Stanford class forces applicants to submit DEI statement

A class at Stanford University requires students to write a mandatory Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) statement if they wish to register.

On Sept. 6, Jonathan Rauch, a writer for The Atlantic, posted a screenshot to X of the DEI statement requirement, which is part of an application for a marketing class from Stanford’s Department of Management Science and Engineering. 

Here’s what some @Stanford engineering instructors are requiring of prospective students for course enrollment. @TheFIREorg @HdxAcademy @AFA_Alliance @glukianoff @kewhittington @goACTA @PoliakoffACTA @StanfordEng pic.twitter.com/tomn4DRGA6

— Jonathan Rauch (@jon_rauch) September 7, 2024

“Diversity is an important part of the mission of the Stanford MS&E Department and this class. Please use this opportunity to describe how you will contribute to a culture of diversity and inclusion in this class,” the requirement states. 

Rauch’s post garnered widespread attention online. Greg Lukianoff, the President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, critiqued mandatory diversity statements in a response to Rauch’s post on Sept. 7.

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“There are political litmus tests in admissions, in hiring, attending conferences, and even sometimes to take classes,” Lukianoff lamented. “This was even the case back when I was in law school in the late 90s.”

“You had to interview with the professor teaching the critical legal studies class, as best as I can tell, to make sure that you agreed with it sufficiently to not be too, well, critical before you were allowed to take the class,” Lukianoff concluded.

Stanford’s MS&E Department has an entire page dedicated to DEI on its website.

“Diversity is a fundamental value of the MS&E department,” the page states. “We value the academic, social, and broader community benefits that come from engaging with different viewpoints. We want our community to include and be supportive of perspectives from varying backgrounds.”

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The department additionally has a “Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” which is tasked with “auditing and reporting on department practices, increasing diversity in our MS&E community, and communicating and coordinating with campus groups on issues broadly related to diversity and inclusion.”

Two Stanford professors recently wrote a New York Times op-ed targeting DEI, saying that “American campuses need an alternative to ideological D.E.I. programs,” and mentioning that “[i]n a D.E.I. training program at Stanford a few years ago, Jewish staff members were assigned to a ‘whiteness accountability’ group, and some later complained that they were shot down when they tried to raise concerns about antisemitism.”

Campus Reform has contacted Stanford University and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.