Scientist is suing University of California Santa-Cruz officials over statement from DEI

A scientist has sued the University of California at Santa Cruz after he was required to provide a “diversity, equality, and inclusion” statement with his job application.

Former University of Toronto professor JD Haltigan claims his First Amendment rights have been violated by the requirement, in the lawsuit filed last week.

The DEI prompt requires applicants to “provide examples of a candidate’s previous contributions to diversity, demonstrate an understanding of the specific diversity and equality issues and needs in a candidate’s field of study, or in higher education in in general, and/or discuss the candidate’s vision of how they can contribute to diversity in the future,” said UCSC’s website.

The statements are then scored by school officials who use a rubric to rate them from 1 to 5 based on the applicant’s knowledge of DEI, experience with it, and plans to “improve it.”

The school has been asking applicants to include DEI statements since 2005.

The statements are then scored by school officials who use a rubric to rate them from 1 to 5 based on the applicant’s knowledge of DEI. University president Michael Drake (pictured) is named in the lawsuit

Haltigan, a developmental psychologist, says he was asked to provide a DEI statement after finding a job opening at UCSC for which he believed he was qualified.

“Many public intellectuals, academics, legislators and investigative journalists have expressed alarm at the use of the DEI section on a variety of grounds, including civil rights, discrimination and, more generally, the decline of academic research and teaching in the university setting,” said Haltigan on a blog post last February.

“I share these views and believe that the DEI section in the Academy has also helped create an undermining and hostile environment that is intolerant of diversity of viewpoints and anathema to high-quality research and teaching.”

Following the blog post, Haltigan was approached by attorneys from the Pacific Legal Foundation, which has been involved in “issuing DEI affidavits” for a few years, Wilson Freeman told the Santa Cruz Guard.

“We think it’s an important issue to propagate some kind of orthodoxy throughout the academy,” Haltigan’s attorney added.

“We think it threatens the First Amendment and academic freedom. We think it’s especially bad at the University of California.’

Haltigan’s lawsuit names University of California President Michael Drake, UCSC Chancellor Cynthia Larive, UCSC Department of Psychology Chair Benjamin Storm and UCSC Social Sciences Dean Katharyne Mitchell.

It calls the demand an “unconstitutional form of coerced speech” and accuses the university of requiring a “modern oath of allegiance for professors seeking to join the faculty,” comparing the demand to anti-communist pledges made during the McCarthy era in the Cold War. War.

The lawsuit also alleges that Haltigan would have to “express ideas with which he disagrees” in order to be considered for the job, arguing that it violates his right to free speech.

In addition, it states that the DEI requirement “punishes certain views and drives those views out of the academic hiring market.”

Haltigan, who currently works as an independent scientist in Pennsylvania, has never applied, according to his attorney, and wants to do so without the DEI statement requirement.

He wants the University of California to remove all DEOI certification requirements, acknowledging that they violate the First Amendment.

The lawsuit, citing USC President Michael Drake and Psychology Department Chair Benjamin Storm, calls the DEI requirement an “unconstitutional form of coerced speech.”

Haltigan wants the University of California to abolish all DEOI clearance requirements. Pictured are UCSC Chancellor Cynthia Larive and UCSC Social Sciences Dean Katharyne Mitchell

DailyMail.com has reached out to Haltigan and UCSC for comment on this story.

“UC Santa Cruz’s DEI statement requirement is nothing more than a rebranding of the unconstitutional oath of loyalty that proliferated during the Cold War,” Haltigan’s lead attorney, Wilson Freeman, told DailyMail.com on Tuesday.

‘Universities should not discriminate against applicants because of their political views. UC’s DEI statement screening is a thinly veiled attempt to do just that.”

The scientist’s lawsuit is one of many attempts to crack down on DEI policies in schools across the country.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill banning diversity, equality, and inclusion programs in state colleges.

DeSantis, among other leading Republicans, has taken an aggressive stance against so-called “woke-ism” in American colleges and universities, including programs pushing DEI and the much-maligned Critical Race Theory.

Meanwhile, the University of North Carolina voted to ban students and staff from being forced to take DEI statements in February.

The decision was made just days after another North Carolina school — NC State University — reversed a requirement asking applicants to answer an open-ended question that affirmed the Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda.

The school began including the question on job applications in 2021 stating that the university is “committed to building a just and inclusive community” and rejects “unjust or inhumane treatment” and will denounce it “clearly and loudly” .

The applicant is then asked to write a 250 word essay describing ‘what those words mean to you and how you will contribute to a more diverse and inclusive environment’.

Now, with the decision of the Board of Governors, the University will not request or require any employee or applicant for academic admission or employment to affirmatively ascribe to or pass judgment on beliefs, preferences, ideals, or principles related to issues of contemporary political debate or social action as a condition of admission, employment or professional advancement.’