(LibertySociety.com) – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has been a hot topic of online discussion over the last several weeks. Billionaire and entrepreneur Elon Musk has used his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to draw attention to the practice, which he says is racist. Musk and billionaire Mark Cuban recently engaged in a back-and-forth on the platform, arguing about the purpose of DEI. Many state governments, employers, and colleges across the country have adopted DEI over the last several years, but efforts to do away with it in several Republican states have proven successful. However, Ivy League and other prestigious colleges and universities have no intention of scaling back DEI.
Rice University in Houston, Texas recently announced a new Afrochemistry class, which was instantly mocked online. The course description says that students will “implement African American sensibilities to analyze chemistry” in the 100-level class. The course counts for three credit hours, but there is no final exam. A flyer advertisement for the course was also scrutinized by anti-DEI advocates. One question asked was “What does it look like to do science on one’s own terms?” Other questions involved social justice and societal impacts on how science is conducted. Although the class does not meet the standards of chemistry major courses, the three credit hours will count toward a minor in African and African American studies.
Rice is not the only university in the spotlight for its DEI decisions. Johns Hopkins University’s chief diversity officer, Dr. Sherita Hill Golden, apologized after she constructed a list of groups of people who have privilege but may not know it. The list was published in the January edition of the university’s Diversity Digest and included nine groups. White people, Christians, males, middle or owning class people, and English-speaking people made the cut on her list. The university’s Dean of the Medical Faculty and the President of Johns Hopkins Health System also issued a letter apologizing to staff members but accepted Golden’s apology as genuine.
Copyright 2024, LibertySociety.com
