Collegiate Times

"A university would not be able to tell its faculty that they had to adhere to certain religious views, or teach them," Kissel said. "People would be much more up in arms if religion was the issue, but this undue pressure of faculty members to confirm their dedication to diversity is just as strong of an issue."

Provost Mark McNamee was also cited in the letter for his "Reporting Diversity Accomplishments in the Faculty Report," which included possible ways to "incorporate diversity-related scholarships in courses, readings, programs, service learning activities and your own research/scholarship."

"There is a specific process for making requirements for faculty, and no steps have been taken to make new requirements," McNamee said. "Now we just have to make sure that people know what is going on and that we would never require faculty to do something in their own classrooms that they don't agree with."

FIRE said in its letter that it believed, "Not only do such evaluative criteria unacceptably interfere with faculty members' moral and intellectual agency, but these statements also contain vague language that causes confusion and invites abuse."

FIRE claimed that, because the criteria in the new guidelines were so vague as to what should actually be done, that they infringed upon the rights of the teachers and could lead to biased teachings.

"There was some confusion as to whether these should be requirements, but we do not require faculty members to be advisers for students groups or hold administrative positions," Hinker said. "Although these are very important parts of university life, and they are things that we look at in faculty member dues, there is no university requirement."

The letter also cited that the university has no legal right to dictate what its professors should believe, including a mandate to a commitment to diversity. FIRE stated in its letter, "By requiring candidates for promotion and tenure to demonstrate an active involvement in 'diversity initiatives,' Virginia Tech impermissibly forces faculty members to confess both by word and by act their faith in the opinion that 'diversity' was essential to their teaching and academic life."

"We will be working very closely with internal groups to make sure that we are all on the same page, knowing that no new requirements have been made," McNamee said. "We are still committed to supporting diversity, and we still have some work to do. I just wish that they would show some faith and allow us to make progress knowing that we would never willingly do anything inappropriate."  

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