The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced that faculty candidates will no longer be asked to provide diversity statements during the application process.
Before the switch, which was announced on Monday, faculty candidates were required to “explain how they would enhance the university’s commitment to diversity,” according to the New York Times.
“Such statements have become enshrined in faculty hiring at many elite public and private universities, as well as in corporate life. Academics have defended them as necessary in judging whether a faculty member can reach out to an increasingly diverse student body,” added the Times.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth said such statements were just compelled speech and did not help the university achieve its goal of excellence.
“My goals are to tap into the full scope of human talent, to bring the very best to M.I.T. and to make sure they thrive once here,” Kornbluth said in a statement. “We can build an inclusive environment in many ways, but compelled statements impinge on freedom of expression, and they don’t work.”
Kornbluth’s statement comes as the university has faced intense scrutiny for how it has handled a wave of anti-Jewish sentiments throughout the country in the wake of Israel’s incursion into Gaza following the horrific terrorist attack on October 7 of last year.
The presidents of MIT, Penn, and Harvard seem to think that *
