Bentley University, a 5,600 student school in Waltham, MA is now offering a new major in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). It hopes to prepare students to take jobs with titles such as “Chief Diversity Officer”, “Vice President of Culture”, and “Inclusion Specialist.” It will offer two new degrees, “a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a focus on critical and theoretical approaches to social justice, and a Bachelor of Science degree, which emphasizes the importance of DEI in organizational strategy.” These majors were created in response to student demands. This major is distinct from the traditional Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) or Human Resources undergraduate majors offered at other institutions. Will the DEI majors find viable careers?
Until now, Cornellians filling such roles would have training in ILR, an undergraduate business major, or even a law degree from Cornell Law School. Although people often embark on careers in fields unrelated to their undergraduate majors, students in the Cornell ILR school focus upon pre-law, labor organizing, advising management in labor matters, human resources or similar specialized areas. Unlike Bentley, Cornell does not offer a “social justice” major.
eCornell also offers four online classes leading to a Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion. However, an established HR professional getting an eCornell certification does not represent the four-year commitment of actually majoring in DEI and gaining a specialized Bachelor’s Degree.
In contrast, Harvard’s Extension School offers an undergraduate certificate in Social Justice earned by taking 4 out of 33 4-credit hours of classes.
The absence of many universities offering DEI degrees indicates both the absence of a viable career path as well as an absence of relevant course offerings. Courses in labor law, employment discrimination claims, constitutional law, and fair employment practices would all negate the woke ideology. After all, the current legal system emphasizes individual rights and responsibilities over any legal rights vested with identity groups.
Prospective employers seeking to hire an “Inclusion Specialist” would likely be more interested in attracting qualified minority candidates and offering public relations advice to the CEO than in organizing a political movement to overturn society’s current power structures. Employers want harmony in the workplace, but social justice warriors would likely sow division within an organization on the basis of race, class, and power. Imagine the first job interview of a newly minted Bentley degree holder with a DEI major: When the hiring manager asks for prior accomplishments, will he answer “Lead protests against the Bentley Administration until they agreed to establish a DEI major”?
Obviously, Cornell’s woke people have repeatedly shown a desire to create more jobs for other woke academics. The Task Force on a proposed new Anti-Racism center advocated for hiring BIPOC gap year students and postdoctoral fellows to study and advocate for anti-racism. Even before such a center, various identity groups have demanded hiring student affairs specialists within the Dean of Students Office to cater to said identity groups. They also demand that Cornell Health hire more mental health counselors on the basis of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and sex. This is a direct violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Higher education is stuck in an infinite loop, where DEI staff that is supposed to keep everyone peacefully coexisting are instead placing everyone on a virtue signaling treadmill to assure maximum wokeness. However, even with a well-funded contingent of progressive agents on campus, Cornell has yet to enact the proposed mandatory faculty and student training and does not offer a “DEI Major.”
Perhaps the tables are now turning and political opposition to Critical Race Theory (CRT) as well as to woke indoctrination is emerging. Eight states have passed laws limiting teaching CRT, and Florida has enacted a law requiring a survey of student and staff beliefs so that the vocal advocacy of the woke will not drown out more moderate students.
A year has passed since the death of George Floyd. Although much protesting, demanding and debate has followed in the wake of that tragedy, society has not changed to the point that DEI specialists now control society as a whole. I predict Bentley University will soon restructure or discontinue its DEI major, and Cornell will wisely resist offering its own anti-racism major.
The bottom line is that CRT takes all of the complexity of life and makes it all about race. Will people whose college coursework focuses upon the centrality of race have marketable skills for their real world careers? I think not.
This article was published by a member of the Cornell community who requested to remain anonymous.
