This is the third or fourth front-page article on this topic in the last few days. I'm skeptical of basically everything about academic hiring, DEI included. Bu

This is the third or fourth front-page article on this topic in the last few days. I'm skeptical of basically everything about academic hiring, DEI included. But there's a concerted media blitz on this topic and the lack of quality conversation on HN reflects that the propaganda campaign is working. Here's some nuance that I hope cuts through the mass media narrative-building machine: First, it's not just stupid ideology. There are real economic incentives at play. I wrote a comment here on why Colleges and Universities view DEI as existentially important to their finances: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34672053 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34672053 Second, value statements are nothing new in Academia. Many religious institutions require Faith Statements, and there are event Title IX carve-outs for these institutions when they receive federal funds [2] Third, DEI statements are not all bad. Eg, when I applied to academic positions (none of which I took), my statement had everything to do with serving kids who arrived at college unprepared. Not a single mention or race, gender, etc. Instead of talking about starting "women in X" clubs or other BS [3], I talked about volunteering in public schools and gave anecdotes about how in my teaching I worked to keep kids in college who would've otherwise dropped out. Every place I applied said it was one of the best DEI statements they had seen. My personal opinion: I am fully aligned with the criticism of DEI statements. Most DEI statements are cringe-worthy at best, I have no doubt in the heights of incompetence that can be found in university administration, and the entire uni hiring process is broken. But these statements can be used in a reasonable and responsible way at colleges who, in order to survive financially, NEED to start recruiting and retaining students who aren't in the "dual income upper-middle class parents with a 3.8GPA" mold. And, as an aside, if we're going to go after Loyalty Oaths in non-public-university academic hiring, let's start by eliminating Title IX carve-outs for religiously affiliated institutions. --- [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34672053 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34672053 [2] https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/subtitle-B/chapter-I/part-106#106.12 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/subtitle-B/chapter-I/p... [3] BS because they are often the sort of "I started/joined a club" thing that for most people amounts to zero actual effort put into helping individual students succeed.