The Ohio State University: Faculty Applicants Required to Submit Diversity Statements

Several job listings on The Ohio State University’s website include requirements that applicants submit diversity statements as part of their applications. On September 29, 2022, FIRE wrote the university, explaining that while it may hold or promote certain values about diversity, equity, and inclusion, it cannot force faculty to attest they hold identical views, or use diversity statements as litmus tests to weed out applicants who may dissent from university-sanctioned orthodoxy on these issues of public concern. The university responded on October 13 that it takes its role in protecting free speech and expression seriously and would review our concerns. On April 13, 2023, as part of a response to a public records request, the university said it is “in the process of developing and implementing a more consistent set of university-wide practices for the hiring of both faculty and staff,” and that the new practices “will not include the use of diversity statements.”