UC Santa Cruz Prioritizes Diversity in Faculty Hiring

A new program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, may be rejecting qualified white and male candidates because they are not “diverse” enough. All candidates are also required to sign a “diversity pledge” as a commitment to advancing progressive diversity politics.

According to a report by The College Fix, UC Santa Cruz announced in a recent press release that their faculty hiring department is prioritizing “diverse” candidates over white candidates. The university was awarded a grant that was designated specifically for the use in the hiring of “diverse” faculty members.

In a press release, the university announced that faculty candidates will be required to sign a “diversity pledge,” which serves as a written commitment to their willingness to advance progressive ideals if they are to be hired.

The campus expects to run about 30 faculty recruitments in the coming year. In the recruitments that are part of the pilot program, search committees will first review and assess candidates’ statements on contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion before determining whether to evaluate the rest of the application materials. The statements will also be redacted to reduce potential impact of implicit bias.

More universities and colleges around the country are forcing new faculty to engage in political compliance with the institution’s progressive orthodoxy through “diversity” pledges. Breitbart News reported in November 2018 that former Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey Flier had argued that “diversity pledges” are a violation of academic freedom.

UC Santa Cruz claims that they are working to redefine their approach to faculty leadership. A small team of faculty members is researching how campus leaders can be more “inclusive” in their efforts.

In an effort to develop strategies to support faculty leadership, a team of researchers will interview and survey campus professors, and study national leadership programs. The goal is to redefine the meaning of leadership to be more inclusive of existing practices and efforts of historically marginalized faculty.

Richard Sander, a law professor at UCLA, argues that UC Santa Cruz is violating their obligation to be “race-neutral” in their hiring practices.

These recent efforts to increase the “diversity” of the faculty “represents another way that the university is not only disregarding their obligations to be race-neutral under state law but is actively substituting ethnicity issues for merit,” Sander said.