They’re coming for you next: On February 23, 2023 the board of governors of the University of North Carolina voted to ban all requirements that applicants in hiring and admissions make statements advocating the racist political agenda of “diversity, equity and inclusion” [DEI].

The board stated the university “shall neither solicit nor require an employee or applicant for academic admission or employment to affirmatively ascribe to or opine about beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles regarding matters of contemporary political debate or social action as a condition to admission, employment, or professional advancement,” according to the resolution. An employee or applicant also can’t “be solicited or required to describe his or her actions in support of, or in opposition to, such beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles.”

According to the now-banned policy [pdf], anyone who wanted to either go to UNC as a student, or be hired or promoted there as a teacher, had to prove they had made a “positive contribution to DEI efforts.”

DEI efforts include but are not limited to: participation in predoctoral student programs or mentoring (e.g., Summer Science Enrichment Program, student or resident-led advocacy groups), participation in departmental DEI committee work, participation in health equity work either through clinical or research activities, completion and application of DEI training (e.g., Safe Zone, Unconscious Bias), working with underrepresented minority (URM) youth to increase interest in STEM careers, leading journal or book clubs on DEI topics, promoting social justice (e.g., create curricular content that uses inclusive concepts, imagery, and terminology regarding protected status). DEI efforts should be conceptualized in the broadest context, and contributions may expand across research, teaching, or service. [emphasis mine]

In other words, to get hired you had to push the racist policies of the modern left. Conservatives need not apply.

Will the action by the board to ban such hiring requirements change anything? I doubt it. For example, the Diversity & Inclusion Council for the entire North Carolina university system has not been disbanded. It lists a department at every university in the system.

The “University Office for Diversity and Inclusion” at Chapel Hill for example is typical. It is clearly focused on providing favored treatment to minorities. And though its claims its various scholarships and programs are open to anyone “regardless of race, color, religion, gender identity, national origin or ability,” a look at who wins tells us that white males need not apply. Though these programs ever so often award a token white male something to prove the program doesn’t play favorites, it is clear that it the goal is to favor minorities and what critical race theory defines as “oppressed races.”

Similarly, the board did not take any action disavowing the DEI recommendations of the “UNC System Racial Equity Task Force” it created in 2020. The recommendations of its final report [pdf] demands that DEI policies be infused at all levels of the university system. For example, in its #1 recommendation it demanded that the university system:

Appoint, elevate, and/or enhance the role of the diversity, equity, and inclusion position at each
institution. The diversity, equity, and inclusion position should be empowered to help set a clear path for addressing race and equity issues and establishing processes, resources, and solution-based support/assistance.

The second recommendation demanded UNC “Build a high-quality, diverse teacher pipeline by recruiting, enrolling, and graduating more students of color in UNC System educator preparation programs.”

Still quietly but extensively practicing and teaching
discrimination and bigotry

Does the board really think some simple ban on some language in this one narrow area is going to really change things? As long as these well-funded DEI departments exist with an established university-wide agenda to demand favoritism for some simply because of their race or gender, UNC will continue to be a model for bigotry, practicing discrimination in both race and gender.

The only real solution is to shut down these offices completely, and to publicly and unequivocally reject these policies. The only metric for hiring or admissions should be talent, skill, and knowledge. The race or gender of every applicant must be made irrelevant. Until UNC’s board takes this action, everything they do will be nothing more than failure theater, designed to make the general public think they have taken action, while allowing the bad policies to go on.

It is also important to note that UNC is a public university, which gets significant funds [pdf] from the state government. Why hasn’t the state legislature, controlled by Republicans, done anything? With the right political pressure, even the state’s Democratic Party governor, Roy Cooper, would back down on this issue.