University of Michigan prof bashes those who point out how DEI failed black students, accuses them of ‘bad faith’
‘Conservative outlets have weaponized Black students’ legitimate concerns,’ the professor alleged.
He concluded that ‘using Black students to criticize and ultimately undermine DEI efforts is operating in bad faith.’
A Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) official at the University of Michigan recently penned an article attacking a New York Times article by Nicholas Confessore that revealed the concerns of black students over the failure of the university’s DEI initiatives.
Kevin Cokley, who is “Associate Chair for Diversity Initiatives & Space Management” and “University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Psychology,” wrote his defense of DEI on Friday on the website Diverse Education.
The Times article Cokley was responding to stated that, despite the University of Michigan’s spending hundreds of millions of dollars on DEI programs and initiatives, black students felt like the DEI campaign accomplished nothing of substance.
Cokley claimed that Confessore’s “using the concerns of Black students to criticize the DEI efforts” at the school was “problematic.” He stated that “[c]onservative outlets have weaponized Black students’ legitimate concerns about declining Black student enrollment as an indictment of the amount of money spent on DEI initiatives, as well as an overall indictment of DEI.”
He continued, saying he is “skeptical that highlighting Black students’ criticisms of DEI initiatives, especially by conservative critics of DEI, is based in a genuine concern about the welfare of Black students.” He sees such critics as trying to “divide and conquer” by “pit[ting] Black students against Black faculty and staff who are disproportionately in the roles of Chief Diversity Officers.”
Cokley believes that pointing to black students’ criticisms of DEI is “cynical and disingenuous,” and alleges that the ultimate problem is not the failure of DEI at the University of Michigan, but supposed systemic racism in America as a whole.
Black students’ disappointment with DEI “reflect[s] a general sentiment among Black people in this country that U.S. institutions were not designed with Black people’s best interests in mind,” he asserted.
While Cokley recognizes that “DEI is not perfect,” he concluded that “using Black students to criticize and ultimately undermine DEI efforts is operating in bad faith.”
Cokley told Campus Reform that “of course there may be some Black students who are opposed to DEI on principle,” but added: “However, in my 26 years as a professor who has taught Black students and worked closely with them at 4 different universities . . . I have not encountered students who are opposed to DEI on principle. The overwhelming majority of Black students I’ve taught and worked with support the basic premise of DEI, though they may be frustrated with how effective it is.”
He added: “The DEI practices that I am familiar with here at the University of Michigan view DEI as being a part of academic excellence. There is no mandate to have a particular political ideology.” He cited the school’s “Collegiate Fellows Hiring Initiative that recruits scholars with significant DEI competencies” as an example of how, in his view, DEI and high academic performance can be linked.
He conceded that not all anti-DEI arguments are made in “bad faith,” stating: “Yes, there are some Black individuals who are underwhelmed by DEI because of the slow nature of progress that has been made for Black students. These individuals are not motivated by bad faith because they have demonstrated their genuine concern about the welfare of Black students through their words and actions.” But he added that “[i]ndividuals who have never expressed any concern about Black students’ welfare” are “in my opinion motivated by bad faith because they see the dismay expressed by Black students as a political leverage point to dismantle DEI.”
[RELATED: Oklahoma governor calls out OU for teaching DEI despite state ban]
Cokley’s colleague, Vice Provost for Equity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Tabbye Chavous, also previously attacked Confessore’s article, accusing him of “disinformation” and “sexism.”
Cokley states he is a “Scholar of Racialized Impostor Phenomenon and Black Psychology” on his personal website. He writes that his “philosophy is captured in a quote by the Kenyan theologian John Mbiti ‘I am because we are and because we are, therefore I am.’”
Campus Reform has reached out to Kevin Cokley for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
