MIT becomes first elite university to drop its controversial ‘diversity statement’ for faculty applicants and admits: ‘They don’t work’

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has dropped its controversial hiring practice that requires prospective faculty members to write a “diversity statement” as part of the hiring process.

The university previously required faculty candidates to provide the hiring team with a statement demonstrating their “knowledge of diversity, equity and inclusion challenges.”

Applicants were also required to outline their “track record of working with diverse groups of people” and how they plan to advance diversity, equity (DEI) and inclusion within their role at the school.

MIT President Dr. Sally Kornbluth has now decided to scrap the requirement because “forced” diversity declarations “affect freedom of expression” and “do not work,” the university confirmed to DailyMail.com.

The school is the first elite private university to backtrack on the controversial application practice.

An MIT spokesperson confirmed Monday that “requests for a diversity statement will no longer be part of applications for faculty positions at MIT.”

Kornbluth made the decision to reform the highly criticized hiring practice with the “support of the provost, the chancellor and all six academic deans.”

The president said she believes MIT can “build an inclusive environment” without the need for diversity statements.

“My goals are to tap the full scope of human talent, bring the very best to MIT and ensure that they thrive once here,” Kornbluth told DailyMail.com in a statement.

“We can build an inclusive environment in many ways, but coercive statements infringe on freedom of expression and do not work.”

The policy change comes after a survey last year by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free speech advocacy group, found that students and teachers were “unclear” whether the “administration protects free speech.”

The report, released in January 2023, found that “large portions of MIT faculty and students are afraid to express their opinions in various academic settings.”

About 25 percent of teachers indicated that they are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ inclined to self-censor. FIRE investigation revealed. Forty-one percent of teachers also agreed that the government’s position on freedom of expression was ‘not clear’.

MIT previously required faculty candidates to provide the hiring team with a statement demonstrating their “knowledge of diversity, equity, and inclusion challenges.” Applicants were also required to outline their “track record of working with diverse groups of people” and how they plan to advance diversity, equity (DEI), and inclusion within their role at the school (photo: The Maclaurin Buildings at MIT -campus)

Last month, a professor at Harvard Law School urged the Ivy League — of which MIT is not a part — to scrap mandatory diversity statements.

Randall L. Kennedy, in a column in the Harvard Crimsonargued that requiring faculty to sign DEI statements “poses a profound challenge to academic freedom.”

He argued that DEI statements force faculty and staff to “tow a political line,” pressure “left-wing conformity” and “foster cynicism.”

“Universities have a legal, moral, and educational obligation to take action against unlawful discriminatory behavior,” Kennedy wrote.

“But the requirements for mandatory DEI statements go far beyond that obligation and enter booby-trapped territory hostile to an intellectually healthy university environment.”

The DEI statement policy, which often led to selective hiring of minorities or specific demographic groups to increase diversity, was vigorously pushed by Harvard’s first black female president, Claudine Gay.

Gay, along with the presidents of UPenn and MIT, were called before a Congressional hearing last December to account for the rise of anti-Semitism on their college campuses.

During the hearing, Gay refused to categorize calls for genocide against Jews as harassment, or to concede that Jewish students had a right to feel safe in Ivy League schools.

Gay resigned as Harvard president in January but did not apologize for his testimony. The academic had been actively pushing a DEI agenda at the college and had herself been criticized for being underqualified for the role.

The DEI declaration policy was strongly pushed by Harvard’s first black female president, Claudine Gay. Homosexuals, along with the presidents of UPenn and MIT, were called to a December 2023 Congressional hearing (pictured) to demand accountability for the rise of anti-Semitism on their college campuses

Higher education institutions aren’t the only companies rethinking their DEI hiring policies. Last year’s Supreme Court ruling striking down the use of affirmative action in universities has focused attention on diversity efforts in the business community.

Laws limiting the use of DEI policies in public schools have been introduced in Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis and in Texas universities by Governor Greg Abbott.

Several US companies have distanced themselves from controversial diversity initiatives in the wake of the anti-Semitism row at universities, business consultants revealed earlier this year.

The wave of anti-Semitism on some of the country’s most elite college campuses has reportedly further dragged the term DEI into a toxic political debate that companies now want to distance themselves from.

“The focus is shifting from ‘those three words’ to efforts around ‘wellbeing and inclusion,’” Diana Scott of The Conference Board told Axios in January.

DEI had already attracted some high-profile critics from the business world, including Elon Musk and billionaire Bill Ackman.