University of Colorado, Boulder: DEI Statement Required for Faculty Positions

In the summer of 2023, FIRE became aware that the University of Colorado, Boulder was requiring applicants for certain faculty positions to submit statements describing how their scholarship “advance[s] diversity, equity, and inclusion.” The rubric for assessing those statements further required applicants to express a belief in and desire to be a strong advocate for particular forms of DEI, including expressing particular views about “[h]istorically minoritized groups.” FIRE wrote CU Boulder on September 7, 2023, explaining that having faculty express agreement with a specific ideology violates the First Amendment, and CU Boulder cannot reject or penalize applicants for failure to profess allegiance to any particular ideological position. On October 3, CU Boulder informed FIRE it would implement changes suggested by FIRE in the rubric, including incorporating diversity of thought and the value of different perspectives into its conception of DEI.