Defying ‘racist-cisgenderism’: Meet the DEI staff University of Michigan tried to hide

The country’s largest and most expensive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program only hired staff “committed to DEI” and then tried to scrub them from the public’s memory when the program came under fire.

Staff and fellows at the University of Michigan boast specialties in critical race theory, ethnic studies, and gender ideology, teaching courses on “queer histories” and “black feminism,” according to screenshots of the now-deleted directory shared on X. The school’s DEI efforts may soon be coming to an end after criticisms surfaced of the multi-million dollar program fueling racial tensions on campus.

At the University of Michigan, a large-scale hiring program only recruits scholars who show a “commitment to DEI.”

In practice, its a career pipeline program for scholars in activist disciplines—like “trans of color epistemologies” and “queer of color critique.”

🧵🧵🧵 pic.twitter.com/YEGch872FE

— John Sailer (@JohnDSailer) December 4, 2024

One assistant professor and fellow in the university’s Collegiate Fellows Program studies how “trans-Latinas use their bodies to resistant forms of labor” in what she describes as “queer potentiality,” according to her now-deleted biography page. Her research and writing on “sex working trans-Latinas” is meant to “defy racist-cisgenderism.”

1⃣ A gender studies professor hired through the program studies how “transgender Latinas are racialized and sexualized in sexual economies of labor and the US nation more broadly.” pic.twitter.com/IBPs1HankM

— John Sailer (@JohnDSailer) December 4, 2024

Another assistant professor in the English department examines “antiracist and queer revisions of Aristotle’s ancient theory of rhetorical ethos,” his biography page reads. A dissertation by an assistant professor in sociology argues that “Southern wife beating laws” have roots in white supremacy, according to the archive’s webpage.

5⃣was “trained in literary and critical theory”

6⃣examines the “white supremacist” roots of Southern wife beating laws

7⃣offers “antiracist and queer revisions” to “Aristotle’s ancient theory of rhetorical ethos”

8⃣specializes in “critical translation theory” pic.twitter.com/hYL1yNsCZY

— John Sailer (@JohnDSailer) December 4, 2024

While intersectionality was an ongoing theme among fellows in the university’s program, one in particular studies how Jews and Muslims can relate through their apparent experiences in “queerness.”

That’s a bit vague. In practice, he too is laser-focused on intersectional analysis.

His edited collection, Queer Jews, Queer Muslims, aims at “triangulating the Jewish-Muslim dad with a third variable: queerness.” pic.twitter.com/emplwhSNQ1

— John Sailer (@JohnDSailer) December 4, 2024

The school apparently removed the DEI staff directory after the program was called into question for its numerous reported failures, according to John Sailer, senior fellow and director of higher education policy at the Manhattan Institute. The webpage now redirects to the fellowship’s landing page, with no fellow directory in sight.

The university spent approximately $30.68 million annually on DEI staff and has invested $250 million in its program since 2016. Despite this, race and gender relations at the University of Michigan have apparently worsened, with complaints relating to race, gender, and religion skyrocketing, while staff and students have become less likely to interact with people different from them.

The program’s failures have led the university to consider defunding or restructuring the DEI office. The Board of Regents — the university’s highest governing body — is expected to vote on the matter as early as Nov. 5, according to an email sent by the faculty senate chair to faculty members.

The University of Michigan did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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