A group of black Harvard alumnae is demanding the school commit itself to diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology in its admissions and hiring practices, according to a petition obtained by Contra.
The Black Alumnae of Harvard Equity Initiative, a group that formed in the “wake of the attacks on Dr. Claudine Gay and diversity and equity more broadly,” is circulating a petition directed at the Harvard Corporation, the school’s president, and its Board of Overseers demanding they incorporate DEI into nearly every aspect of university operations.
The group expects a response from Harvard by March 14.
The petition lays out details of a “racist and misogynist” conspiracy to remove Gay from her position as president, claiming “attacks on Dr. Gay’s citation errors were tailored to undermine confidence in Dr. Gay’s academic qualifications, given she is a black woman, and were the first salvo in what some anti-DEI activists have announced is an all-out war against DEI.”
The letter, which has an unknown number of signatories, comes after major attacks on Harvard’s reputation, such as those stemming from its responses to antisemitic activity on campus that many view as inadequate, and waves of criticism after multiple plagiarism and academic fraud scandals — including Gay’s, which ultimately led to her ouster as president. Harvard has potentially lost millions of dollars from regular major donors to the school in the wake of its last few scandal-ridden months.
“The use of the term, a ‘DEI hire,’ with respect to Dr. Gay, was a ‘dog whistle’ designed to imply that DEI translates into the hiring and promotion of unqualified candidates that displace people like themselves, whom they deem as ‘truly qualified,’” petitioners wrote, citing a common argument from critics of the ideology.
Those DEI critics also pointed out that Gay had a uniquely anemic academic record for someone who had reached the heights of academia, having authored zero books and only 11 peer-reviewed articles over more than two decades in the field. Many of those works were the subjects of the plagiarism scandal.
The Black Alumnae of Harvard Equity Initiative says that Harvard must resuscitate its own reputation by standing firm on its commitment to DEI in the face of pressure from donors and politicians, demanding an audience with school leadership “to provide a perspective and voice that must be heard as loudly as those right-wing activists who challenge the very right of black people to be in places of leadership, at Harvard or in society as a whole.”
The group makes several specific demands of the school, including future support of Gay and her reputation, a commitment to DEI in the selection of the next president, and a pledge to “affirm and commit to DEI in all facets of university hiring and admissions.”
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The Black Alumnae of Harvard Equity Initiative also wants Harvard to “refine” its DEI plan by consulting with “DEI experts,” creating a “DEI task force with diverse representation” including signatories of the petition, and for the school to recognize its “role in fighting the attempts of those forces that seek to decrease public faith in the pillars of American society.”
Those who signed the petition claim to be “lawyers, DEI experts, social scientists, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, scientists, educators, journalists, and media experts.”