In recent years, a worrying development has occurred at American universities. Individuals applying for faculty positions and those who are faculty members seeking promotion are required to make “diversity statements,” in which they declare their commitment to DEI – diversity, equality, inclusion – and detail their activities in the name of this objective.

Here’s an example: At UCLA, faculty applicants must sign this: “Diversity statements are generally no more than two pages long and discuss your experience, abilities, and commitment to working with people from different backgrounds and to move a project forward. more inclusive, diverse and/or equitable academic environment. You can demonstrate these values ​​through your teaching, research and service. Keep in mind that diversity can mean a number of things, including race/ethnicity, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and ex-military status, among others . Diversity statements will be explicitly listed as required documents in some applications. If the position does not require a diversity statement, you may want to incorporate these values ​​into your cover letter and teaching statement.

Getting Started: Questions to think about as you get started:

Experience and Identity: How have my experiences informed and empowered me? How do my past experiences influence the way I interact with others? Do I embody an underrepresented group in my field? If so, how and why is it significant?

Research and teaching: How have I integrated what I have experienced and learned into my teaching and research? How will I continue to diversify my classes? How is my approach unique?

Collegial collaboration: How did I manage working with someone whose background is unfamiliar to me? What did I learn from these experiences? How can I help establish and maintain an inclusive climate?

Vision for the Future: How will I demonstrate a continued willingness to learn and grow? How will I work to correct recruitment and retention issues for underrepresented groups in my field?

Guidelines:

Consider these tips, adapted from the UC Davis Academic Affairs websiteWhen developing your diversity statement:

• Demonstrate your COMMITMENT to using your position to be a force for enlightenment and change by opening opportunities for first-generation and underrepresented students.
• Describe how you CREATED programs that provide access and build a pipeline for students from traditionally underrepresented groups.
• Show how you ENRICH the classroom environment by exposing yourself to new perspectives on cultures, beliefs, practices, tolerance, acceptance and a welcoming climate.
• Demonstrate how your research provides EXPOSURE to people historically excluded from disciplines because of their gender or ethnic identity.
• Speak to your LEADERSHIP in any capacity that concretely promotes an environment where diversity is welcomed, fostered and celebrated.
• Discuss MENTORING with students from traditionally underrepresented groups and at-risk students.
• Describe your AWARENESS to members of student clubs, organizations, or community groups whose mission includes service, education, or extending opportunities to disadvantaged individuals.
• Show RECOGNITION of the challenges that members of society face when they are members of underrepresented groups; or because of their religious, ethnic or gender identity or orientation.
• Retail SERVICE that promotes inclusion by working to dismantle the barriers faced by people historically excluded from the opportunities that all have the right to enjoy.

Of course, “diversity” is a big scam. You can be sure that UCLA is not aiming to hire more conservative and libertarian professors! But it doesn’t matter what you think about diversity. isn’t there something deeply offensive about forcing people to make such statements? Isn’t this a compulsory form of speech?

It could be objected that an employer is free to set whatever requirements it wishes as a condition of employment. If you do not want to write a diversity statement, you do not have to do so. You won’t get a job at UCLA, but you have no right to such a job anyway.

What this objection overlooks, however, is that UCLA is a “public” university. It is not a private employer. What right does a seemingly public institution have to demand that people adhere to opinions that many do not share? What’s next? Require all faculty candidates to be members of the Democratic Party?

Of course, the problem isn’t limited to UCLA. Virtually all universities in the United States receive federal funding and therefore must comply with the federal government’s “diversity” policies.

This situation can sometimes place candidates in a completely untenable situation. Some states, such as Florida and Alabama, have banned diversity requirements. But these states, like the rest of the country, are still subject to federal requirements, which impose “diversity” on the part of universities that receive federal funds. A job seeker will therefore be violating state law if he or she does what is required to obtain employment.

How can academic departments avoid the obvious incongruity of imposing a set of partisan beliefs about values ​​on people who do not share them? How would they defend themselves against a lawsuit that accused them of persuasive speech? One way they could do this is by arguing that “collegiality” is a reasonable professional requirement and that commitment to “diversity” is an expression of “our shared values.” If you do not accept diversity, you will not be denied a job because of your political views. That would be too cheeky. You will be denied a job because you are not collegial.

I’ve focused on academic jobs, but that’s not the only area where we face the worrying phenomenon of mandatory speaking. As everyone knows, in Colorado and other states, cake makers have been required to put messages on their cakes that are deeply offensive to them. Usually these cases involve homosexuals who insist that the pastry chefs make their values ​​known. The Supreme Court has so far sided with the bakers who refuse to do so, on the grounds of religious freedom, but Colorado continues to take new actions against the bakers, in defiance of the Supreme Court.

To address the problems inherent in mandatory speech, our best approach is to follow the great Murray Rothbard. “Freedom of expression” is not an independent right but arises from our natural rights of ownership and acquisition of property. In all matters relating to free speech, the key question is: on whose property is speech taking place? As Rothbard points out in Power and market“Take, for example, the “human right” of freedom of expression. Freedom of speech is supposed to mean the right of everyone to say whatever they want. But the overlooked question is: where? Where does a man have this right? He certainly doesn’t have it on the property he’s trespassing on. In short, he only has this right either on his own land, or on that of someone who has agreed, by donation or in a rental contract, to let him enter the premises. In fact, therefore, there is no distinct “right to freedom of expression”; there is only one right of property for man: the right to do what he wants with what belongs to him or to enter into voluntary agreements with other owners.

Let’s do everything we can to promote a true Rothbardian solution to the monstrosity of “diversity.”