Randall Kennedy

You want to be an assistant professor.

Or let's suppose that you're seeking a promotion.

On many university campuses, you are asked to give a DEI statement in which you say, one of the reasons why you should hire me or one of the reasons why you should promote me is because I'm going to advance the DEI statement.

ambitions.

Yes.

That's right.

So, you know, you've got a sort of, you know, basically what you're being asked to do, whether they say it explicitly or not, they don't say this explicitly, but this is what they're being, this is what is up.

What you're being asked to do is to say, I'm down with the diversity, equity, and inclusion ethos, program, policy, campaign.

And here's what I've done that shows that I'm down with this program.

And therefore, I'm okay.

Well, you know, a lot of what I do would fit very comfortably within that.

But let's suppose that I didn't, just suppose I didn't like this.

And by the way, there's certain aspects of the DEI, you know, industry that I don't like.

You mean to tell me that, you know, I'm being judged at an academic institution?

Let's suppose I want to be a chemist.

Let's suppose I want to be a physicist.

Let's suppose I want to be, I don't care, you know, a critic of literature.

I oppose this program.

I don't think this is the way in which higher education should be going.

Should I have to, on pain of relinquishing my ability to be hired, should I have to sign on to this?