(Daily Caller) The majority of university job openings in Arizona require applicants to pledge their support for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) during the hiring process, according to a new report published Tuesday by conservative think tank Goldwater Institute.
As of the fall 2022 semester, 80% of job postings for the three major Arizona universities required applicants to submit a statement which outlines their support for DEI, according to The New Loyalty Oaths: How Arizona’s Public Universities Compel Job Applicants to Endorse Progressive Politics.The universities, Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University (NAU) and University of Arizona (UA), require applicants to explain their activism and commitment to DEI.
ASU required diversity statements for 81% of its job openings. NAU required such statements for 73% of its job openings while UA required them for 28% of their postings.
“What DEI was supposed to create, it has done the opposite,” Jonathan Butcher, Goldwater Institute senior fellow, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It really wasn’t meant to create an equal feeling on campus. It was meant to push a political agenda.”
ASU implemented diversity statements into its hiring process in 2021 in which it asks applicants to explain how their “past and/or potential contributions to diversity and inclusion will advance ASU’s commitment to inclusive excellence, according to the report.
NAU’s diversity statement requirement elevates its commitment to “becoming a True Diversity University” which “recognizes the importance and critical need for diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice (DEIJ) to be woven throughout the institutional structure.” A fall 2022 job posting for a non-tenure track mechanical engineering assistant teaching professor required applicants submit “a statement of teaching philosophy including evidence of teaching effectiveness or interest and commitment to diversity and inclusion (recommended two pages).”
An UA job posting for a molecular biology assistant professor position asked applicants to submit a 500 word statement “describing the candidate’s personal philosophy on classroom inclusiveness and how the candidate will exhibit the philosophy in the classroom” in lieu of a cover letter, according to the report.
“The examples highlighted from each of the universities were selected to demonstrate how deeply DEI mandates have reached even into fields typically safe from political radicalism,” the report reads. “Perhaps few would be surprised at DEI statements proliferating within typically left-leaning gender or ethnic studies departments. But to make them a prerequisite to teach mechanical engineering or study advanced physics strains any plausible academic justification.”
New Goldwater policy report:
Arizona public universities FORCE job applicants to provide MANDATORY "diversity statements." It's a full-frontal attack on free expression and equal opportunity for ALL…
Read our new report here: https://t.co/4swR49YJMN pic.twitter.com/rNfSgcNemc
— Goldwater Institute (@GoldwaterInst) January 17, 2023
