Diversity Statements

[larsIU]

Something I'd not heard of but, then again, I'm not a professor.

Yes, it's the NYT. Yes, I pay for it. If you do too, take a look.

D.E.I. Statements Stir Debate on College Campuses

Yoel Inbar, a psychology professor, thought he might be teaching at U.C.L.A., but his reservations about diversity statements got him in trouble.

www.nytimes.com

Yoel Inbar, a noted psychology professor at the University of Toronto, figured he might be teaching this fall at U.C.L.A......

The university asked him to fill out the requisite papers, including a statement that affirmed his belief and work in diversity, equity and inclusion. He flew out and met with, among others, a faculty diversity committee and a group of graduate students.

But a few days later, the department chair emailed and told him that more than 50 graduate students had signed a letter strongly denouncing his candidacy. Why? In part, because on his podcast years earlier, he had opposed diversity statements — like the one he had just written.

Nearly half the large universities in America require that job applicants write such statements, part of the rapid growth in D.E.I. programs. Many University of California departments now require that faculty members seeking promotions and tenure also write such statements.

But critics say these statements are thinly veiled attempts at enforcing ideological orthodoxy. Politically savvy applicants, they say, learn to touch on the right ideological buzzwords. And the championing of diversity can overshadow strengths seen as central to academia, not least professional expertise.

“Professions of fealty to D.E.I. ideology are so ubiquitous as to be meaningless,” said Daniel Sargent, a professor of history and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. “We are institutionalizing a performative dishonesty.”

The faculty senate at the University of California, San Francisco, urged professors to apply “anti-oppression and antiracism” lenses to courses. The public affairs school at the University of California, Los Angeles, pledged on its website to “decolonize the curriculum and pedagogy,” and the medical school vowed to dismantle systematic racism in its coursework.

The faculty senate of the California Community Colleges, the largest higher-education system in the country, has instructed its teachers on their obligation “to lift the veil of white supremacy” and “colonialism.”

A decade ago, California university officials faced a conundrum.

A majority of its students were nonwhite, and officials wanted to recruit more Black and Latino professors. But California’s voters had banned affirmative action in 1996. So in 2016, at least five campuses — Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Riverside and Santa Cruz — decided their hiring committees would perform an initial screening of candidates based only on diversity statements.

Candidates who did not “look outstanding” on diversity, the vice provost at U.C. Davis instructed his search committees, could not advance, no matter the quality of their academic research. Credentials and experience would be examined in a later round.

At Berkeley, a faculty committee rejected 75 percent of applicants in life sciences and environmental sciences and management purely on diversity statements,

By 2020, however, top officials at Berkeley concluded the hiring experiment had gone too far. That February, a vice provost sent a carefully worded letter to search committee chairs. Diversity statements, he wrote, should not be treated as a political litmus test or as the sole factor.

Those highlights will get you started. Wild. I mean, Berkeley toned it down for chrissakes.

 

[mcmurtry66]

Something I'd not heard of but, then again, I'm not a professor.

Yes, it's the NYT. Yes, I pay for it. If you do too, take a look.

D.E.I. Statements Stir Debate on College Campuses

Yoel Inbar, a psychology professor, thought he might be teaching at U.C.L.A., but his reservations about diversity statements got him in trouble.

www.nytimes.com

Those highlights will get you started. Wild. I mean, Berkeley toned it down for chrissakes.

the woke cult combined with just how soft this next generation is suggest we are doomed. last night i said something totally innocuous to my daughter and she replied something about me "creating a panic." i think it was if she put something away. this morning as we were leaving i said "did you brush your teeth?" and she replied: the anxiety you just gave me is far worse than not brushing my teeth.

 

[larsIU]

the woke cult combined with just how soft this next generation is suggest we are doomed. last night i said something totally innocuous to my daughter and she replied something about me "creating a panic." i think it was if she put something away. this morning as we were leaving i said "did you brush your teeth?" and she replied: the anxiety you just gave me is far worse than not brushing my teeth.

 

[mcmurtry66]

super timely tho. her little brother gave her an electic eel as she was getting out. nice little reality check from him. that boy does. not. play.

 

[larsIU]

super timely tho. her little brother gave her an electic eel as she was getting out. nice little reality check from him. that boy does. not. play.

Too bad they're not closer in age. I gave my sister stitches........twice.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Something I'd not heard of but, then again, I'm not a professor.

