UMich appoints four professors to DEI role
The University of Michigan appointed four of its own professors for their long-standing pushes for leftist DEI initiatives.
The 'University Diversity and Social Transformation Professorship' bestows professional titles and cash grants to the recipients.
A piece by the University of Michigan’s (U-M) The University Record detailed the latest appointees to its “University Diversity and Social Transformation” professorate: Paula Lantz, Antoinette Toppin, Kyle Whyte, and Alford Young Jr.
The National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID), a U-M-based organization, has sponsored the program since its inception in 2019. With the addition of the four 2023 appointees who begin August 28, there are 31 professors in the program.
During the first five years of professors’ appointments, according to the program’s website, their position endows them with a $20,000 annual stipend to “support a range of activities related to their scholarly and professional work.” It entitles them to faculty fellow status at U of Michigan. Finally, it proffers “NCID’s administrative infrastructure and other center resources to support their activities as an NCID faculty fellow in-residence.”
The only qualification for a nomination is to demonstrate a “commitment to the University’s ideals of DEI through … scholarship, teaching, and/or service and engagement.”
The available curricula vitae for these professors speak volumes about their qualifications.
According to his curriculum vitae, Kyle Whyte has invested heavily in environmental studies and is affiliated with numerous associations “advanc[ing] Indigenous research and education methodologies,” especially related to “settler colonial domination” and “violence.”
Alford Young, Jr., too, has specialized in race for nearly 30 years as a professor in U Michigan’s Departments of Sociology and Afroamerican Studies, receiving grants for studies on specifically the experiences of African-American men and women.
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Paula Lantz’s work record shows extensive experience pushing “health equity.” Previous coverage from a number of different sources evidence Lantz’s politics by citing her pro-abortion views and opinions on “social inequities” in healthcare.
The U-M did not supply Antoinette Louise Toppin’s curriculum vitae, but her bio lists among her academic achievements her time as a lecturer on African American music as well as her attendance at related conventions and seat on the African American Heritage Commission.
The University of Michigan was contacted for comment, and this article will be updated accordingly.
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