309
University of Florida terminating all diversity, equity and inclusion positions
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
309 points (98.1% liked)
Interesting Global News
2613 readers
720 users here now
What is global news?
Something that happened or was uncovered recently anywhere in the world. It doesn't have to have global implications. Just has to be informative in some way.
Post guidelines
Title format
Post title should mirror the news source title.
URL format
Post URL should be the original link to the article (even if paywalled) and archived copies left in the body. It allows avoiding duplicate posts when cross-posting.
[Opinion] prefix
Opinion (op-ed) articles must use [Opinion] prefix before the title.
Rules
1. English only
Title and associated content has to be in English.
2. No social media posts
Avoid all social media posts. Try searching for a source that has a written article or transcription on the subject.
3. Respectful communication
All communication has to be respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences.
4. Inclusivity
Everyone is welcome here regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
5. Ad hominem attacks
Any kind of personal attacks are expressly forbidden. If you can't argue your position without attacking a person's character, you already lost the argument.
6. Off-topic tangents
Stay on topic. Keep it relevant.
7. Instance rules may apply
If something is not covered by community rules, but are against lemmy.zip instance rules, they will be enforced.
Companion communities
- [email protected] - International and local legal news.
- [email protected] - Technology, social media platforms, informational technologies and tech policy.
- [email protected] - Interesting articles, projects, and research that doesn't fit the definition of news.
- [email protected] - News and information from Europe.
Icon attribution | Banner attribution
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
This is coming from a commissioner of education? Wow I am glad I don't live in the US.
Appointed position. Which was a change that voters voted for. It's all stupid all the way down.
I agree. I fully support DEI programs. But what I don't understand is how some of these positions end up being filled by rabid lunatics that end up saying the most bizarre shit, that ends up fueling these kind of changes.
We need to fix the system, but a the people that enjoyed the actual benefits of the privilege are not the ones affected by the current changes. And the goal should be to lift all, and not push some down.
Well, it is a rather divisive ideology, simply as a matter of fact.
Here's New Jersey, not exactly a Republican stronghold:
71% of all adults say DEI is important but your take is that it's a divisive topic?
I found another poll specifically about DEI programs:
And a poll specifically about the Florida ban:
So you do have a point. Apparently even the average Republican doesn't have strong negative feelings against DEI programs, with only 30% calling them a bad thing. In Florida, opposition to DEI is stronger than average, but even there more people oppose the ban than support it. I would still say that 30% to 40% opposition makes the issue relatively divisive, especially since the opposition is so concentrated in one political party. However, I admit that it apparently isn't as divisive as I thought it was before going through these polls more carefully.
(I'm not sure how to reconcile the results of these polls with the way Republicans actually vote.)
I think the devil is in the details. Most people support DEI as a concept; very few people believe diversity, as a concept, is bad. I'm personally supportive of DEI in general, but I have mixed feelings about it in practice.
My employer has a pretty broad and active program. They hold informational sessions hosted by the different DEI groups throughout the year. Those sessions provide visibility for the groups, but the content is pretty shallow. I assume it feels good to have those sessions for you if you belong to one of the groups though.
The actual things the DEI program effects are a mixed bag of results. Women and some racial minority groups have increased representation in the company since the groups were created. That's good. But if you're a white cishet male, you'll never encounter any of our recruiters. Recruiting works with the DEI groups to target their special-interest recruiting events. There aren't any inclusion groups that allow white cishet males, so we end up not going to any events they're allowed to attend. Of course, anyone can apply through public channels, but direct recruitment gets priority over web applicants. This effectively means we will only consider a white cishet male if there's nobody else. This structure would be wildly illegal if it were any other group that was excluded in that way, but instead we see that situation lauded as a good thing.
I don't have access to any career coaching or employee support groups because those things are all offered through DEI groups, and I'm not welcome to join any of the groups (I'm only allowed to attend virtual webinars as an ally). There are lots of outside of work team building events as well, but I'm not invited to those either.
I keep hearing that equity isn't a zero-sum game, but it sure feels like it is from where I'm sitting. I want to speak up and say I should have access to the same resources and benefits as everyone else instead of being excluded based on my race, gender, and orientation. But DEI programs have taught me that whites, males, and cishets take up too much air in the room and I should always yield to literally anyone else in the name of equity.
TL;DR DEI feels divisive when there is no inclusion group that includes you
Be glad you don't live in Florida. The U.S. has sane States.
You just gotta love that "we're trying to have everyone be treated equally" gets spun as promoting division. It's the exact fucking oppost
Just curious which part of this statement makes you happy that you are not in US?
The part where he calls diversity and inclusion a destructive ideology or radical indoctrination. I wouldn't want my education officials saying stuff like that.
It's just bizarre.
"Inclusivity promotes division!"
He did not call it that. Don’t bent his words. And there are problems in American universities from both sides. When researchers in universities are forced to write essays how their physics or chemistry research advances diversity and inclusion, there is something wrong with that too.
I believe you are in the EU, where Viktor Orban has run Hungary for 13 years. You have no room to talk.
If the US has to answer for its constituent states, so does the EU.
The US is a country of its own with internal states, like Germany also has internal states.
The EU is not a country. You cannot compare the EU and US like this.
You mean that you don't want to compare them, not that it can't be done.
US citizens outside of Florida have no impact on electing Florida's government officials. Federal law doesn't affect their elections because they have a state constitution. In many ways the EU is similar to the federal system in the US. Where do you think they got the idea?
Lol and florida calls itself the "education state"