Yes, it's the NYT. Yes, I pay for it. If you do too, take a look.

D.E.I. Statements Stir Debate on College Campuses

Yoel Inbar, a psychology professor, thought he might be teaching at U.C.L.A., but his reservations about diversity statements got him in trouble.

www.nytimes.com

Those highlights will get you started. Wild. I mean, Berkeley toned it down for chrissakes.

Diversity statements will not achieve diversity. Nor will they cure cancer, solve super-conductivity, , or stop urban violence. Diversity statements are a product of those who value the identity different groups, instead of valuing the accomplishments or what can be accomplished by individuals. Diversity statements reinforce groups and then build walls around those groups. The building blocks of those walls are safe spaces, micro-aggressions, trigger warnings, and faux outrage.

By the time a student or potential faculty member reaches a place like Berkley, diversity statements don’t do anything. Better would be to focus on the best educations possible starting in elementary school. Once we get education in order, diversity will take care of itself. We have a plethora of law, regulations, and guidelines to weed out discrimination. If all of that fails at the highest levels of business and education, it fails because we don’t provide good educations.

 

[outside shooter]

2 cents from a professor...

My insitution doesn't require signing such stuff. I think that there are University mission statements that attest to valuing diversity & inclusion, though. It is mentioned in hiring ads, too. We do have an REQUIRED online diversity training course, basically to go over laws and behaviors that could get you & the school in trouble.

My experience is that a professor who values diversity and inclusion enriches the education of his or her students, moreso than a professor who does not value diversity and inclusion.

That said, a mere statement / pledge on paper can be a hollow promise. Actions mean more, although the actions are only obvious for the professors with a track record.

My research group, over the past 18 years, has had people in it from
China
India
Japan
Brazil
Czechoslovakia
Russia
Poland
Germany
France
Kenya
USA

We certainly learn a LOT from one another, from a cultural perspective. Different religions, different clothing options, different food preferences, different life experiences, and (yes) different training in chemistry. We never talk politics, we never talk religion, and we respect one another. Now and then do you have people that don't get along? Sure.

My research group right now a 50-50 male-female mix. That's a bit odd, since chemistry graduate schools are probably about 2:1 male / female, on average, I would guess.

Talented female chemists have indicated to me that they have been reluctant to join other research groups that have no women at all in them. The role model / mentoring / comraderie aspects are important. Not that a woman chemist can't learn a lot from a more experience male chemist, or the other way around, but there seems to be a tangible inherent comfort level in being around SOME people of the same gender and/or geographic origin.

 

[BadWakeboarder]

Something I'd not heard of but, then again, I'm not a professor.

Yes, it's the NYT. Yes, I pay for it. If you do too, take a look.

D.E.I. Statements Stir Debate on College Campuses

Yoel Inbar, a psychology professor, thought he might be teaching at U.C.L.A., but his reservations about diversity statements got him in trouble.

www.nytimes.com

Those highlights will get you started. Wild. I mean, Berkeley toned it down for chrissakes.

There are otherwise smart people on this very forum that don’t believe Woke exists and if it does, is simply a noble pursuit of justice.

 

[BadWakeboarder]

2 cents from a professor...

My insitution doesn't require signing such stuff. I think that there are University mission statements that attest to valuing diversity & inclusion, though. It is mentioned in hiring ads, too. We do have an REQUIRED online diversity training course, basically to go over laws and behaviors that could get you & the school in trouble.

My experience is that a professor who values diversity and inclusion enriches the education of his or her students, moreso than a professor who does not value diversity and inclusion.

That said, a mere statement / pledge on paper can be a hollow promise. Actions mean more, although the actions are only obvious for the professors with a track record.

My research group, over the past 18 years, has had people in it from
China
India
Japan
Brazil
Czechoslovakia
Russia
Poland
Germany
France
Kenya
USA

We certainly learn a LOT from one another, from a cultural perspective. Different religions, different clothing options, different food preferences, different life experiences, and (yes) different training in chemistry. We never talk politics, we never talk religion, and we respect one another. Now and then do you have people that don't get along? Sure.

My research group right now a 50-50 male-female mix. That's a bit odd, since chemistry graduate schools are probably about 2:1 male / female, on average, I would guess.

