--- title: DEI Is Not the Monster Here description: "It requires a tricky magic to transform DEI into the latest bogeyman and the reason for the rise of antisemitism on college campuses," writes Eddie Glaude Jr. canonical: https://time.com/6458406/dei-campus-speech/ author: Eddie S. Glaude Jr. article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-12-13T22:37:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:40.581Z article:section: Ideas og:title: DEI Is Not the Monster Here og:description: "It requires a tricky magic to transform DEI into the latest bogeyman and the reason for the rise of antisemitism on college campuses," writes Eddie Glaude Jr. og:url: https://time.com/6458406/dei-campus-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4833f9b7d1a32b9/698a433709208f79e741b071/GettyImages-1825446796.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Harvard, Penn, MIT Heads Face Congress Over Antisemitism og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: DEI Is Not the Monster Here twitter:description: "It requires a tricky magic to transform DEI into the latest bogeyman and the reason for the rise of antisemitism on college campuses," writes Eddie Glaude Jr. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4833f9b7d1a32b9/698a433709208f79e741b071/GettyImages-1825446796.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # DEI Is Not the Monster Here > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3a380331-cd13-423a-8b9a-241375c8f317&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: House Committee Holds Hearing on College Campus Antisemitism [Watch (HLS stream): House Committee Holds Hearing on College Campus Antisemitism](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uJWT0dLo.m3u8) (7:29)  _Published 2023-12-05. The presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said Tuesday that they were taking steps to combat antisemitism on campus since the start of the Israel-Hamas war._  by [Eddie S. Glaude Jr.](https://time.com/author/eddie-s-glaude-jr/)  ## Eddie S. Glaude Jr. Dec 13, 2023 10:37 PM UTC  Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, during a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023\. Lawmakers on the education committee will grill the leaders of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about their responses to protests that erupted after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, during a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023\. Lawmakers on the education committee will grill the leaders of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about their responses to protests that erupted after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Haiyun Jiang—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Eddie S. Glaude Jr.](https://time.com/author/eddie-s-glaude-jr/)  ## Eddie S. Glaude Jr. Dec 13, 2023 10:37 PM UTC Ours is a time of monsters and bogeymen as the world cracks wide open. It reminds me of the last lines in the first stanza of Yeats’s _Second Coming_, _The ceremony of innocence is drowned;_ _The best lack all conviction, while the worst_ _Are full of passionate intensity._ The debate about the terrible war in Gaza has taken on an odd face: an attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). It requires a tricky magic to transform DEI into the latest bogeyman and the reason for the rise of antisemitism on college campuses. Those full of passion who rail against critical race theory and applaud the Supreme Court’s decision upending affirmative action now believe that DEI initiatives undermine the true mission of higher education with a so-called left-wing orthodoxy that stifles free speech and mocks merit. That argument, or some variant of it, has joined with strident criticisms of student protests against the war in Gaza. The protests reveal, they argue, that American universities and colleges are hotbeds of antisemitism, where “social justice warriors” dictate what can be said and hurl words like decolonization and settler colonialism to batter, silence, and threaten their opponents. DEI is the Frankenstein monster. For these critics, policies around diversity result in the hiring of unqualified people to lead our most elite institutions who then fail to respond appropriately in moments of crisis. DEI also distorts the application of speech code policies. After the murder of George Floyd, for example, universities and colleges bent over backwards to respond to the demands of Black students and now, when Jewish students feel threatened, administrators hide behind free speech. Here DEI singles out some students for special treatment, the critics claim, while leaving others vulnerable and allowing antisemitism to flourish. The student protests in support of Palestinians, some believe, are a consequence of what Alan Bloom called in 1987 “the closing of the American mind.” For over thirty years, the argument goes, there has been an assault on classical liberal education. Radical professors indoctrinating students. Activism displacing the cultivation of critical thinking. Political correctness suffocating free and open inquiry. With the ascendence of left-wing orthodoxy Israel can be seen as an oppressor while students ignore the reality of the history of Jews. All this amounts to an odd mishmash of argument, lament, and ugliness between strange bedfellows. Like many others I believe DEI on college campuses should be reexamined. Diversity can be imagined as a problem to be managed or as a value to be cherished. As a problem, diversity enters the picture when so-called “others” demand inclusion and “we” must decide how to deal with those demands. This “we” calls up a particular history grounded in the American dream, in the idea of hard work and merit, and self-reliance. But this “we” stands apart from the actual diversity of the country; it has, as James Baldwin noted, “almost nothing to do with what or who an American really is.” Understood in this sense, diversity is something to be managed, because the very idea of “we” narrows our view of who _we are._ Seeing diversity as a value to cherish, however, orients us differently. We begin with a recognition that diversity is constitutive of who we are, and our aim is to reflect it in our institutions and in our civic arrangements. The irony is that we often think we are treating diversity as a cherished value, but we are really trying to manage it. We end up checking boxes, more concerned about compliance, and less interested in the value itself. An add-on. Not something fundamental to who we are that becomes a critical part of how we assess whether we are fulfilling the overall mission of the institution. ### More From TIME The motivations of right-wing critics like Representative Elise Stefanik, Ed Blum, and others seem less about wrestling with the diversity that has always been there but can now no longer be ignored, than about reasserting a certain view of the country and of higher education. I am uneasy when I see, hear, or read them. Their voices sound familiar, an echo of an ugly past. Twain _was_ right, history rhymes. Under the guise of a commitment to a classical liberal education, right-wing critics are pursuing