The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at UT Arlington has eight main initiatives to promote DEI: 1. Recruitment of Vice President for DEI 2. Committee on DEI, 3. Faculty and Staff Diversity, 4. Scholarship opportunities, 5. Professional development, 6. Student courses, 7. UTA Police Department, 8. Multicultural Affairs. UTA boasts excellence in DEI with the ranking of #3 in Ethnic Diversity, #1 in Texas for awarding Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees to African-Americans, and is a Hispanic Serving Institution (designed by the U.S. Department of Education).
According to The Shorthorn, UT Arlington revealed a new role: Vice President for DEI in the fall of 2020. Eunice Currie now serves as the Acting VP of DEI. Her job is to boost the role of the Office of DEI in campus life and integrate the values of DEI into the overall campus environment. This includes making DEI a priority when hiring faculty as well as accepting incoming student applications.
“A strength of UTA includes the diversity of UTA’s talented and dedicated faculty and staff. To improve upon this strength, a University-wide talent management plan is being developed to enhance the recruiting, retention and promotion of underrepresented faculty and staff,” UT Arlington interim president, Teik C. Lim, Ph.D., said. UT Arlington did not comment on the story.
These changes have resulted in a new language in job applications.
“We are deeply committed to increasing diversity and especially encourage applications from women and minority scholars” emphasizing the university's dedication to diversify while hiring," A UT Arlington job application reads.
Students also addressed the changes.
“There are many types of privilege," Student Katy Drollinger said. "For example, a person who does not use a wheelchair has privilege when it comes to accessing buildings, and religious privilege may include automatically having a day off for a religious holiday you celebrate. Once you recognize your privileges, you can choose to use it to be an ally and help make your community more inclusive and equitable for others.”
UT Arlington provides a free DEI “Professional Development” program for current faculty and staff. The program is encouraged but not mandated. The program has two workshops and six electives where participants are required to take a minimum of five. The six electives are: Heritage Month, Cross-Cultural Communication, LGBTQ+ Ally, Experiential Learning, Accessibility, and Bias, Privilege, and Micro-aggressions.
Once the program is finished, students get a certificate. Benefits include, “mitigating bias in hiring, conducting inclusive meetings, and building diverse relationships with stakeholders'' according to the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In the Fall of 2020, UT Arlington started a new student curriculum that included programs on identity, privilege, bias, and oppression.
A group was started to direct this new curriculum towards social justice and equity. The curriculum will be embedded in the current curriculum. Each year the curriculum will be reviewed and improved to meet the diversity, equity and inclusion goals of the university.
The university’s group of multicultural affairs encourages and hosts events based on different cultures. The UTA Multicultural Affairs Twitter bio states, “creating an equitable and inclusive campus for all through advocacy, education celebration.” The group presents programs and workshops for students and faculty. For example, the group promoted Juneteenth and Arlington Pride events.
According to an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) study, those in favor of implementing DEI in the process of hiring university faculty and staff are excited about the inclusiveness and open opportunities it provides especially for minority communities. Those who are critical of mandating DEI in the hiring process and workplace view the tactic as adhering to what is politically correct.
Opponents assert there has been a change in hiring from quality and scholarship to now purely based on a candidate’s knowledge and experience with DEI. Critics suggest DEI is becoming much more important than basic qualifications at most universities. This leads to ideological conformity where candidates are removed from the pool of applicants purely for displaying poor DEI statements or not having the correct DEI experience. In a data collection study done by AEI, it was questioned whether the strategic diversity plans put in place by universities attain their goals. Seeing no evidence of the betterment of campus climate or research productivity, they conclude requiring DEI in the hiring process has instead a fundamentally political end.