DEI remains widespread in college hiring despite bans: analysis

A new analysis finds that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is still widely used in the faculty hiring process for higher education.

The analysis, released in July by the nonpartisan Heterodox Academy, reviewed more than 10,000 faculty job advertisements from the 2024-25 higher education hiring cycle in the U.S. It found that 22.3% of them asked for DEI statements or other DEI-related materials.

Private universities led the way, with 28.6% of job postings requesting DEI statements, compared with 19% at public institutions.

The report attributed the difference to “recent legislation barring public institutions from requesting DEI statements from applicants for faculty jobs.”

President Donald Trump signed several executive orders targeting DEI, with a January order requiring the attorney general and secretary of Education to identify potential civil compliance investigations among institutions of higher education with endowments over $1 billion and, accordingly, develop action plans to “deter DEI programs or principles that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences.”

Public universities along the coasts asked for DEI statements far more often than those in the Midwest and Southeast, the analysis found. Among Baccalaureate Colleges—institutions that primarily award bachelor’s degrees—42.8% of job postings included DEI requests.

By discipline, jobs in STEM fields required DEI statements 25.5% of the time, compared with 23.5% in the humanities and 24.8% in the social sciences.

The analysis concluded that these figures are “challenging perceptions that DEI concerns are limited to certain disciplines.”

It also noted that institutions are inserting DEI in different parts of their job ads. Some required a standalone DEI statement, while others asked applicants to include it in a cover letter or teaching philosophy.

Fox News Digital reached out to Heterodox Academy for comment.