DEI programs in the news

[Langue_doc]

Alabama Republicans Pass Expansive Legislation Targeting D.E.I.
The measure would not only cut funding to diversity programs at public colleges, but also limit the teaching of "divisive concepts" surrounding race and gender.

Free access the NYT article here.

[treeoflife]

Goldwater Institute Sues Arizona State University Regents Over DEI Training https://bit.ly/4a2xF43

[marshwiggle]

Goldwater Institute Sues Arizona State University Regents Over DEI Training https://bit.ly/4a2xF43

From the article:

For example, one of the quiz questions asked if "Bias is informed by fact and not ideologies," and according to the suit, a copy of the training material identified "false" as the correct answer.

What a ridiculously stupid question. "Bias" is not "informed" by anything if it's unconscious; if it's conscious, it can be "informed" by fact, ideology, or any of a number of other things.
 
So making it a true or false question is idiotic, since either choice isn't universally and objectively correct.
 

[little bongo]

The DEI community of officers and reps have some self-awareness of their problems--from the Chronicle:

https://www.chronicle.com/article/under-siege-dei-officers-strategize-to-fight-back

Here's a telling quote from the President and Chief Executive of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education:

"We took a lot for granted. We took for granted that we were doing the right thing."

[marshwiggle]

The DEI community of officers and reps have some self-awareness of their problems--from the Chronicle:

https://www.chronicle.com/article/under-siege-dei-officers-strategize-to-fight-back

Here's a telling quote from the President and Chief Executive of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education:

"We took a lot for granted. We took for granted that we were doing the right thing."

A couple of hopeful insights:

DEI professionals should avoid slogans that confuse and obscure what they're doing. They should "avoid being language police," he said. Don't fight over whether or not it's appropriate to refer to people as Latinx. "Let's not get into battles over small stuff that prevents us from dealing with the bigger issues."
...
Critics often argue that DEI offices suppress speech by policing language that might offend members of disadvantaged groups. Several speakers suggested that advocates speak out about the importance of free speech, and of listening to people with opposing viewpoints, even if they make you uncomfortable.

"Diversity also means diversity of ideas and perspectives," said George A. Pruitt, president emeritus of Thomas Edison State University, in Trenton, N.J. While threats from the right get the most attention, he said, diversity efforts are also set back, he believes, "by students shouting down speakers they don't agree with, cancel culture, and attempts to shield students from speech and ideas that trigger them or make them feel uncomfortable."

Maybe there's hope after all.

[ciao_yall]

The DEI community of officers and reps have some self-awareness of their problems--from the Chronicle:

https://www.chronicle.com/article/under-siege-dei-officers-strategize-to-fight-back

Here's a telling quote from the President and Chief Executive of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education:

"We took a lot for granted. We took for granted that we were doing the right thing."

A couple of hopeful insights:

DEI professionals should avoid slogans that confuse and obscure what they're doing. They should "avoid being language police," he said. Don't fight over whether or not it's appropriate to refer to people as Latinx. "Let's not get into battles over small stuff that prevents us from dealing with the bigger issues."
...
Critics often argue that DEI offices suppress speech by policing language that might offend members of disadvantaged groups. Several speakers suggested that advocates speak out about the importance of free speech, and of listening to people with opposing viewpoints, even if they make you uncomfortable.

"Diversity also means diversity of ideas and perspectives," said George A. Pruitt, president emeritus of Thomas Edison State University, in Trenton, N.J. While threats from the right get the most attention, he said, diversity efforts are also set back, he believes, "by students shouting down speakers they don't agree with, cancel culture, and attempts to shield students from speech and ideas that trigger them or make them feel uncomfortable."

Maybe there's hope after all.

My colleague got called on the carpet for referring to a generic class as "Underwater Basket Weaving" because it was offensive to cultures for whom baskets are very important.

She cried in front of the entire curriculum committee and guests in her apology.

