In the wake of a front assault on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is calling on colleges and universities not to give in to the pressure to abandon such initiatives. 
On Wednesday, AAUP renewed their call to colleges and universities to fund and protect research and teaching that addresses social inequity and the needs of historically underrepresented groups.
The statement, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Criteria for Faculty Evaluation”, issued by the Association’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, observes that colleges and universities may legitimately—and, according to AAUP recommendations, should—aim to recruit and retain diverse student and faculty bodies and to promote “teaching, research, and service that respond to the needs of a diverse global public.”
The statement rejects the claim that DEI criteria infringes on academic freedom by imposing political or ideological litmus tests concerning diversity and points out that decisions about the scope, design, and application of DEI criteria for faculty evaluation must rest primarily with the faculty as part of shared governance.
AAUP officials said that while faculty members must retain the right to criticize or oppose institutional goals or the policies adopted to realize them, it is not “a violation of academic freedom per se when an appropriate larger group, such as a faculty senate or a department, collectively adopts an educational policy or goal and evaluates individual faculty members’ performance by reference to them even though they dissent.”
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