the pursuit of knowledge and the education of citizens.  

Timothy K. Minella is a Senior Fellow at the Goldwater Institute’s Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy.