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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: "Diversity" Requirement for Faculty Assessment Violates Academic Freedom and Freedom of Conscience

Since Virginia Tech first rescinded its ideological litmus test for faculty in its liberal arts college under pressure from FIRE, the school has slowly been making progress toward intellectual freedom. Most recently, Virginia Tech removed a politicized elaboration of "diversity accomplishments" from its university-wide tenure and promotion guidelines. A separate document still contains the diversity guidelines, however. The university also has yet to retract its demands that faculty demonstrate such "diversity accomplishments" when seeking raises, tenure, or promotion. These demands violate faculty members' freedom of conscience and academic freedom by politicizing the consideration of their teaching, scholarship, and personal development activities.

Case Materials

• "Response to FIRE from Associate VP for University Relations Lawrence Hinker," October 3, 2009
• "FIRE Letter to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Board of Visitors," September 14, 2009
• "Virginia Tech Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure Dossiers for 2009-10," May 4, 2009
• "Memo from Virginia Tech Dean Sue Ott Rowlands to CLAHS Colleagues," April 30, 2009
• "Open letter to the VT faculty, staff, and student community from President Charles Steger and Senior Vice President and Provost Mark McNamee," April 30, 2009
• "A Message from the CLAHS Diversity Committee," April 30, 2009
• "Victory for Freedom of Conscience at Virginia Tech: New ‘Diversity’ Requirements for Tenure and Promotion No Longer Under Consideration, But Problematic Policies Remain," April 14, 2009: The president of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) has announced that proposed new guidelines for faculty assessment, which would have mandated reporting of "diversity" activities in violation of academic freedom and freedom of conscience, are no longer under consideration. FIRE had called on President Charles W. Steger to rescind the proposed guidelines after a tenure-track faculty member came to FIRE for help.
• "Email to FIRE from Lawrence G. Hincker, Associate Vice President , University Relations," April 14, 2009
• " ACTA Account of Phone Conversation," April 8, 2009
• "Editorial: Making financial aid a priority will improve campus diversity," CollegiateTimes.com, April 8, 2009
• "New Virginia Tech ‘Diversity’ Requirements for Tenure Violate Academic Freedom, Will Be Comprehensively Reviewed by Board of Visitors," April 6, 2009: The Board of Visitors at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) has agreed to fully review the school's tenure and diversity policies. Virginia Tech's College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences defines "diversity" as "the desirability and value of many kinds of individual differences while at the same time acknowledging and respecting that socially constructed differences based on certain characteristics exist within systems of power that create and sustain inequality, hierarchy, and privilege." Faculty members who do not document their "involvement in diversity initiatives" in their teaching, research, and personal development put their ability to achieve merit raises, promotion, and tenure in jeopardy.
• "Virginia Assocation of Scholars' Letter to Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger," April 5, 2009
• "Response from ACTA to John R. Lawson," April 2, 2009
• "ACTA's Letter to Virginia Tech Board of Visitors Members," March 27, 2009
• "FIRE Letter to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University President Charles W. Steger," March 25, 2009
• "E-mail to Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty from Debra Stoudt, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences," March 20, 2009
• "College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Promotion and Tenure Guidelines," March 1, 2009
• "Virginia Tech Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure Dossiers 2008-2009," September 1, 2008
• "Memo from Virginia Tech Provost Mark McNamee to Department Heads," May 29, 2008
• "The College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences Definition of Diversity," February 18, 2008
• "Virginia Tech Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure Dossiers 2007 - 2008," April 13, 2007
• "Reporting Diversity Accomplishments in the Faculty Activities Report," December 16, 2006
• "Virginia Tech to Reward Faculty For Promoting Diversity," Diverse Issues in Higher Education, September 4, 2006
• "Memo to Faculty and Graduate Students on Reporting Diversity-Related Activities on Faculty Activity Reports," August 28, 2006
• "Commission on Equal Opportunity and Diversity CEOD Resolution 2005-06 A Reporting Diversity-Related Activities on Faculty Activity Reports (FARs)," March 13, 2006
• "Virginia Tech Principles of Community," March 14, 2005
• ""Position Statement Reaffirming Our Civil Liberties"," March 22, 2004
• "The Faculty Assessment of Campus Climate," March 2, 1998

