Anyone complaining about university DEI and accessibility programs is missing the fact that these initiatives were college administrators’ responses to *market demands*, not ideological endorsements. This, by the way, is a big reason why these programs were so often half-assed - ThreadSky

medievaliste.bsky.social • 3 days ago

Anyone complaining about university DEI and accessibility programs is missing the fact that these initiatives were college administrators’ responses to *market demands*, not ideological endorsements.

This, by the way, is a big reason why these programs were so often half-assed

Reposted from TheTerminalAdjunct

To the extent you get teaching directives of any kind, it's almost certainly because teaching that content will get more students to sign up. Ideas like inclusion were pushed because college students are becoming more diverse. Adding their voices is good business, not a moral statement from admins.

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medievaliste.bsky.social•3 days ago

IMO the reason why DEI offices started appearing en masse in 2020 was a combination of the BLM protests and the pandemic.

COVID made college leaders very afraid enrollments were about to drop due to. They would have done just about anything (other than hiring more profs) to avoid losing revenue

medievaliste.bsky.social•3 days ago

*due to the pandemic

medievaliste.bsky.social•3 days ago

A lot of folks involved in university DEI programs have been trying in good faith to make positive changes, but there are real critiques to be made that don’t involve credulous claims about imaginary discrimination against cishet white men.

A good starting point is Sara Ahmed’s work

medievaliste.bsky.social•3 days ago

Sara Ahmed's book "On Being Included" (2012) offers a feminist critique of institutional diversity in higher education. Drawing on interviews with diversity practitioners, Ahmed argues that by paying lip service to "diversity", institutions shield themselves from true antiracist reform.

medievaliste.bsky.social•3 days ago

Similarly, in "Complaint!" (2021), Ahmed addresses power structures within the modern university. Through an examination of the experiences of workers and students who filed complaints about harassment and labor conditions, Ahmed demonstrates that higher ed systematically silences complainants.

medievaliste.bsky.social•3 days ago

https://www.dukeupress.edu/complaint

medievaliste.bsky.social•3 days ago

Ahmed and other scholars working in and adjacent to critical university studies have shown us that despite the smokescreens of the Offices of DEI and Accessibility, students and workers in higher ed in fact receive no privileges within the institution in exchange for marginalization without.

theterminaladjunct.bsky.social•3 days ago

Thus when Trump threatens funding, DEI loses a lot of its financial luster to colleges. To keep such programs, or more broadly diversity, advocates need to show its absence will lower enrollment/tuition.

medievaliste.bsky.social•3 days ago

Nailed it

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