Essay asks students to identify ‘a day when you contributed toward making a work setting or business more loving, equitable, and diverse’
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology also requires a diversity, equity and inclusion article for some individuals despite banning La university statements next spring.
The condition by MIT’s Sloan School of Management has drawn condemnation from scientists, students, and alumni, with some accusing the class of being dishonest for failing to remove all La mandates.
Eric Rasmusen, a committee chairman of the MIT Free Speech Alliance, said he is disappointed that the La writing is also part of graduate students ’ program.
“ What the Sloan inquiry about an applicant’s political views shows is that it is n’t enough for a college president to say ‘DE I statements won’t be required’: the message has to get down to the hundreds of low-level bureaucrats who actually run the university, ” Rasmusen said in an email interview with The College Fix.
“The Sloan School, where I myself TA’d as a PhD student, is literally at the far end of MIT geographically, ” Rasmusen said. “Apparently the message has n’t gotten down to Professor [Catherine ] Tucker, the Executive MBA Faculty Director. I hope she will make the change quickly. ”
The Fix reached up to Tucker and MIT’s media relations department for post twice in the past two days, asking about ending the La writing, but did not receive a response.
Currently, the Sloan School of Management requires Executive MBA applicants to write a 200-word “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ” essay about “a time when you contributed toward making a work environment or organization more welcoming, inclusive, and diverse, ” according to the application website.
The article need remains in spite of MIT President Sally Kornbluth’s decision to remove La commitments from university applications since they “impinge on freedom of expression, ” The College Fix reported in May.
Timothy Minella, a colleague at the Goldwater Institute, a liberal thinktank in Arizona, second drew attention to the software need in a recent article on X.
MIT trumpeted its decision to end “diversity comments ” for university job candidates.
But MIT is also requiring student candidates to pledge loyalty to DEI through diversification statements.
See what colleges do, hardly what they say, when it comes to DEI. photograph. tweets. com/3cA7Gz5j5V
— Timothy K. Minella (@TimMinella ) January 6, 2025
Spencer Sindhusen, president of MIT Students for Open Inquiry, said he was surprised to learn MIT requires prospective graduate students agree to DEI.
The sophomore majoring in management and political science told The Fix the requirement does n’t make sense after MIT “abolished ” the DEI faculty pledge last May “because of its encroachment on the freedom of expression. ”
“ I assume objectives differ for kids – document. electronic. MIT may still feel a ‘diverse’ course content is useful for certain cultural ends, whereas expertise matters more for faculty because it impacts the quality of teaching and research, ” Sindhusen said. “The dissonance vis-a-vis free expression puzzles me, though. ”
He also said the elite Massachusetts institute still has work to do to end censorship and preserve free discourse.
“MIT leadership should continue to work in good faith with the MFSA and any relevant groups to support the freedom of expression, ” Sindhusen said in an email. “Administration also should support—or not interfere with—student affairs that appropriately advance the cause. As the leader of a free speech organization on campus, I appreciate that they’re doing well in that regard. ”
He said MIT also must reform its student admissions process because there is a systemic “campus culture issue. ”
“We should n’t focus on diversity for diversity’s sake. We need to focus more on talent and the diversity thereof, which would likely translate into intellectual or ideological diversity as well, ” Sindhusen said.
MORE: MIT bans mandatory DEI statements in faculty hiring
Peter Bonilla, executive director of the MIT Free Speech Alliance , told The Fix he would like to see administrators examine where “DE I goals may in practice clash with free expression and freedom of conscience. ”
Although Bonilla said he admired Kornbluth’s decision to get rid of DEI faculty statements, he is concerned about other DEI “conflicts ” still lurking around the university.
Bonilla said he thinks MIT needs to shift gears in its approach to protecting campus free speech.
“MFSA has issued a comprehensive set of recommendations for how MIT can improve its overall climate for free expression, ” Bonilla told The Fix in a recent email. “These include adopting a position of institutional neutrality as several of its peers have done recently, as well as educating staff on the importance of free expression and viewpoint diversity. ”
Sindhusen said despite the DEI essay, he is “optimistic” about MIT’s preservation of campus expression and freedom of speech.
He said Kornbluth has made great strides this year to partner with campus free speech groups and work to eliminate “the tension between DEI and free expression. ”
“Nationally, we’re seeing the pendulum swing back quite exponentially, and the Trump administration is about to begin … For the foreseeable future, I don’t see any substantial pressure for more DEI, ” Sindhusen said.
He said MIT’s Civil Discourse Project has helped to support free speech on campus. The project enables faculty and staff to openly debate “controversial issues of the day” as well as hear from a variety of speakers, according to the MIT Concourse website.
“ But more viewpoint variety among students can be valuable, too, especially when it comes to offering communities of support no matter what side of the aisle they might fall, ” Sindhusen said. “ I understand this can be mechanistically challenging, but more efforts should be made to achieve it. ”
The student leader said he is concerned about speaking freely on campus due to the campus favoring of leftist political views.
“Like most elite colleges, MIT has a vastly left-leaning student body, which is n’t inherently problematic vis-a-vis free speech. However, what I and a few others have faced is getting browbeaten or ostracized for speaking our minds or hosting events, which discourages honest expressions or exchanges of ideas, ” he told The Fix.
MORE: Professor’s lawsuit against ASU’s DEI training may proceed, judge rules
IMAGE: MIT Sloan School of Management
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