Faculty Evaluations of DEI Statements for Academic Hiring

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) statements have become a popular additional evaluative criterion for academic hiring and promotion, but little to no empirical research has been conducted to assess how university faculty evaluate these statements. The present set of experiments sought to fill this void. Across seven studies (ntotal=4,953), tenured/tenure-track university faculty rated DEI statements that did not discuss race/ethnicity and gender diversity actions or efforts (i.e., statements that lacked equalitarian content) significantly lower than those that did. Specifically, faculty perceived these “alternative” statements to be weaker DEI statements, and perceived the applicants who submitted these statements to be less competent, less hireable, and less likable. Furthermore, faculty were less likely to recommend–often by a large margin–that the applicants behind these “alternative” statements pass an initial screening and be advanced for further review. Evaluative penalties were most severe toward DEI statements focusing only on viewpoint diversity actions and efforts (Studies 1-4), but also manifested for statements focusing only on rural diversity (Study 6), or only on socioeconomic diversity (Study 7). Findings for disability diversity (Study 5) were mixed. These studies provide novel insight on how DEI statements are perceived and evaluated by university faculty.