Talented female chemists have indicated to me that they have been reluctant to join other research groups that have no women at all in them. The role model / mentoring / comraderie aspects are important. Not that a woman chemist can't learn a lot from a more experience male chemist, or the other way around, but there seems to be a tangible inherent comfort level in being around SOME people of the same gender and/or geographic origin.

I’m willing to bet the diversity in your lab occurred naturally and wasn’t forced. That’s how it should work. Candidates should not be considered - nor disqualified - based on immutable characteristics.

 

[outside shooter]

I am fortunate to be able to travel the world extensively, in many instances representing my University in conferences. I think the overwhelmingly positive interactions with professors and students of vastly differnt backgrounds has helped to dispel prejudices that I unfortunately had, growing up in an all-white, all-Christian, and almost all-Protestant rural southern Indiana community.

Interacting professionally and socially with people of diverse backgounds makes one realize that people are people, the world over. That negative sterotypes are usually both wrong and unhelpful.

 

[outside shooter]

I’m willing to bet the diversity in your lab occurred naturally and wasn’t forced. That’s how it should work. Candidates should not be considered - nor disqualified - based on immutable characteristics.

It wasn't forced, but it is to a degree self-perpetuating. So if I had, for instance, decided at some early point in my career that (say) "I don't want women in my group, or people from Asia, or from X, Y, or Z" then later on I wouldn't be hearing from other students of that group that I had chosen to exclude. Sometimes for just simple reasons, a pipeline connection, if you will. Right now, for instance, I have a French researcher who was recommended by a French chemistry professor, who had sent me another French researcher 10 years ago, who had done well. If I had decided 10 years ago that (maybe since I don't speak any French?), I don't want a French person, then I would have missed out on not 1 but 2 good co-workers. And some awesome crepes!

 

[BadWakeboarder]

It wasn't forced, but it is to a degree self-perpetuating. So if I had, for instance, decided at some early point in my career that (say) "I don't want women in my group, or people from Asia, or from X, Y, or Z" then later on I wouldn't be hearing from other students of that group that I had chosen to exclude. Sometimes for just simple reasons, a pipeline connection, if you will. Right now, for instance, I have a French researcher who was recommended by a French chemistry professor, who had sent me another French researcher 10 years ago, who had done well. If I had decided 10 years ago that (maybe since I don't speak any French?), I don't want a French person, then I would have missed out on not 1 but 2 good co-workers. And some awesome crepes!

Of course. At this point in our evolution as a society there are an order of magnitude less people not hiring someone based on immutable characteristics than there are those being forced to make a sub-optimal hire to satisfy some nonsensical diversity requirement.

Hiring the right person is what matters and the law of averages will sort it out. Removing racist hiring managers is key too - but I highly doubt there are many left.

 

[Baller23Boogie]

the woke cult combined with just how soft this next generation is suggest we are doomed. last night i said something totally innocuous to my daughter and she replied something about me "creating a panic." i think it was if she put something away. this morning as we were leaving i said "did you brush your teeth?" and she replied: the anxiety you just gave me is far worse than not brushing my teeth.

I left to go to the store the other day and didn't tell my middle kid bye and and sent me a text telling me that I was toxic.

I'm fairly certain her mother has gotten to her.

 

[mcmurtry66]

I left to go to the store the other day and didn't tell my middle kid bye and and sent me a text telling me that I was toxic.

I'm fairly certain her mother has gotten to her.

There’s a spot on the mountain for you

 

[Baller23Boogie]

There’s a spot on the mountain for you

I'll bring the snacks and Gatorade.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

I left to go to the store the other day and didn't tell my middle kid bye and and sent me a text telling me that I was toxic.

I'm fairly certain her mother has gotten to her.

Middle kids always get the short stick.

 

[larsIU]

I'll bring the snacks and Gatorade.

It's not a ****ing youth soccer game. bring alcohol mother****er.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

I am fortunate to be able to travel the world extensively, in many instances representing my University in conferences. I think the overwhelmingly positive interactions with professors and students of vastly differnt backgrounds has helped to dispel prejudices that I unfortunately had, growing up in an all-white, all-Christian, and almost all-Protestant rural southern Indiana community.

Interacting professionally and socially with people of diverse backgounds makes one realize that people are people, the world over. That negative sterotypes are usually both wrong and unhelpful.

Serious question. Were those you interacted with at these conferences because of their individual accomplishments and experiences? I suspect your answer would be yes. This is the point I tried to make. Diversity takes care of itself among qualified and accomplished people.