[apl68]

These insights all sound like common sense.  It's not like they haven't been warned repeatedly that not paying attention to such common-sense considerations could prove counterproductive.  DEI advocates have really set their cause back badly and provoked largely avoidable backlashes by not heeding those warnings.  This is the sort of thing that happens when policies are made in hermetically-sealed academic and ideological bubbles.

Hopefully with more of this sort of revised thinking and reflection they can make some actual progress toward some of their goals in the future, without provoking a bunch of needless antagonism.  It's going to be an uphill struggle to win back many academics and members of the general public who've already come to have strongly negative ideas of DEI.

[marshwiggle]

My colleague got called on the carpet for referring to a generic class as "Underwater Basket Weaving" because it was offensive to cultures for whom baskets are very important.

She cried in front of the entire curriculum committee and guests in her apology.

That's insane. Probably virtually every culture uses baskets of some sort, but I don't know of any that weave them underwater.

[Ruralguy]

I think that (Ciao's remark) was a joke. Society and academia would be in even sadder shape than I thought if it was not.

[marshwiggle]

I think that (Ciao's remark) was a joke. Society and academia would be in even sadder shape than I thought if it was not.

These days reality and parody are pretty hard to distinguish. See this thread.

[apl68]

I've always thought that the use of "basketweaving" as a standard shorthand for "course name I want to redact so I don't get outed" was part of The Fora's charm.

I recall somebody speaking of a search for a tenure-track basketweaver that got a promising application from somebody who could also teach chair-caning, and unwelcome applications from a bunch of felt-makers.

[methodsman]

My colleague got called on the carpet for referring to a generic class as "Underwater Basket Weaving" because it was offensive to cultures for whom baskets are very important.

She cried in front of the entire curriculum committee and guests in her apology.

That's insane. Probably virtually every culture uses baskets of some sort, but I don't know of any that weave them underwater.

I always assumed that the person was not under water weaving a basket in say, full scuba gear, but rather that the basket and the reeds were underwater in a trough or something so that they would bend easier and not break.   

mm

[marshwiggle]

My colleague got called on the carpet for referring to a generic class as "Underwater Basket Weaving" because it was offensive to cultures for whom baskets are very important.

She cried in front of the entire curriculum committee and guests in her apology.

That's insane. Probably virtually every culture uses baskets of some sort, but I don't know of any that weave them underwater.

I always assumed that the person was not under water weaving a basket in say, full scuba gear, but rather that the basket and the reeds were underwater in a trough or something so that they would bend easier and not break.   

mm

I pictured something more like pearl divers, who can hold their breath for insanely long periods, calmly sitting on the seabed weaving.

[Langue_doc]

I too hope that ciao_yall's comment was a joke as it would be a sad day for all of us if women professors were reduced to public shaming and humiliation in front of a committee and guests. Guests!!! Women professionals having to cry in public to show their contrition for an unintended error suggests that academia is now a very toxic work environment. Why wasn't the professor asked to change the name via email? Why force her to grovel and cry in front of colleagues and guests?

[ciao_yall]

I too hope that ciao_yall's comment was a joke as it would be a sad day for all of us if women professors were reduced to public shaming and humiliation in front of a committee and guests. Guests!!! Women professionals having to cry in public to show their contrition for an unintended error suggests that academia is now a very toxic work environment. Why wasn't the professor asked to change the name via email? Why force her to grovel and cry in front of colleagues and guests?

Sadly enough, it was a true story. And yes, it was a pretty toxic environment. She was a bit of a toxic person herself, though. She was Chair, and I was Vice Chair. She chewed me out one day when I reviewed a class for our culinary department on Wedding Cakes and it wasn't crystal clear that the SLO on "costing cakes" wasn't covered under "production of wedding cakes."

I was reminded of the story when I recently ran into a salt-of-the-earth colleague who was at that meeting to discuss his new motorcycle repair class and he was still traumatized by the sight of a grown woman weeping at the start. He was worried about how the committee would treat his poor class.