This Washington university requires custodians to get on board with DEI

Job listings on Eastern Washington University’s (EWU) “Employment Opportunities” website appear to require applicants to get on board with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ideology as a condition of employment, from custodian to associate dean.

Each job requires the applicant to write a “Diversity Response” describing how they will “apply an approach that is supportive to the diverse needs, including universal access, of our students, faculty, staff, and the public.”

”[W]e are interested in how your qualifications prepare you to work with diverse faculty, staff, and student populations representing various cultures and backgrounds that may be different from your own,” each job description reads.

[RELATED: Even cooks, custodians at this college must embrace ‘diversity and equity’]

A “Tribal Land Acknowledgement” is also featured with every job posting.

”Eastern Washington University resides within the traditional homelands of the Spokane People and other tribes who are connected through their shared history of this region. This land holds their cultural DNA and it is their Ancestors who are here and bring forth the knowledge of this place—the knowledge that comes from the land,” says the acknowledgment. 

These measures appear to be part of EWU’s 2018-2023 “Diversity Strategic Plan.” “Goal 4” of the initiative is to have an “active diversity recruitment plan.” Policies of the plan include “[r]eview[ing] applicant and interview pools to ensure diversity of the candidate pool” and “[t]hrough job postings, communicat[ing] Eastern Washington University’s commitment to equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion.”

[RELATED: DeSantis admin requires public universities to report DEI, CRT-related expenditures]

Applicant search committee members are also advised to “[a]ddress pools that lack diversity” by increasing the variety of students and faculty recruited.

EWU and the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at EWU were both contacted by Campus Reform for comment. It will be updated as needed.