Next week, a debate is taking place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to ask whether Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs should be abolished.
This will be the first major debate on this topic on a college campus and feature some notable names. It’s important to note that diversity staffers at MIT were invited to participate and declined.
Several organizations are co-sponsoring the event, most notably the MIT Free Speech Alliance (MFSA).
They put out this press release:
Heather Mac Donald, Nadine Strossen, and others will debate Diversity-Equity-Inclusion at MIT on Tuesday April 4, 2023, 7:30-9:00 p.m.On Tuesday, April 4, the topic “Should academic DEI programs be abolished?” will be debated on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Heather Mac Donald and Pat Kambhampati will argue the affirmative; Pamela Denise Long and Karith Foster will argue the negative. Nadine Strossen, a past president of the ACLU, will moderate. The debate is hosted by the MIT Chapter of the Adam Smith Society, cohosted by the MIT Free Speech Alliance (MFSA), and cosponsored by fifteen other organizations…The motivation to stage such a debate grew out of the 2021 disinvitation of Professor Dorian Abbot, who had been invited to give the prestigious John Carlson Lecture at MIT on the subject of climate and the potential for life on other planets. Some months before the lecture was to occur, he co-authored an op-ed in Newsweek in favor of “Merit, Fairness, and Equality” (MFE) as an alternative to “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI). A campaign to get him disinvited started on Twitter and within eight days the department chair had called him to tell him the lecture was cancelled because he was too controversial.
Here’s more info from the MFSA:
Debate: Should Academic DEI Programs be Abolished?University diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and practices are among the most debated and contentious issues in higher education today. Universities have invested significant resources in DEI programs and staffing in recent years, and while these efforts enjoy significant levels of support, they have also faced mounting criticism – including from policymakers who want to ban such programs entirely. Whether DEI programs in higher education should be abolished is hardly an idle question — it’s one being actively debated around the country, with significant implications for the future of higher education.In this heightened climate, it’s more important than ever that spaces be created for DEI issues to be debated from all sides, and for constructive, meaningful debate on the topic, to be modeled for other institutions.Resolved, that academic DEI programs should be abolished.Debating in support of the resolution are Heather Mac Donald, Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of numerous books, including the forthcoming When Race Trumps Merit; and Pat Kambhampati, professor of chemistry at McGill University whose writings on campus DEI issues have appeared in the National Post, among other publications.Arguing against the resolution are Pamela Denise Long, CEO of Youthcentrix Therapy Services and a contributor to Newsweek magazine; and Karith Foster, founder of INVERSITY Solutions and a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging specialist.Moderating the debate is Nadine Strossen, Professor of Law Emerita, past president of the American Civil Liberties Union, and author of HATE: Why We Should Resist It With Free Speech, Not Censorship, among other publications.
The debate will be livestreamed on YouTube.
If you’ve been following this issue, this is must-see TV.
Featured image via YouTube.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY