BY ELLIOT BENJAMIN
I joined the AAUP this fall and recently attended both a general member meeting and a meeting for the AAUP’s at-large chapter. I voiced my interests and concerns about attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and academic freedom at the at-large meeting, where it was recommended that I share on Academe Blog my efforts to counteract them.
I am an alumnus of the University of Maine, having gotten my PhD in mathematics from the Orono campus in 1996. I have been concerned about the university’s capitulation to Trump administration interference on DEI issues and academic freedom since it changed the name of its DEI office from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to the Office for Community and Connections. Consequently, I formulated a petition in support of maintaining DEI policies that got more than two hundred signatures, and I hand-delivered my petition to University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mindy on November 3. Although I did not get a response from her, I held a joint event on November 20 with University of Maine philosophy professor emeritus Doug Allen at the University of Maine at Orono campus entitled “Diversity, Equality, Inclusion, and Related Democratic Values and Policies Under Attack at UMaine and Beyond: How We Push Back.” There was lively discussion at my event, which was held in a hybrid formal, and a recording is available here. Afterwards, I was encouraged to publish in my local newspaper a letter to the editor; it was reprinted in the Bangor Daily News, where I had published an earlier letter about my concerns. I would like to form a network with like-minded individuals at other US colleges and universities to organize and gather support for maintaining this kind of academic freedom. With this in mind, I am including the links for my University of Maine at Orono petition and my related petition for universities all over the country. If you are interested in networking about these ideas, please contact me at ben496@prexar.com.
Elliot Benjamin is a part-time faculty member at Capella University.
I don’t like the governmental interference, but I also object to making applicants include diversity statements and having administrators tell departments that they won’t allow them to hire a white male, even if the best applicant (or only qualified applicant) is a white male. So I guess it depends on what you mean by DEI.
Thank you Gordon–what you are saying certainly makes sense and I agree with you.
Professor Benjamin tells us that “[He] formulated a petition in support of maintaining DEI policies.” Yet he doesn’t tell us why he thinks DEI policies should be preserved at universities; or why he thinks merit (accomplishments) is less important than an individual’s race, gender, or sexual preference.
Nor does he explain why an applicant or a student should be rewarded for having a certain sexual preference, skin color or gender.
Does he not know that DEI wrongfully harms many deserving individuals while it benefits many undeserving others? Does he not know that “inclusion” in a zero sum game means “exclusion?”
Indeed, his brief article fails to acknowledge or address the many insidious problems with DEI policies. Instead, it lacks cogency and reads like a fluff piece that blindly cheerleads support for DEI.
Most critically however, Professor Benjamin fails to recognize the notion that the state has no business discriminating on the basis of skin color, sex, sexual preference, etc. Doing so is not only hostile to the concept of merit and basic fairness, but more importantly – under our system of laws – it is downright unconstitutional.
Still, Professor Benjamin disgracefully encourages the use of evasive deception. He apparently thinks it is okay to merely change the DEI name and keep its existing policies. That disturbing recommendation is manifestly illegal, unethical, and shameful.
Thank you for your candid response Bob. Although difficult to read, I understand what you are saying. What I wrote was just a blog post, not an article, but you are correct that the situation is much more complicated than what I conveyed, and I certainly don’t think that the best applicant for a job should not get the job because of being a white male.
Professor Benjamin, I appreciate your reply.
Your belief that it is wrong to deny a job to the best qualified applicant because that person is a white male says a lot. While it is consistent with my belief, it is wholly inconsistent with what is happening in the real DEI world that you support. (See also: comment by Gordon Banks above).
Given your rational position on the above point, I sense that you are a person with an open mind; i.e., one who can be persuaded with facts and logic. As such, I would urge you to re-think your stance on DEI. I would urge you to engage in a bit of research; dig into DEI’s pernicious effects; recognize its illegality; and withdraw your support for this well-meaning, but terribly inappropriate, misguided, and unlawful initiative.
Thank you Bob–I will take your advice, and I acknowledge that I did not check into all the implications of DEI sufficiently in how it has been undertaken. My basic position is that it makes sense to reach as many diverse citizens as possible, increasing diversity, but not by penalizing the best applicant for a job.
Thank you Bob–I will follow your advice and I acknowledge that I did research the actual applications of DEI sufficiently.
Oops–I meant I did “not” research the actual applications of DEI sufficiently.