The University of California Santa Cruz is requiring some faculty job applicants to include a “Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” as part of the initial screening of the university’s hiring process.
Applicants in a slew of departments, including computer science, chemistry, and art, are mandating that incoming assistant professors and professors provide written statements explaining their contributions, or expected future contributions, to the world of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Job applicants must address their “understanding of the barriers facing traditionally underrepresented groups and your past and/or future contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion through teaching and professional or public service,” according to the online applications.
According to the school, the “initial screening of applicants will be based exclusively on the Research Statement and the Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” Some applications require a “pedagogy statement” as well. (RELATED: University Temporarily Suspends Taxpayer-Funded Program That Teaches White 4-Year-Olds About ‘Anti-Blackness’)
Some jobs posted to the university’s online job board include the diversity statement as “optional.” For example, applicants for the “2D Visual Art Lecturer Pool” position are told the statement is optional.
Screenshot/University of California Santa Cruz
The University of California system requires most faculty applicants to include similar statements describing an applicant’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, though the Santa Cruz campus is the only one that makes the statement part of the “initial screening,” according to the Washington Examiner.
The University of California San Diego also vowed to hire new professors that could help create courses that fulfill the school’s “Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion requirements.”