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A Harvard Law School professor is urging the Ivy League university to eliminate mandatory <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/harvard-chief-dei-officer-accused-40-counts-plagiarism-including-plagiarizing-husband" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion</a> (DEI) statements that force faculty and staff to "toe a political line."<a rel="nofollow">In the </a><a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/column/council-on-academic-freedom-at-harvard/article/2024/4/2/kennedy-abandon-dei-statements/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Harvard Crimson column</a> "Mandatory DEI Statements Are Ideological Pledges of Allegiance. Time to Abandon Them," contributing opinion writer and professor Randall L. Kennedy said requiring hires in higher ed to sign diversity statements "poses a profound challenge to academic freedom."These requirements, he said, often tell applicants to submit a statement of teaching philosophy that includes a description of their "orientation toward diversity, equity and inclusion practices."Kennedy, who works as the Michael R. Klein Professor at Harvard Law School, claimed these statements are essentially "pledges of allegiance" that "enlist academics" to adopt tenets of the DEI movement through "soft-spoken but real coercion."<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/rutgers-university-professor-without-dei-offices-there-no-ability-make-meaningful-progress" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR SAYS WITHOUT DEI OFFICES, THERE IS ‘NO ABILITY TO MAKE MEANINGFUL PROGRESS'</a>"If you want the job or the promotion, play ball—or else," Kennedy said is the message sent.He claimed that <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/education/diversity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diversity statements</a> exert pressure towards "leftist conformity" and "abets cynicism.""Detractors reasonably suspect that underneath the uncontroversial aspirations for diversity statements — facilitating a more open and welcoming environment for everyone — are controversial goals including the weeding out of candidates who manifest opposition to or show insufficient enthusiasm for the DEI regime," Kennedy continued.The Harvard Law School professor asked readers to imagine the backlash that would ensue if a school asked a candidate for a faculty position to submit a statement in favor of capitalism, patriotism, or Making America Great Again with a "clear expectation of allegiance.""Universities are under a legal, moral, and pedagogical duty to take action against wrongful discriminatory conduct. But demands for <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/crenshaw-takes-mandatory-dei-statements-colleges-universities-new-house-bill" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mandatory DEI statements</a> venture far beyond that obligation into territory that is full of booby-traps inimical to an intellectually healthy university environment," Kennedy wrote.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/naacp-call-black-athletes-reconsider-playing-florida-colleges-due-anti-dei-bill" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NAACP URGE BLACK ATHLETES TO 'RECONSIDER' PLAYING AT FLORIDA COLLEGES DUE TO ANTI-DEI BILL</a>He suggested that "resorting to compulsion" and imposing "ideological litmus tests" without allowing for open discourse and criticism is leading the current DEI regime to discredit itself."I am a scholar on the left committed to struggles for social justice," Kennedy wrote. "The realities surrounding mandatory DEI statements, however, make me wince. The practice of demanding them ought to be abandoned, both at Harvard and beyond."On March 21, the Harvard College Intellectual Vitality Initiative and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences co-<a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/3/25/diversity-higher-education-safra-lecture/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">sponsored an event</a> at which academics debated the importance of DEI in higher education.The panel, hosted by the Harvard Safra Center, was the latest in a series of events about civil disagreement.In a January letter, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo, criticized the university’s DEI initiatives and claimed they exclude Jewish students and shut down dissenting opinions. He claimed Harvard’s actions could cause them to lose their tax-exempt status.Harvard did not return <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News Digital's</a> request for comment.