Blog Entries

• "'The Diversity Religion at Virginia Tech'," by Adam Kissel, October 28, 2009
• "Mandatory ‘Diversity Accomplishments’ at Virginia Tech Violate Faculty Rights; FIRE Details Violations in 15-page Letter to Board of Visitors," by Adam Kissel, September 16, 2009: FIRE has sent Virginia Tech's Board of Visitors a 15-page letter with 13 enclosures detailing how administrators have begun to demand "diversity accomplishments" from faculty members across the university over the past several years. Professors are expected to alter their own research, teaching, and personal intellectual development in order to prove their loyalty to Virginia Tech's political agenda. Those who lack the right "diversity accomplishments" will see diminished career prospects, including for tenure and promotion. FIRE is calling on Virginia Tech's board to rescind the coercive elements of its diversity agenda.
• "Bit by Bit, Virginia Tech Softens Ideological ‘Diversity’ Requirements for Faculty; Much More To Be Done for Freedom of Conscience," by Adam Kissel, July 8, 2009: Since Virginia Tech first rescinded its ideological litmus test for faculty in its liberal arts college under pressure from FIRE, the school has slowly been making progress toward intellectual freedom. Most recently, Virginia Tech removed a politicized elaboration of "diversity accomplishments" from its university-wide tenure and promotion guidelines. A separate document still contains the diversity guidelines, however. The university also has yet to retract its demands that faculty demonstrate such "diversity accomplishments" when seeking raises, tenure, or promotion. These demands violate faculty members' freedom of conscience and academic freedom by politicizing the consideration of their teaching, scholarship, and personal development activities.
• "FIRE’s Letter to the Editor of ‘The Roanoke Times’," by William Creeley, May 18, 2009
• "Getting it Wrong: ‘Roanoke Times’ Editorial Mischaracterizes FIRE and Problems with Virginia Tech's Diversity Requirements," by William Creeley, May 13, 2009
• "FIRE Critic on ‘Chronicle of Higher Education’ Blog Acknowledges Error," by Adam Kissel, May 8, 2009
• "FIRE Attacked on ‘Chronicle of Higher Education’ Blog over Virginia Tech," by Adam Kissel and William Creeley, April 16, 2009
• "Victory at Virginia Tech: Good News Travels Fast," by Peter Bonilla, April 15, 2009
• "FIRE Co-founder Commends Virginia Tech President for Withdrawing Ideological Litmus Test," by Greg Lukianoff, April 15, 2009
• "Victory for Freedom of Conscience at Virginia Tech: New ‘Diversity’ Requirements for Tenure and Promotion No Longer Under Consideration, But Problematic Policies Remain," by Adam Kissel, April 14, 2009
• "Adam’s Letter to the Editor at Virginia Tech on Mandatory ‘Diversity Accomplishments’," by Luke Sheahan, April 10, 2009
• "New Virginia Tech ‘Diversity’ Requirements for Tenure Violate Academic Freedom, Will Be Comprehensively Reviewed by Board of Visitors," by Adam Kissel, April 6, 2009
• "FIRE Reaches Virginia Tech Community with Column in ‘The Collegiate Times’," by Peter Bonilla, April 1, 2009
• "Virginia Tech to Demand ‘Diversity’ Conformity by Vote," by Adam Kissel, March 30, 2009
• "Mark Bauerlein on Virginia Tech Diversity Requirement for Faculty Assessment," by Adam Kissel, March 27, 2009
• "Virginia Tech Mandates 'Diversity' for Faculty Promotion, Despite Denial," by Adam Kissel, March 26, 2009
• "FIRE Calls on Virginia Tech to Abandon New Political Litmus Test for Faculty," by Adam Kissel, March 25, 2009: FIRE is calling on Charles W. Steger, President of Virginia Tech, to abandon proposed new guidelines for faculty assessment that would seriously violate faculty members' academic freedom and their constitutional right to freedom of conscience. The proposal would force faculty members in Virginia Tech's College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences to adhere to an ideological loyalty oath to an entirely abstract concept—"diversity"—that can represent vastly different things to different people. Faculty are to be evaluated with "special attention" to the candidate's "involvement in diversity initiatives." If adopted, this requirement will inevitably interfere with faculty members' moral and intellectual freedom by requiring them to adhere to Virginia Tech's current ideological perspectives on bias, race, gender, and culture.

Media Coverage

• "University should not pressure faculty to alter their research,"
  by Adam Kissel, CollegiateTimes.com, October 14, 2009
• "At Tech, an ideological dispute over diversity,"
  by Karin Kapsidelis, Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 9, 2009
• "Virginia Tech, Round 2: Staging Diversity,"
  by Peter Wood, National Association of Scholars, April 27, 2009
• "U.S. Universities: Education or Indoctrination?,"
  by Robert Shibley, Pajamas Media, April 27, 2009
• "Diversity's role in tenure questioned,"
  by Riley Prendergast, CollegiateTimes.com, April 21, 2009
• "Why can't students say 'guns' in school?,"
  by Glenn Garvin, Miami Herald, April 21, 2009
• "A diversity step too far,"
  by Bill Maxwell, St. Petersburg Times, April 19, 2009
• "Virginia Tech drops diversity requirement from tenure policy,"
  by Robin Wilson, The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 15, 2009
• "Virginia reviews diversity rule,"
  University World News, April 12, 2009
• "Commitment to diversity as a job requirement,"
  by Mark Bauerlein, The Chronicle Review, March 27, 2009
• "Suitable for framing,"
  by Ashley Thorne, National Association of Scholars, March 26, 2009
• "Critics challenge diversity language in Virginia Tech's tenure policy,"
  by Robin Wilson, The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 26, 2009