Morning Wire XX
[0] Diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI exploded in 2020 sparked by the Black Lives Matter and Me Too movements.
[1] The policies and training became mandatory in the workplace in schools and on college campuses.
[2] Today, you often can't apply for a job or admission to a college or graduate school without making a statement about your commitment to DEI policies.
[3] In this edition of Morning Wire, we look at the growing number of universities that are now requiring diversity, equity, and inclusion statements in their applications.
[4] I'm DailyWire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley with Georgia Hal.
[5] It's February 11th and this is a Saturday bonus edition of MorningWire.
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[10] Joining us to discuss the prevalence of DEI on college campuses is Jonathan Butcher, Education Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and author of Splinterd, which documents the rise of DEI.
[11] Welcome, Jonathan.
[12] So we've seen the rapid increase in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in U .S. universities.
[13] First, tell us about this trend.
[14] Is it still expanding?
[15] I think it absolutely is.
[16] And some of the examples that we see now come in the forms of these requirements for job postings, where individuals who interview for faculty positions are asked to write some sort of statement saying how their work in any number of areas in, say, mathematics or the hard sciences, somehow contributes to the university's overtly political interests in so -called diversity, equity, and inclusion.
[17] Diversity, equity, and inclusion these days is intended to create the opposite of what those words actually mean, right?
[18] What's happening is that students are feeling afraid to speak their minds on college campuses.
[19] They are being asked to identify with groups based on immutable characteristics, based on their skin color or ethnicity as a requirement to be involved in different activities on campus.
[20] I mean, it's limiting the ideas that can be discussed both inside the classroom and with invited lecturers.
[21] an effort, ultimately, at the very bottom, to make critical race theory a part of everyday life, especially on college campuses.
[22] But we're seeing it as well in businesses, in medical schools, in, you know, all of the important parts and features of our both cultural and political lives.
[23] How prevalent is this?
[24] Can you give us some examples of DEI statements required by universities?
[25] Sure.
[26] in a report from the Goldwater Institute, some 80 % of the faculty openings at public universities in Arizona require some sort of DEI statement when they apply, explaining how, as a part of their work in molecular biology, that it will further the efforts of so -called diversity equity and inclusion on campus, when really the focus needs to be, we can't forget this, right?
[27] It needs to be preparing students with the skills to equip them for whatever area of future study they want to go into or the job that they want to take later in life.
[28] And it's not just Arizona in California.
[29] I think there are some 75 % of the candidates for different jobs for campus positions could be weeded out because of the DEI statements that were required as a condition of applying for those jobs.
[30] So, you know, it's happening at universities around the country.
[31] Now, many of these are public school systems that are requiring this.
[32] Are there any existing or potential legal challenges on the horizon here?
[33] I think that that is surely coming down the pike.
[34] I mean, look, the two biggest examples of cases and challenges to the sort of identity politics world are, you know, the Supreme Court's considering them right now involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina.
[35] And that has specifically to do with affirmative action.
[36] But really, you know, we're kind of talking about a different side of the same issue here, right?
[37] These affirmative action programs also rest on the idea that individuals should be treated differently based on the color of their skin.
[38] And again, this is what's at the very core of critical race theory, which drives all of the thinking and ideas behind the so -called diversity, equity, and inclusion.
[39] What do you think is motivating this DEI push politically and ideologically?
[40] Well, it's definitely to change the way that we think about meritocracy and earning our own success.
[41] or the idea that there are inherent structures in society in the job market in politics that make it impossible for people to improve their station in life.
[42] That's a message that traces its way all the way back to Marxism.
[43] And it's an easy out, right?
[44] It's an easy way to say, well, life's not fair and I am oppressed because of things that are out of my control.
[45] And so I am going to group myself with others who share a similar identity and we're going to form this movement that says that America is systemically racist and there's nothing we can do about it.
[46] These are all troubling things, right, because they get at the core of what it means to be American, right?
[47] It gets at the core of the ideas on which our nation is built, right?
[48] That you can, in fact, improve your station in life.
[49] You can pursue your own definition of human flourishing.
[50] Final question.
[51] For those who see DEI as problematic, what are some ways forward on this issue?
[52] Well, I think there are few.
[53] I mean, I think that state lawmakers can intervene to say that taxpayer money should not be paying for these ultimately administrative offices, right?
[54] Largely these DEI programs, they don't teach classes, right?
[55] They're administrative positions.
[56] And they should be saying that any of these efforts that compels someone to affirm or believe any idea that, you know, violates the Civil Rights Act or violates their conscience.
[57] If someone is forced to believe that, that's inappropriate, right?
[58] That compelled speech is not appropriate.
[59] So I think state lawmakers can consider proposals in that way.
[60] I think the same can be done carefully structured at the federal level as well in terms of federal money that's used for these DEI offices.
[61] We talked about what can be done in terms of litigation.
[62] And then, you know, ultimately I think that those teachers, those professors, those instructors, it's really become so urgent today that we are very honest and thorough when we talk about the nature of American history.
[63] right?
[64] I mean, we can can and should say that slavery was a abhorrent institution, that it was contrary to the American creed, but that it doesn't define us today.
[65] And given that, the American dream is possible for everyone, no matter the color of your skin.
[66] And that is the kind of hope.
[67] That is the kind of forward -looking perspective.
[68] We want to give to the next generation.
[69] Jonathan, thank you for coming on.
[70] All right.
[71] Thank you.
[72] That was Jonathan Butcher, Heritage Education Fellow, and this was a Saturday bonus edition of Morning Wire.