Written for Bacon’s Rebellion by James A. Bacon

The University of Virginia is becoming a modern-day reeducation camp where the views of faculty and staff must conform to the dictates of Leftist ideology regarding social justice issues. Not only must employees adopt the Woke rhetoric of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), they must engage in activist behavior. Between the indoctrination and compulsory participation, UVa’s requirements are reminiscent of a 60s-era Maoist-style reeducation camp. Although in fairness, it must be said that UVa does not administer beatings.

In recent months, Bacon’s Rebellion has documented the use of the following at the University of Virginia:

• Diversity statements. Job applicants must fill out “diversity statements” detailing how their academic research, committee assignments and/or community service have contributed to DEI. Their responses are evaluated by those who hire them.

• Employee evaluations. Once hired, faculty members are subjected to “peer reviews,” in which 20% of their evaluation scores are based on their “contribution” to DEI. Faculty members must demonstrate their commitment to DEI not just by saying the right things but by actively participating in DEI activities.

• Employee training. Under the “Inclusive Excellence” framework, faculty and staff are required to undergo “training” sessions that can include Maoist-style indoctrination of DEI dogma and (for Whites) acknowledgement of their racism.

While Bacon’s Rebellion has focused mainly on UVa in our reporting, we have seen extensive anecdotal evidence that similar requirements are found at other public and private universities. The College of William & Mary school of business, for instance, also requires DEI statements in faculty reviews.

It must be said: using DEI as an employment filter, a criterion for granting raises and promotions, and the basis for indoctrinating employees with hotly-contested political theories represents a frontal assault on American liberties.

The most direct problem is the undermining of freedom of speech, expression and inquiry. Ironically, the new DEI criteria for faculty evaluations is being implemented the same year that a UVa committee appointed by President Jim Ryan voiced its “unequivocal” commitment to free speech. The DEI requirements make a mockery of that promise.

DEI criteria create an ideological litmus test for prospective and existing employees. Either submit to the Critical Race Theory-informed DEI ideology regarding systemic racism, White privilege, and “anti-racism” or you will not be hired or promoted. DEI statements effectively preclude anyone with conservative or centrist political views, and even many with old-school liberal views. As older tenured faculty with diverse philosophies retire, they are being replaced with faculty who  think alike on social-justice issues. UVa is transmogrifying into an intellectual monoculture that is not only at odds with the society it serves but destroys the very concept of a “liberal education.”

UVa’s administrative leadership is destroying Virginia’s flagship public university — the university that Thomas Jefferson built. Not only that, but in line with Ryan’s slogan of making UVa “Great and Good,” the university — not just individual students and professors, who are free to do what they wish, but the university as an institution — is actively exporting its Woke ideology and activism into the community through such mechanisms as the Memory Project and the Equity Cohort. 

To the degree that Virginia’s other higher-ed institutions are adopting comparable DEI policies, they are destroying what once was one of the finest public university systems in the United States.

The Commonwealth needs to conduct a comprehensive audit of compulsory DEI statements and training in Virginia’s higher-education system to see how pervasive these practices are. Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin needs to appoint board members willing to fight for free speech and intellectual diversity. Boards of Visitors need to assert control over the institutions they govern — if that means a wholesale firing of presidents, provosts and deans, then so be it. The General Assembly needs to withhold public funding from institutions that persist in their assault on individual liberties, and alumni need to withhold private donations until these travesties are rectified.

Ignoring the DEI dictators is not a viable alternative.