DEI, Inc. is a Snake Eating its Own Tail

A Chief Diversity Officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine apologizes for sending an email about "privilege" because it was "exclusionary" and "hurtful"

Act I: The Chief Diversity Officer at Hopkins Medicine sends an email drawing attention to “privilege” as the “diversity word of the month.”

Act II: Controversy erupts.

Act III: The Chief Diversity Officer sends a follow-up message, apologizing for the original email, which she says was “hurtful” and did not “support an inclusive community.”

Coda: The Chief Diversity Officer resigns.

We learned about this dust-up from a recent piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Here is the bit on “privilege” from the CDO’s original email:

This is standard DEI, Inc. fare. It takes a complex and vital topic—systemic inequality—and reduces it to bullet-points and sloganeering. It is a flat, schematic analysis that pays no attention whatsoever to history and social context.

The email caught the attention of conservative activists and politicians who claimed the message was a form of “woke discrimination.” Maryland Congressman Andy Harris made the following statement: “In light of this diversity memo, patients who consider Johns Hopkins for their healthcare should think twice if they belong in one of the listed categories about whether or not they will receive appropriate care or be treated as second class individuals at Hopkins.” The leadership at Hopkins Medicine more or less agreed with Harris’ assessment, noting that the CDO’s email ran counter to “the values of our institution and our mission and commitment to serve everyone equally.”

From the Chronicle:

This is snake eating its own tail territory. A standard definition of "privilege" (one of DEI's core concepts) is disavowed because it conflicts with "inclusion" & "belonging." What happened here is, alas, entirely predictable, now that institutions have embraced such expansive definitions of “inclusion,” making grand promises to create campus environments where “any individual or group feels welcomed, respected, supported and valued” at all times.

Also note the wild concept creep in effect here regarding what counts as harm. A short riff on “privilege” is so “hurtful” that it demands a formal apology! And ultimately ends with a resignation.

Enough with the intellectually bankrupt framework of DEI, Inc. Fiascoes like this one only provide more fuel for conservative attacks on higher education. Let's direct more time, money and energy into the rigorous academic study of racism and social inequality. Replace TRAININGS with EDUCATION; HISTRIONICS with HISTORY; and COMPLIANCE with CURIOSITY.

For more on these distinctions, check out this piece of ours from Inside Higher Ed, “Don’t Mistake Training for Education.” On how colleges and universities are cracking down on student free speech in the name of “inclusion” vis-a-vis the Israel-Hamas War, see our recent piece in the Daily Beast.