The College Fix

UPDATED

Employers looking to hire through Wayne State University are asked to sign a “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Pledge,” although the school now says it is “voluntary.”

The pledge’s vague language, which could obligate signers to accept men using women’s bathrooms, require employers to endorse transgender drugs and surgeries, and accept same-sex relationships at odds with historical Christian teaching, drew criticism from a conservative Catholic group.

“We invite our employer partners to complete this pledge, which commits your company to uphold the diversity, equity, and inclusion standards of Wayne State University. Diversity is a core value at Wayne State University,” the Detroit public university states.

The school said it believes “diversity enriches all and that exposing people to different experiences teaches them how to accept others openly and educates them on working collaboratively with individuals from diverse backgrounds.”

Because of this, the school promises to “hold” “employers accountable for promoting equitable access” for its students, “including our Black, Hispanic/LatinX, Indigenous, Students of Color, women, LGBTQ+ students, students with disabilities, and international students.”

The university lists employers who have made this pledge. It did not initially provide comments in response to phone calls and emails sent to its media team in the past week and a half.

A staffer told The College Fix via phone on Jan. 3 to reach out to a separate email, but no one responded to that message.

After publication, spokesman Matthew Lockwood told The Fix the pledge is “voluntary.”

The Fix had asked if the pledge is mandatory and if there are any concerns about religious freedom issues since some groups might oppose homosexuality and transgenderism.

The president of the Catholic Lepanto Institute said the pledge is problematic.

He said “faithful” Catholic and Protestant employers “hold and profess that God created two sexes (male and female), that the sexes are complimentary for the propagation of children, and that it is a crime against nature to attempt to either surgically or medically alter the sexes or to suggest that homosexual relationships are normal or even good.”

Hichborn says a requirement for an employer partner who holds these religious beliefs to sign the university’s DEI pledge “is an explicit form of religious discrimination.”

“The sad irony is that Wayne University’s pledge professing ‘inclusion’ is actively and willfully exclusive of all those whose religious convictions forbid them from supporting – in any way – sexual deviancy,” Hichborn says.

Hichborn said in addition, that “over the course of the last year, Americans have clearly rejected the forced inclusion of LGBTQ+ ideologies.”

“The mantra ‘go woke, go broke’ is playing out in real time, and those employer partners working with Wayne State University who sign the DEI pledge may want to rethink their position or suffer the same loss of business as Budweiser, Target, and Disney,” he said.

The communications director of higher education reform group National Association of Scholars also criticized the DEI pledge.

Chance Layton said in an email to The Fix there is “no world where an ostensibly neutral institution should encourage companies to sign on to political pledges.”

He said because DEI is aligned with the Democratic Party’s political agenda, “supporting it removes any possibility of neutrality, threatening academic freedom and intellectual diversity on campus.”

Layton says the pledge uses companies’ need for employees against them, it “pigeonholes companies to keep up good graces with an institution providing a pool of potential new employees.”

The university explains the value of the pledge to employers.

Wayne State says, “by signing the DEI pledge, you demonstrate to the WSU community that your company is committed to standing against racism, racial bias, injustice, and inequality.”

The career services’ diversity and inclusion page also mentions an Employers Hiring Responsibility Statement which says the university holds “all employers accountable for promoting a diverse work environment” and is “committed to working with employers who support anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion for all students.”

Moreover, the career services’ diversity and inclusion page offers specific resources to “job seekers from historically underrepresented and/or disadvantaged backgrounds.”

The College Fix reached out to several listed employers to ask if signing the pledge was required to become a partner, but none responded to emails in the past week and a half.

The Fix filled out a brief sign-up form on the website but selected “no” when asked about signing the DEI pledge. No further information has been received.

Editor’s note: The article has been updated to clarify the potential consequences of the diversity pledge. After publication, the university responded to The Fix and said the pledge is voluntary. 

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IMAGE: Wayne State University

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