Universities have long had strong commitments to diversity. This fixation was necessitated by Justice Powell's concurrence in Bakke, and later Justice O'Connor's majority opinion in Grutter. Admissions offices and hiring committees were trained to recruit the "right" under-represented candidates, while assigning low personality ratings to the "wrong" under-represented candidates. In any other context, such pretext would immediately be smoked out. But when you're on the right side of the justice-arc, the tails are ignored. These practices likely violate federal law, but we will have to wait for the Supreme Court to weigh in. Still, the work of admissions offices and hiring committees was front-loaded. These organizations did not have any impact on the curriculum, and what was actually taught in the classroom. Nor should they have. These matters were traditionally left to faculty governance, and academic freedom.
In the last decade however, there has been a change. Universities began to establish offices of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The exact role of these entities was always amorphous, but it soon became clear their role would extend beyond admissions and hiring. Rather, DEI sought to inject itself into every facet of academic institutions where DEI could be at issue–that is, everywhere. Following the final year of the Trump presidency–which included George Floyd, the pandemic, and the Capitol riot–this aggrandizement accelerated. At many institutions, DEI has some oversight over the curriculum, student organizations, and even the faculty themselves. Of course, this design inverts the usual hierarchy of academia. DEI should be an administrative department with no more power than finance or IT. But armed with the cause of moral justice, and backed by aggrieved students, DEI can steamroll over pliant faculty who are afraid to push back and be called racists.
Judge Duncan's protest is a perfect illustration of that dynamic. Much has been said about what Dean Tirien Steinbach said. But a better question is why was she the one to speak? SLS has many associate deans who could have represented the administration. Indeed, there were several deans present in the room, including Jeanne Merino, the acting associate dean of students. Why did the DEI Dean speak at the podium? Steinbach claimed in the WSJ that she "was asked to attend the event by the Federalist Society." I am skeptical of this claim–and I am 100% confident that FedSoc would not have invited Steinbach if they knew she would not enforce the policy, but would instead berate Judge Duncan. But let's assume FedSoc invited her as the mediator. And let's assume that Steinbach's fellow associate deans, and even Dean Martinez, designated her as the representative of the administration. Why?
