University of California leaders said Wednesday that they are eliminating the long-standing practice of requiring faculty members to submit “diversity statements” to faculty job seekers. This comes after the Trump administration threatened to cancel federal funding from schools and universities that maintain diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
As part of a job seeker or promotion, many departments on the UC campus require job seekers to submit one or two pages of written testimony about how they worked to enhance and support racial and other types of diversity in their field. Essay requests began to appear in several UC applications in the early 2000s, gaining popularity in the 2010s, attracting both praise and controversy.
The UC Regent announced its decision when the federal government convened at UCLA since it launched a series of investigations on UC and other US campuses over allegations that the federal government discriminates against white, Asian American and Jewish employees and students.
“The requirement to submit a diversity statement may lead applicants to focus on candidate aspects other than their expertise or previous experience,” UC Provost’s Catherine S. Newman and executive vice president of Academic Affairs said in a letter to Campus Provost on Wednesday.
“The Regent said our values and commitment to our mission have not changed,” the letter said. “We can continue to effectively serve our community from a variety of life experiences, backgrounds and perspectives without the need for a diversity statement.”
She added that the standalone diversity statement of recruitment is “no longer allowed,” but that it is still permitted to optionally share “comprehensive academic outcomes of education, research and services” during the academic review process.
Opponents of the Diversity Statement argue that the essay encourages scholars applying for work to change focus from academic achievement. In 2023, a professor of Florida statistics sued due to requirements for the UC Santa Cruz Diversity Statement. The professor argued that the recruitment requirements violated the constitutional protection of free speech. Last year, the judge dismissed the case because the professor didn’t apply for the job.
Several UC teachers familiar with Wednesday’s decision said they believe the Trump administration’s anti-DEI actions are a key factor in the regent’s decision.
Brian Soucek, a law professor at UC Davis and an expert on diversity statements who worked with UC faculty and studied its use, legality and effectiveness, expressed his disappointment.
“It can only be described as a high-level attempt at reconciliation in the Trump administration’s current threat,” Sousek said. “There is no other thing that could motivate this change in general or motivate this change that is being made in this particular way at the present moment.”
Soucek noted that UC leaders and faculty have “studied and advocated for the diversity statements on campus for years.” He said the statement was to “seek ways in which our particular areas may be lacking in when generating scholarships that address the needs of the diverse public.”
The Department of Education issued guidance to all schools and universities last month, suggesting that DEI programs, such as minority-focused scholarships and black and Latino graduation ceremonies, are at risk of losing federal grants.
The letter did not select a statement of diversity, but widely said the department deems the use of race illegal in “admission, financial aid, employment, training and other institutional programming.”
In response, many schools across the country have made changes such as closing diversity offices and positions and renaming them to remove the terms of diversity and equity. USC has closed its diversity offices across the campus and merged with the “culture” team and faculty who worked on division-level websites for diversity languages.
The education department also launched dozens of campuses with Berkeley, California, and last week launched dozens of campuses over allegations that it illegally partnered with the PhD Project, a New Jersey nonprofit that promotes workplace diversity by linking business school faculty with students. The Trump administration has accused nonprofits of restricting participation based on race. The nonprofit said last week it changed its policy to be open to everyone.
In a statement, Janet Reilly, chairman of the UC Regent Committee, said the university will “continue to accept and congratulate Californians from a variety of life experiences, backgrounds and perspectives.”
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