Internal emails at Cornell allegedly instructed a closed, invite-only process to preselect a 'diversity hire,' with no public posting or open competition. This suggests a replicable blueprint: avoid listings, interview one candidate at a time, and minimize discoverability to skirt Title VII risk.
— If common, this exposes universities to broad legal challenges and reframes DEI hiring as a governance and compliance problem, not just a culture-war dispute.
Omar Sultan Haque, M.D., Ph.D.
2025.08.06
55% relevant
If universities run closed, outcome‑driven searches to meet ideological aims, Haque’s case for external accountability gains force as a response to opaque internal processes that evade neutral compliance norms.
Colin Wright
2025.08.01
100% relevant
December 2020 emails from Cornell DEI leadership directing a hidden, predetermined diversity hire without open applications.
Lee Jussim
2025.07.30
55% relevant
Evidence of systematic biases favoring female candidates complements documented cases of closed 'diversity hire' processes, together suggesting structural, not merely anecdotal, departures from open, merit-based hiring.
Jesse Singal
2025.07.14
70% relevant
The article argues that required diversity statements in the University of California system functioned as political litmus tests that excluded conservatives, paralleling the 'closed, preselected' dynamics described in secret diversity-focused searches.