The University of Michigan has banned “diversity statements,” a major weapon in promoting ideological conformity and transforming college campuses into indoctrination centers for the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) agenda.
Perhaps no university in the entire country embraced DEI more than Michigan. Along with spending a quarter of a billion dollars to erect a giant DEI bureaucracy, Michigan pioneered the use of diversity statements in hiring and promotion, which required faculty to discuss how they would advance DEI through their work.
This requirement sent a clear message to faculty: affirm your support for the DEI agenda, or else. And treating individuals equally regardless of their race, sex, and background didn’t cut it. The DEI commissars at Michigan and other schools demanded that faculty embrace “equity”—treating individuals unequally in an attempt to rectify supposedly “systemic” biases.
Using diversity statements as a screening tool virtually guaranteed that candidates who dissented from the progressive DEI agenda would fail to obtain faculty positions, regardless of their qualifications. The proliferation of the diversity statement requirement reduced intellectual diversity even further at our nation’s institutions of higher education. Such ideological litmus tests should have no place at institutions dedicated to the pursuit of truth and the education of citizens.
Now, Michigan is recognizing the incompatibility of diversity statements with the mission of the university. And more good news might be coming from the Wolverine State. Michigan’s board of regents recently announced that the school will expand full-tuition scholarships for low- and middle-income students. Some regents are advocating for a drastic reduction in Michigan’s massive DEI bureaucracy to pay for these scholarships. If implemented, this decision would roll back the discriminatory DEI regime while expanding opportunities for students of all races, colors, and creeds.
As an elite public university in a state that leans left politically, Michigan will hopefully serve as a bellwether for other public universities to dismantle wasteful and counterproductive DEI programs.
And if the recent pushback against DEI at universities across the country wasn’t evidence enough to act, a recent psychological study at Rutgers University found that exposure to DEI pedagogy made students more likely to imagine the presence of bigotry when there was no evidence of it. They were also more likely to demand punishment for people who had done nothing wrong. This finding suggests that DEI doesn’t just fail to make people more tolerant. DEI increases distrust and discrimination because its dogmas teach that “oppressors” subjugate the “oppressed,” which justifies discrimination against the “oppressors” to end their position at the top of the social hierarchy.
This result helps explain why antisemitism exploded on college campuses in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks on Israel. If Israelis and Jews are “oppressors,” then violent “resistance” against them is just.
To end the DEI scourge and restore public universities to their core missions, states should look to the Goldwater Institute’s suite of reforms.
The Abolish DEI Bureaucracies reform, developed with the Manhattan Institute, prohibits public universities from maintaining DEI offices, requiring diversity statements, and mandating DEI training. Goldwater has already enacted this reform in many states, including Texas, protecting the rights of students and saving taxpayers’ money.
Although ending the DEI bureaucracy on campus is welcome, reformers must go farther. According to a study by Speech First, over two–thirds of major American universities require students to take DEI courses to obtain a degree. Out of all the important figures and ideas that students could conceivably study in college, prominent universities are forcing them into courses that push loathsome DEI teachings down their throats.
To reform these flawed curriculums, Goldwater and Speech First developed the Freedom from Indoctrination Act, a reform that ends DEI course requirements. Furthermore, it prevents universities from compelling professors to include DEI content in their courses, a clear violation of academic freedom. Finally, the Freedom from Indoctrination Act requires public universities’ general education programs to provide basic instruction in important elements of the American system of self-government, including the Constitution, the separation of powers, freedom of speech, and significant Supreme Court cases.
Michigan’s landmark decision to abandon diversity statements provides another indication that DEI is on the defensive across the country. But the battle is far from over. States must adopt Goldwater’s targeted reforms to ensure that we defeat the DEI monstrosity on campus for good.
Timothy K. Minella is a Senior Fellow at the Goldwater Institute’s Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy.
