Arizona public universities ditch diversity statements on job applications

(Daily Caller News Foundation) – The Arizona Board of Regents (ABR) announced Tuesday that it would no longer use diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) statements in job applications, according to the Arizona Republic.

A Goldwater Institute report published in January found that up to 80% of job applications for the three major universities in the state asked applicants to submit a statement verbalizing their support for DEI. The ABR announced this week that the state’s public universities have removed the requests for diversity statements from their job applications and Arizona State University (ASU) spokeswoman Veronica Sanchez explained that the statements were “not essential to ASU’s commitment to inclusive excellence found in the ASU charter,” according to the Arizona Republic. 

“This is a huge victory for academic freedom and the First Amendment,” Goldwater Institute President and CEO Victor Riches said in a press release. “The Goldwater Institute is continuing to show the nation how to defeat the destructive ideologies that are crippling colleges and universities.”

A Board of Regents spokesperson emphasized that the DEI statements were “never” a requirement to begin with, according to the Arizona Republic.

A May job posting for a postdoctoral research scholar for ASU, however, shows otherwise. Under the “required materials” section it states that all applicants must submit a “statement addressing how your past and/or present potential contributions to diversity and inclusion will advance ASU’s commitment to inclusive excellence,” according to the posting.

ASU began using DEI statements in 2021 and 81% of its job postings since that time have asked for applicants to prove their commitment to diversity, according to the Goldwater Institute report. Northern Arizona University used DEI statements in 73% of its applications, while the University of Arizona used them 28% of the time.

The ABR, ASU, NAU, UA and the Goldwater Institute did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.