Nine in 10 academic job postings from some of the largest universities in Canada incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles in their hiring processes, a new study suggests.
The analysis, published by the Calgary-based think tank Aristotle Foundation, says that 98 percent of active job postings at 10 of Canada’s largest public universities include DEI requirements or strategies for filling vacancies.
The authors say such measures result in “discriminatory hiring” at the expense of merit, arguing they lead to preferential treatment, or exclusion, of people based on criteria such as race, ethnicity, or gender.
The study reviewed roughly 50 active academic job advertisements at each province’s largest public university between November 2023 and April 2024. It found that 477 of the 489 total postings employed some DEI measure.
The review was based on eight research questions, including whether each job posting mentioned or promoted DEI, implied that a candidate’s “contribution to DEI” is an asset, required the applicant to fill out a DEI survey or submit a DEI statement or essay, asked for a commitment or contribution to DEI, or prioritized candidates based on their identity.
“In the name of reversing the historical oppression of marginalized groups and improving outcomes, universities have enacted several policies around academic hiring that implement specific DEI strategies, such as selectively hiring academic faculty based on diversity quotas,” says the report.
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“However, the evidence suggests these programs promote reverse discrimination, fail to address inequality, and exacerbate divisions—all while relying on faulty or unverifiable evidence about their alleged efficacy.”
DEI is also known by the acronym EDI, which puts equity first, followed by diversity. DEI is associated with terms such as “affirmative action” and “employment equity.”
DEI in Academic Job Postings
The study found that the proportion of job postings requiring DEI varied by university, with some mandating compliance in all their postings.
According to the study, all job postings at six of the 10 major universities mentioned or promoted DEI. This included the University of Toronto, McGill University, the University of Alberta, the University of Manitoba, the University of New Brunswick, and the University of Saskatchewan.
The study data predates the University of Alberta’s Jan. 2 shift from DEI to an “access, community, and belonging” (ACB) model, though the authors argue the university has not altered its policy despite the change in language.
At Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University and the University of Prince Edward Island, the share of postings mentioning or promoting DEI was 98 percent, while at the University of British Columbia, and Memorial University of Newfoundland the proportion was nearly 90 percent.
Sixty percent of the universities sampled had academic postings restricting applicant selection to certain races, identities, or groups. Such restrictions, which the authors called “explicit discrimination,” were most prominent at the University of British Columbia, in nearly one in five job advertisements.
Other institutions with postings limited to applicants with particular identities included the universities sampled in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia.
The authors highlighted a job opening posted on May 2, 2023 in the University of New Brunswick’s Department of Physics, citing it as an instance of explicit exclusion of white males.
The posting says only “applicants who self-identify as members of gender equity deserving groups (including cisgender women, transgender women, transgender men, two-spirit, and non-binary) and/or as racialized individuals will be considered for this opportunity. We encourage those with intersecting identities to apply (for example, women who identify as racialized individuals, Indigenous, and/ or persons with disabilities).”
The university says it is committed to equity, fairness, social justice and social change, and that “seeing and celebrating our diversity” is key to creating an inclusive environment, according to its website.
The study also found that all applicants to academic positions at McGill and the University of Saskatchewan were required to fill out a DEI survey. More than half of candidates at the University of Manitoba and Memorial University of Newfoundland were required to do the same.
Meanwhile, all job offers at the University of Toronto and 96 percent of those at Dalhousie University said or implied that the applicant’s “contribution to DEI” was an asset. This proportion was 50 percent at the University of British Columbia and nearly 30 percent at the University of Manitoba.
At the same time, nearly two-thirds of job advertisements at the University of British Columbia and more than half at the University of Manitoba required candidates to submit a DEI statement or essay.
Collin May, one of the authors and former chief of the Alberta Human Rights Commission, said universities’ prioritization of DEI jeopardizes their role as academic institutions.
“Today, the evidence suggests universities are prioritizing identity politics and activism over research quality,” he said. “Dethroning merit and rigour in favour of ‘relevance’, universities are rapidly abandoning the very tools that ensure the objectivity of research and openness of discussion.”