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published: 2024-04-02 23:00:32.000000000 Z
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 guid: https://www.foxnews.com/media/harvard-law-professor-urges-university-abandon-dei-statements-ideological-pledges-allegiance
title: 'Harvard Law professor urges university to ''abandon'' DEI statements: ''Ideological
 pledges of allegiance'''
categories:
- 9fd3bf14-b36a-558e-8389-352549d7c36d
- fnc
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content: A Harvard Law School professor is urging the Ivy League university to
 eliminate mandatory <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/harvard-chief-dei-officer-accused-40-counts-plagiarism-including-plagiarizing-husband"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion</a> (DEI) statements
 that force faculty and staff to "toe a political line."<a rel="nofollow">In
 the </a><a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/column/council-on-academic-freedom-at-harvard/article/2024/4/2/kennedy-abandon-dei-statements/"
 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Harvard Crimson column</a> "Mandatory DEI
 Statements Are Ideological Pledges of Allegiance. Time to Abandon Them," contributing
 opinion writer and professor Randall L. Kennedy said requiring hires in higher ed
 to sign diversity statements "poses a profound challenge to academic freedom."These
 requirements, he said, often tell applicants to submit a statement of teaching philosophy
 that includes a description of their "orientation toward diversity, equity and inclusion
 practices."Kennedy, who works as the Michael R. Klein Professor at Harvard
 Law School, claimed these statements are essentially "pledges of allegiance" that
 "enlist academics" to adopt tenets of the DEI movement through "soft-spoken but
 real coercion."<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/rutgers-university-professor-without-dei-offices-there-no-ability-make-meaningful-progress"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR SAYS WITHOUT
 DEI OFFICES, THERE IS ‘NO ABILITY TO MAKE MEANINGFUL PROGRESS'</a>"If
 you want the job or the promotion, play ball—or else," Kennedy said is the message
 sent.He claimed that <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/education/diversity"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">diversity statements</a> exert pressure towards "leftist
 conformity" and "abets cynicism.""Detractors reasonably suspect that underneath
 the uncontroversial aspirations for diversity statements — facilitating a more open
 and welcoming environment for everyone — are controversial goals including the weeding
 out of candidates who manifest opposition to or show insufficient enthusiasm for
 the DEI regime," Kennedy continued.The Harvard Law School professor asked
 readers to imagine the backlash that would ensue if a school asked a candidate for
 a faculty position to submit a statement in favor of capitalism, patriotism, or
 Making America Great Again with a "clear expectation of allegiance.""Universities
 are under a legal, moral, and pedagogical duty to take action against wrongful discriminatory
 conduct. But demands for <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/crenshaw-takes-mandatory-dei-statements-colleges-universities-new-house-bill"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">mandatory DEI statements</a> venture far beyond that
 obligation into territory that is full of booby-traps inimical to an intellectually
 healthy university environment," Kennedy wrote.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/naacp-call-black-athletes-reconsider-playing-florida-colleges-due-anti-dei-bill"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">NAACP URGE BLACK ATHLETES TO 'RECONSIDER'
 PLAYING AT FLORIDA COLLEGES DUE TO ANTI-DEI BILL</a>He suggested
 that "resorting to compulsion" and imposing "ideological litmus tests" without allowing
 for open discourse and criticism is leading the current DEI regime to discredit
 itself."I am a scholar on the left committed to struggles for social justice,"
 Kennedy wrote. "The realities surrounding mandatory DEI statements, however, make
 me wince. The practice of demanding them ought to be abandoned, both at Harvard
 and beyond."On March 21, the Harvard College Intellectual Vitality Initiative
 and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences co-<a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/3/25/diversity-higher-education-safra-lecture/"
 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">sponsored an event</a> at which academics
 debated the importance of DEI in higher education.The panel, hosted by the
 Harvard Safra Center, was the latest in a series of events about civil disagreement.In
 a January letter, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo, criticized
 the university’s DEI initiatives and claimed they exclude Jewish students and shut
 down dissenting opinions. He claimed Harvard’s actions could cause them to lose
 their tax-exempt status.Harvard did not return <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News Digital's</a> request for comment. 
summary: Harvard Law School Professor Randall L. Kennedy said the university must
 get rid of mandatory DEI statements, which he claimed challenge academic freedom.
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url: https://www.foxnews.com/media/harvard-law-professor-urges-university-abandon-dei-statements-ideological-pledges-allegiance
image: https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/11/931/523/dei-faculty-hiring-umass-thumbnail.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

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