UPenn Chooses DEI Official to Deliver Keynote Speech at Graduation
“a longtime diversity strategist who oversees inclusion efforts in a 33,000-person workforce”
This is just another example of progressives in higher education ignoring what’s happening in the country and doubling down.
Campus Reform reports:
UPenn College of Liberal and Professional Studies taps DEI executive for 2025 graduation speaker
A top corporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) official will deliver the keynote speech at the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies 2025 graduation ceremony on Sunday.
Cecil Johnson is a longtime diversity strategist who oversees inclusion efforts in a 33,000-person workforce that operates approximately $50 billion in pharmaceuticals.
In a LinkedIn post, Johnson called DEI “a critical business strategy, an evolving journey of learning, and the first step is showing up.”
He praised Johnson & Johnson’s leadership for facilitating over 80 percent of their vice presidents to conduct “Inclusion Dialogues” in 2023 as part of a company-wide cultural initiative.
Much of his doctoral work at Pepperdine University focused on how national culture shapes workplace inclusion policies. The study found a “statistically significant relationship between inclusion, performance, and retention” and a “correlation” between cultural context and how inclusion impacts these outcomes.
In addition to his corporate role, Johnson works as an affiliated faculty member and a visiting scholar in UPenn’s Organizational Dynamics program. He also sits on the advisory board for Penn LPS Online.
The university recently has taken steps to reform its DEI culture in wake of federal policy changes. As noted by Campus Reform, positions using DEI-based terms have been removed from the UPenn website.
Nevertheless, UPenn’s speaker choice highlights the school’s history of platforming DEI themes in official campus programming.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Black man benefiting from AA supports it. In other news the sun will come up tomorrow and rain is wet.
DEI is such a fraud. Penn is signaling they are still supporting DEI in spirit. Trump should defund Penn of taxpayer dollars.
Rice Univ had KJP for commencement speaker just because of race and gender orientation.
For an alleged institution of learning, UPenn shows it hasn’t learned anything and keeps repeating the same mistakes.