 

[Bulk VanderHuge]

It's not a ****ing youth soccer game. bring alcohol mother****er.

 

[Baller23Boogie]

It's not a ****ing youth soccer game. bring alcohol mother****er.

I'm not made of money, you jackass 😆

I've got a grandkids to pay spoil now.

 

[Baller23Boogie]

Middle kids always get the short stick.

Nah... that kid is honestly like my best friend.

 

[mcmurtry66]

It's not a ****ing youth soccer game. bring alcohol mother****er.

badwakeboarder said that there are Come Hammered get Nailed Parties. mountain doesn't sound that great knowing there are things like that out there

 

[Baller23Boogie]

badwakeboarder said that there are Come Hammered get Nailed Parties. mountain doesn't sound that great knowing there are things like that out there

I'm out then.

 

[mcmurtry66]

Nah... that kid is honestly like my best friend.

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/3743d455-353f-4948-ab1e-901fc7d35e7b

 

[outside shooter]

Serious question. Were those you interacted with at these conferences because of their individual accomplishments and experiences? I suspect your answer would be yes. This is the point I tried to make. Diversity takes care of itself among qualified and accomplished people.

Yes, at least in the opinion of the conference organizers, usually operating at a regional level.

But diversity doesn't take care of itself unless that regional recognition is valued by the broader scientific community. If I go to a meeting in Australia, for example, it's generally held /hosted by the Australian chemical society, who sets the programming. But I go and learn what schools are putting out people giving good talks and showing good posters. Then I can contact professors there and we can work together in creating exchange opportunities for our students.

An example where diversity efforts got squashed.... When relations with Cuba thawed a bit, under Obama IIRC, I was contacted about maybe going to visit Cuba. The idea was to learn about chemisty education there, promote USA-Cuba scientific collaborations, and work on basic ideas like simply getting them access to better textbooks, better onlines resources, etc. But that whole effort ground to a quick halt after the 2016 election.

 

[BradStevens]

Something I'd not heard of but, then again, I'm not a professor.

Yes, it's the NYT. Yes, I pay for it. If you do too, take a look.

D.E.I. Statements Stir Debate on College Campuses

Yoel Inbar, a psychology professor, thought he might be teaching at U.C.L.A., but his reservations about diversity statements got him in trouble.

www.nytimes.com

Those highlights will get you started. Wild. I mean, Berkeley toned it down for chrissakes.

I thought I had posted about this stuff before. It's been going on for a while.

For more context, I've found the discussions on Leiter Reports (run by a Marxist philosopher, legal and Nietzsche scholar) and Why Evolution is True (a left-leaning evolutionary biologist) informative and concerning:

Search Results for “diversity statements” – Why Evolution Is True

Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.

whyevolutionistrue.com

https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-legal-problem-with-diversity-statements/

diversity statements site:leiterreports.typepad.com - Google Search

 

[CO. Hoosier]

It wasn't forced, but it is to a degree self-perpetuating. So if I had, for instance, decided at some early point in my career that (say) "I don't want women in my group, or people from Asia, or from X, Y, or Z" then later on I wouldn't be hearing from other students of that group that I had chosen to exclude. Sometimes for just simple reasons, a pipeline connection, if you will. Right now, for instance, I have a French researcher who was recommended by a French chemistry professor, who had sent me another French researcher 10 years ago, who had done well. If I had decided 10 years ago that (maybe since I don't speak any French?), I don't want a French person, then I would have missed out on not 1 but 2 good co-workers. And some awesome crepes!

I don’t think you are saying a French chemist is better than a Dutch or American chemist are you? If you didn’t accept the French researcher, presumably you would have had another and a different pipeline available to you.

Seems to me the subtext if diversity requirements is that diversity makes things better. II can’t agree. Especially in technical fields,I think diversity is irrelevant.

That’s not to say diversity is always irrelent. I think it’s important in some disciplines, but that doesn’t mean it must be skin color diversity.

 

[larsIU]

I don’t think you are saying a French chemist is better than a Dutch or American chemist are you?

Now a French physicist? Different story altogether.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

I don’t think you are saying a French chemist is better than a Dutch or American chemist are you? If you didn’t accept the French researcher, presumably you would have had another and a different pipeline available to you.

Seems to me the subtext if diversity requirements is that diversity makes things better. II can’t agree. Especially in technical fields,I think diversity is irrelevant.

