University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Faculty Up for Promotion and Tenure Must Submit Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statements, Affirm University Views

In 2022, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign modified its promotion and tenure standards to require faculty members to submit a statement of their prior and future contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion. FIRE wrote Urbana-Champaign on September 12, explaining that requiring commitments to prescribed ideological views threatens academic freedom. After Urbana-Champaign failed to respond, FIRE sent a follow-up letter on October 11, urging it to eliminate or revise the policy to respect faculty members’ expressive rights. On October 12, Urbana-Champaign responded to FIRE defending the requirement.