USC professor defends DEI ideology before congress
It went about as well as one might expect.
USC professor Shaun Harper, founder of the USC Race and Equity Center, recently testified before congress about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ideology. It started out with an easy question, which Harper rather spectacularly fumbled. Portions of the transcript can be found below and you can watch the full testimony here.
Rep. Gill: “Should race be considered in employee hiring practices, yes, or no?”
Dr. Harper: “I believe that diversity ought to be considered as companies and other organizations attempt to reflect their customers, our country.”
Rep. Gill: “I’ll take that as a yes. Which race do you think should be preferred?”
Dr. Harper: “I do not think that a single race should be preferred.”
Rep. Gill: “You just said that you believed that race should be considered in employer hiring practices.”
Dr. Harper: “I don’t know. There’s going to be a transcript of this hearing. I didn’t say it that way.”
Rep. Gill: “Okay, why don’t you explain what you believe?”
Dr. Harper: “What I believe is that the demographic composition of workplaces, our nation’s military, Congress, ought to reflect the diversity of the United States of America.”
Rep. Gill: “The racial demographic, composition. Is that what you’re saying?”
Dr. Harper: “Racial, gender…”
Rep. Gill: “Okay, so race, should be a factor in employer hiring practices. That’s what you’re saying, is it not?”
USC’s new interim president Beong-Soo Kim recently stated that he believes that universities are a “marketplace of ideas”. We agree! We hope new ideas around DEI start circulating in our campus marketplace very soon, rather than just Harper (or his soon-to-arrive replacement) and his ilk who currently hold the sole administration-approved monopoly on the subject. Our national profile may now depend on it.
We welcome your news, opinions, and responses. Please contact us at heterodox.usc@gmail.com. We’d also appreciate if you forwarded our email to USC faculty, alumni, parents, staff and students who may share our concerns and priorities.
Are you suggesting that there should be a diversity of opinions on DEI at USC?
Thanks for including the full testimony of this embarrassment to USC. The level of grievance expressed and the unprecedented demand to preferences is beyond disgusting. I would love to ask Professor Harper what reparations HE personally owes to the descendants of union soldiers who sacrificed to end slavery...or what Africans owe to the descendants of American slaves for THEIR role in the slave trade. Add in the costs to the nation provided for affirmative action programs and the disproportionate costs of crime committed by people of color and we might find the account ledgers not to the professor's liking.