That’s not to say diversity is always irrelent. I think it’s important in some disciplines, but that doesn’t mean it must be skin color diversity.

FWIW, Here is the org chart for the top level at Space X. Not much diversity. Space X has revolutionized the business of space, rockets, launch vehicles, and rural and remote internet.

SpaceX - Org Chart, Teams, Culture & Jobs | The Org

View SpaceX's up-to-date org chart, open roles, and culture details. Find executives, board members, teams, related companies, and more.

theorg.com

 

[JamieDimonsBalls]

just how soft this next generation is suggest we are doomed

Bunch of soccer players

 

[Univee2]

Bunch of soccer players

You’re right.

But, it’s s*****.

$5.00 fine.

 

[JamieDimonsBalls]

You’re right.

But, it’s s*****.

$5.00 fine.

Sorry, football*

 

[mattndallas]

It's not a ****ing youth soccer game. bring alcohol mother****er.

Wait...people go to youth soccer games WITHOUT booze?

 

[outside shooter]

I don’t think you are saying a French chemist is better than a Dutch or American chemist are you?

I am saying that my chemistry group seems to me to be more creative and and thoughtful when comprised of people with a diversity of background and training. German chemists have a different knowledge base than French, Dutch, English, Chinese, Indian, etc.

Bring people with different knowledge bases together and get them to talk to one another, then they teach each other their specialized aptitudes. Result: better problem-solving skills by everybody. Research is one problem and setback after another, a lot of the time.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

I am saying that my chemistry group seems to me to be more creative and and thoughtful when comprised of people with a diversity of background and training.

We agree. I guess the issue is what we mean by diversity. My law firm had lawyers from very diverse backgrounds and experiences. . That was important. They were all born and educated in the USA.

 

[Indianaftw]

It's not a ****ing youth soccer game. bring alcohol mother****er.

Wait...people go to youth soccer games WITHOUT booze?

Ya man post Covid it doesn't matter anymore. Dayum Grand Park has a bar where you can watch your kids game and drink. Cmon Man!

 

[Univee2]

Sorry, football*

Damn, you didn’t have to insult America, as well.

$15.00.

 

[Rockport Zebra]

I am fortunate to be able to travel the world extensively, in many instances representing my University in conferences. I think the overwhelmingly positive interactions with professors and students of vastly differnt backgrounds has helped to dispel prejudices that I unfortunately had, growing up in an all-white, all-Christian, and almost all-Protestant rural southern Indiana community.

Interacting professionally and socially with people of diverse backgounds makes one realize that people are people, the world over. That negative sterotypes are usually both wrong and unhelpful.

Do you know Jon Lindsey?

 

[Bloom.]

2 cents from a professor...

My insitution doesn't require signing such stuff. I think that there are University mission statements that attest to valuing diversity & inclusion, though. It is mentioned in hiring ads, too. We do have an REQUIRED online diversity training course, basically to go over laws and behaviors that could get you & the school in trouble.

My experience is that a professor who values diversity and inclusion enriches the education of his or her students, moreso than a professor who does not value diversity and inclusion.

That said, a mere statement / pledge on paper can be a hollow promise. Actions mean more, although the actions are only obvious for the professors with a track record.

My research group, over the past 18 years, has had people in it from
China
India
Japan
Brazil
Czechoslovakia
Russia
Poland
Germany
France
Kenya
USA

We certainly learn a LOT from one another, from a cultural perspective. Different religions, different clothing options, different food preferences, different life experiences, and (yes) different training in chemistry. We never talk politics, we never talk religion, and we respect one another. Now and then do you have people that don't get along? Sure.

My research group right now a 50-50 male-female mix. That's a bit odd, since chemistry graduate schools are probably about 2:1 male / female, on average, I would guess.

Talented female chemists have indicated to me that they have been reluctant to join other research groups that have no women at all in them. The role model / mentoring / comraderie aspects are important. Not that a woman chemist can't learn a lot from a more experience male chemist, or the other way around, but there seems to be a tangible inherent comfort level in being around SOME people of the same gender and/or geographic origin.

Odd...in the Carmel High School topic, diversity just meant (not that you chimed in) black vs. white.

 

[Rockport Zebra]

Odd...in the Carmel High School topic, diversity just meant (not that you chimed in) black vs. white.

That is a very simplistic view of the topic.