The College Fix

Opponents say socialism is behind DEI efforts, universities should focus on merit instead

The University of New Mexico College of Population Health is encouraging students, faculty, and staff to sign a new pledge to promote racial “equity” and “inclusion.”

A recently formed Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee created the pledge as part of the college’s work to “[prioritize] the need for inclusion, diversity, and the voices of the community, staff, students and faculty,” a news release states.

The college “expects that its students, staff, and faculty facilitate an atmosphere of respect, integrity and cooperation so that its external relationships with communities reflect the principles of cultural humility, justice, and equity,” the pledge states.

The pledge also “recogniz[es] the damaging effects of individual and institutional biases, discrimination, racism, and exclusion,” and calls for the college to be “an inclusive and equitable community.”

Through the pledge and other projects, the committee works to welcome “individuals of all races, ethnicities, gender, religions, sexual orientation, age, disability status, and socioeconomic background” to the college.

UNM spokesperson Steve Carr told The College Fix the pledge is optional and limited to the college.

“First and foremost, The University of New Mexico DOES NOT have a campus-wide DEI pledge in place,” Carr said in a recent email. “The area, the College of Population Health, where you saw the pledge and are basing your inquiry, is part of our Health Sciences Center. IT IS NOT a campuswide pledge nor is it mandatory.”

But Carr also said DEI is important to the university.

He pointed The Fix to the campus mission statement: “As the state’s premier institution of higher learning and provider of health care, The University of New Mexico promotes discovery, generates intellectual and cultural contributions, honors academic values, and fosters an educated, healthy, and economically vigorous New Mexico.”

“Being a Minority Serving institution in a research-intensive context is about our students and our values, and it is about our scholarship,” Carr said.

In the UNM College of Public Health, its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee is working to “integrate structural and cultural competency” and “improve health equity for populations that have been historically underrepresented,” according to the news release.

Its goals include recruiting and retaining “diverse” students, faculty, and staff of different “races and ethnicities.” Another goal is to “embed diversity and inclusion” into the “daily work” of the college.

The news release cites the state’s diverse population – including large Hispanic and Mexican American communities and more than 20 Native American tribes – as a reason for the committee’s work.

MORE: University math, chemistry, immunology job openings require scholars pledge loyalty to DEI

But the president of the Rio Grande Foundation, a New Mexico organization that advocates for individual freedom, limited government, and economic opportunity, described the pledge as “ridiculous.”

“This kind of statement is a sad testimony to what many of our universities have become and their willingness to place an undue emphasis on forcing students to accept ridiculous and vague statements that purport to be defenses of racial and ethnic minorities,” President Paul Gessing told The Fix in a recent email.

Meanwhile, Ronnie Lucero, chair of the New Mexico chapter of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, said the DEI project should go.

“The University of New Mexico is a majority Hispanic school and we feel the need to incorporate study programs based on diversity rather than ability should be disbanded immediately,” Lucero told The Fix in an email this week. “These types of programs victimizes people of different ethnicity rather than embolden individuals to work and study hard.”

A national scholar also expressed concerns about the pledge, noting the socialist ideas behind many DEI efforts in higher education.

Jonathan Butcher, a senior fellow at the Goldwater Institute, told The Fix in an email last week: “DEI is the political application of socialist ideas—specifically, DEI is the application of critical race theory, which the theorists describe in their own writings as Marxist. DEI promotes racial preferences (called ‘affirmative action’ by those who favor racial discrimination).”

“So university officials who support racial preferences continue to push for DEI, disregarding the racist ideas and behavior,” he said.

MORE: Duke doctor fired after questioning systemic racism claims speaks out

IMAGE: UNM College of Population Health/Facebook

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