UC system ending its requirement for "diversity statements" in hiring process
The University of California recently announced it will stop requiring 'diversity statements' in the hiring process.
Critics are celebrating its end, while supporters say they're concerned the university is capitulating to the Trump administration.
Miguel Muniz and Martin Bertao are passionate about their political affiliation as Republicans on the UC Berkeley campus. Muniz did not support Trump initially.
"I was always like 'never Trump.' I hated Trump because I grew up in a small migrant town, lots of illegal immigrants," said Muniz.
"The Trump administration's broader focus to go back to focusing on meritocracy is certainly where our culture needs to be," said Bertao.
They said they've been accosted and even assaulted while tabling on campus and sharing their views. Muniz applauds the UC's decision to end the use of diversity statements.
"Growing up as a Latino and as someone who was probably by definition, low income, especially when I was younger, I grew up and I saw that all the obstacles that were in my way, none of them were race, race-based," said Muniz.
Diversity statements typically ask applicants to describe how they would contribute to diversity. Supporters said it makes campuses more inclusive, but critics say it does the opposite.
Brian Soucek, a law professor at UC Davis, had hoped university leaders would have taken a bolder stance.
"My main concern is the way in which this sudden announcement has come about," said Soucek.
Soucek points to a hiring freeze across the UC system as a mitigating factor. He is more concerned about the symbolic aspects of shifting away from a university policy decades in the making.
"Suggesting at least that these are values that we're willing to compromise on in the face of attacks that the Trump administration is lodging right now, I think will really reduce the amount of cover on other schools, other universities that aren't in the kind of protected place that the University of California is," said Soucek.
The UC system is bracing for a state budget cut of 8 percent. The Trump administration has threatened to take away federal funding and has targeted several UC schools, including Berkeley.
"I think if push comes to shove, if this attempt at appeasement doesn't work, as I don't think it will, I think the University of California is going to stand up for its values and its mission. In the end, I think it'll just see that there's no other choice," said Soucek.
"Hopefully we can move towards a culture where we look at things that actually matter and ignore things that don't like race, sexuality. You know, the things that we all agree shouldn't be important," said Bertao.
The debate over DEI initiatives persists. Muniz and Bertao believe a shift to hear more of the California Republican perspective is real.
The University of Michigan, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are among other universities saying they would stop requiring diversity statements in hiring.
A Pew Research survey shows American workers' opinions on the role of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the workplace have become more negative since last year.
About half of workers (52%) now say focusing on increasing DEI at work is mainly a good thing, down from 56% in February 2023.
