One of America’s top science universities has banned the requirement of new diversity hire statements.
In a statement provided to the Daily Caller, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said that “requests for a statement on diversity will no longer be part of applications for any faculty positions at MIT. The change was made at the direction of President Sally Kornbluth, with the support of the Provost, Chancellor, and all six academic deans.” (RELATED: Majority Of Colleges Tie Diversity, Equity And Inclusion To Graduation Requirements: REPORT)
The reports first were mentioned by bloggers The Babbling Beaver and Why Evolution is True, then John Sailer, who is a senior fellow at the National Association of Scholars, reported about the university ending these diversity statements in UnHerd.
BREAKING: A university spokesperson has officially confirmed to me that MIT will no longer use diversity statements in faculty hiring—making it the first elite private institution to backtrack on the controversial policy. pic.twitter.com/WAtjXNXBQe
— John Sailer (@JohnDSailer) May 5, 2024
“My goals are to tap into the full scope of human talent, to bring the very best to MIT, and to make sure they thrive once here,” Kornbluth told the Daily Caller. “We can build an inclusive environment in many ways, but compelled statements impinge on freedom of expression, and they don’t work.”
The university’s previous guidance on diversity statements asked for faculty hires to include an understanding of DEI, as well as a “track record of working with diverse groups of people,” and how they plan to advance it in their position, according to MIT’s Communication Lab.
Kornbluth has been under fire since she testified before Congress in December 2023, and appears to have refused to say if calling for the genocide of Jews violated the school’s code of conduct. In her testimony, she also argued that “speech codes do not work” and “problematic speech needs to be countered with other speech and with education, and we are doing that.” In March 2024, the House Education Committee requested documents from MIT on how the university has handled antisemitism.
The president also faced an antisemitism complaint when she was Provost of Duke University in 2019.