The University of California announced Wednesday that it is moving away from using diversity statements in the hiring process, as the Trump administration threatens to pull federal funding from institutions that hold onto diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Diversity statements, which typically require job applicants to explain how they would contribute to the promotion of progressive race and gender ideology on campus, have come under fire in recent years as a tool used to enforce ideological conformity among university faculty.
“Our values and commitment to our mission have not changed,” Janet Reilly, the chair of the system’s Board of Regents, said in a statement late Wednesday announcing the change. “We will continue to embrace and celebrate Californians from a variety of life experiences, backgrounds and points of view.”
The university’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, Katherine Newsman, sent a letter, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, to academic administrators across UC’s ten campuses on Wednesday explaining that requiring a diversity statement for campus jobs “may lead applicants to focus on an aspect of their candidacy that is outside their expertise or prior experience.”
Under the previous requirement, applicants were told to submit written essays on their work related to the promotion of diversity in their field. They were also asked how they would contribute to campus diversity.
Although diversity statements for hiring are no longer required, faculty can optionally touch on their “inclusive academic achievements in teaching, research, and service” during academic reviews.
The UC system is the latest higher education institution to drop diversity statements. In the past year, the University of Michigan, Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were among the top schools that moved away from DEI hiring requirements.
While the president of the statewide UC system, Michael Drake, did not address diversity statements during Wednesday’s meeting with regents, he did announce a systemwide hiring freeze to cut down on costs. UC is facing a state budget cut of 8 percent, and the federal government’s threats to withhold funding are only adding to the university’s dire financial situation.
The California university system’s decision comes after the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued guidance last month advising federally funded schools to stop using racial preferences as a factor in hiring, promotion, admissions, and other processes.
“Schools, including elementary, middle, and high schools, may no longer make decisions or operate programs based on race or race stereotypes in any of these categories or they risk losing access to federal funds,” the press release states.
The warning is part of President Donald Trump’s broader efforts to punish colleges and universities for standing by their DEI programs and for failing to protect Jewish students from the recent surge in antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it pulled $400 million in federal grants and contracts from Columbia University over its inaction against antisemitic protests. The White House has since escalated pressure on the Ivy League school by detaining an anti-Israel activist, who is at the center of a court battle to determine whether he gets deported or not.
The Education Department, which is set to be abolished via an executive order signed by Trump on Thursday, notified 60 universities last week that they are subject to Title VI probes concerning allegations of antisemitism against Jewish students on campus. Four out of ten UC campuses — Davis, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Berkeley — were listed among the recipients.
UC is also being investigated by the Department of Justice regarding potential Title VII violations involving antisemitic discrimination against professors, staff, and other employees.
Regarding diversity efforts, the Education Department opened Title VI investigations into 52 universities last Friday for allegedly participating in race-exclusionary practices in graduate programs, offering race-based scholarships, or engaging in race-based segregation. UC Berkeley is the only campus in the California university system subject to this investigation.