Arizona’s public universities drop DEI hiring statements, securing a significant victory for free speech.
Arizona Public Universities Scrap Diversity Statement Requirement on Job Applications
In a significant victory for free speech advocates, Arizona’s public universities have decided to no longer request “diversity statements” on their job applications.
Earlier this year, the conservative Goldwater Institute found that a large portion of faculty job postings at Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University required applicants to provide diversity statements as a condition of hiring.
According to the Institute’s report, 28% of job postings at the University of Arizona, 73% at Northern Arizona University, and a staggering 81% at Arizona State University required a diversity statement.
The report also revealed that the university system sometimes required applicants to replace their traditional cover letter with a diversity statement, submit two full pages on their activism or commitment to diversity, and even endorse progressive concepts like “intersectional personal identities.”
However, the public universities have now scrapped their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) statement requirements on job postings.
The Arizona Board of Regents, which governs the public university system, clarified that while they have never required DEI statements, some departments at the universities may have included such requests in job applications. Nevertheless, the board stated that the universities have discontinued any requests for diversity statements.
The Goldwater Institute argued that requiring diversity statements was unconstitutional under both the First Amendment and Arizona’s state Constitution, which prohibits any religious or political test or qualification as a condition of admission into public educational institutions.
Goldwater Institute president and CEO Victor Riches hailed the elimination of diversity statements as a “huge victory for academic freedom and the First Amendment.”
Goldwater Institute senior fellow Jonathan Butcher added, “DEI programs and ’statements’ do not produce free expression nor more diversity of thought, equal opportunities, and a culture that includes everyone in school activities because DEI’s guiding principles are rooted in the racially discriminatory worldview known as critical race theory.”
The removal of diversity statements from job applications is part of a broader debate surrounding DEI and critical race theory content in university classes and K-12 public schools.
Arizona now joins several other states, including Texas, Florida, and Missouri, in scrapping diversity statement requirements for public university jobs.
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