illiberal ends that deny the value of diversity all together. They ignore or downplay the history of exclusion that has defined much of the history of places like Princeton, Harvard, or Yale. For them, meritocracy alone resolves historical inequity. Color-blind equality, the equal treatment of individuals regardless of group identity, is the only remedy to generations of policies that have produced our society. And, for these critics, diversity initiatives occasion _only_ the compromise of standards, an attack on merit and, for some, an assault on the idea of whiteness itself. DEI is the latest bogeyman; George Soros and the globalists had their turn. Who knows what “monsters” wait in the shadows. Be careful. The spike in antisemitism on college campuses has _little_ to do with DEI offices and programs. Some of it is bound up with the rise of white supremacy in the country. Some of it is tied to nasty partisanship as politicians invoke fears of conspiracy theories like the Great Replacement funded by Jewish globalists. But, in the end, it is the war in Gaza that has ignited passions among students deeply concerned about a broken world. They are debating and arguing, protesting and counter protesting. Some hold noxious views, trading in the basest stereotypes of Jews or describing the deaths of innocents on October 7th as deserved. But most who protest are genuinely committed to the rights of Palestinians. They are doing what students do, but in a country that seems to have forgotten how to disagree. We must be careful that we don’t end up aiding those who want to suffocate what makes our universities and colleges the envy of the world. They remain the best training grounds for a thoughtful, robust democratic citizenry. Perhaps, more importantly, we must be careful not to fall for the siren song of the “we” that demands an “other.” DEI is not the monster or bogeyman here. To use worries about antisemitism on campus to attack diversity is at best dangerous and at worst a terrible manipulation that uses one bigotry to attack another. Doing such a thing feels like a kind of tricky magic that can demand the cost of one’s soul. ## Transcript [00:00] During these difficult days. [00:01] I have felt the bonds of our community strain. [00:06] In response, I've sought to confront hate while preserving [00:11] free expression. [00:13] This is difficult work. [00:14] And I know that I have not always gotten it, [00:17] right. [00:19] The free exchange of ideas is the foundation upon which Harvard [00:23] is built and safety and well-being are the prerequisites [00:27] for engagement in our community without both of these things [00:31] are teaching and research Mission founder. [00:34] In the past two months our Bedrock commitments have guided [00:40] our efforts. [00:41] We have increased security measures expanded reporting [00:45] channels and augmented counseling mental health and support [00:49] services. [00:51] We have reiterated that speech that incites violence threatens [00:54] safety or violates Harvard's policies against bullying and harassment [00:59] is unacceptable. [01:01] As a student of constitutional democracy. [01:02] I know that we need both safety and free expression for universities [01:09] and ultimately democracy to thrive in these times. [01:12] These competing principles can be difficult to balance, [01:14] but I am determined to get it right. [01:18] And we must get this right the stakes are too high pain would [01:23] not be what it is without its strong Jewish Community past present [01:27] and future. I am proud of this tradition and deeply troubled [01:32] when members of our Jewish Community share that their sense [01:35] of belonging has been shaken under my leadership. [01:39] We will never ever shrink for moral responsibility [01:43] to combat anti-Semitism and educate all to recognize and reject [01:48] hate. We will remain Vigilant but the barbarity of October [01:55] 7th as a terrible new chapter two Jewish history anyone who claims [02:02] to care about you and rice should denounce these Horrors [02:06] that so many on-campus not only did not but that they Justified [02:10] the savagery and name of opposition to Israel has caused Jews [02:15] around the world deep anguish. [02:18] Well, I deplore all hateful speech anti-semitic speech remains [02:24] in America protected Free Speech stands at the core of the liberal [02:29] arts education and education which almost every member of Congress [02:33] benefited from when they were students but free speech does [02:38] not permit harassment discrimination bias threats or violence [02:43] in any form. [02:43] I strongly believe that there is a difference between what we [02:48] can say to each other that is what we have a right to say [02:52] and what we should say as members of One community. [02:56] It is president of MIT in addition to my duties to keep the campus [03:01] safe and to maintain the functioning of this National Asset. [03:05] I must at the same time ensure that we protect speech and Viewpoint [03:11] diversity or everyone. [03:14] This is in keeping with the institute's principles on free expression. [03:18] Meaning those three goals is challenging and the results [03:22] can be terribly uncomfortable. [03:23] But it is essential to how we operate in the United States. [03:27] Those who want us to shut down protest language are in effect [03:31] arguing for a speech code. [03:33] But in practice speech codes do not work problematic [03:38] speech needs to be countered with other speech and with education [03:42] and we are doing that. [03:43] However, the right is Free Speech does not extend to harassment [03:49] discrimination or incitement to violence in our community [03:53] will admissions offers be rescinded or any disciplinary [03:57] action be taken against students or applicants who say from the [04:01] river to the sea or intifada advocating for the murder [04:04] of Jews. [04:06] As I've said that type of hateful Reckless offense of speech [04:12] is personally abhorrent to me. [04:14] Find today that will actually be taking what action will be taken [04:18] when speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies [04:22] including policies against bullying harassment or intimidation. [04:25] We take action and we have robust disciplinary processes [04:30] that allow us to hold individuals accountable. [04:33] What action has been taken against students who are harassing [04:37] and calling for the genocide of Jews on Harvard campus. [04:41] I can assure you we have robust. [04:44] What actions have been taken. [04:46] I'm not asking I'm asking what actions have been taken since [04:52] Given students rights to privacy and our obligations [04:56] under FERPA. I will not say more about any specific cases other [05:00] than to reiterate that processes are ongoing. [05:04] Do you know what the number one hate crime in America is? [05:12] I know that over the last couple of months there has been an alarming [05:17] rise of anti-Semitism which I understand is the critical [05:22] topic that we are here to discuss the correct. [05:25] It is anti-jewish hate crimes and Harvard ranks the lowest [05:31] when it comes to protecting Jewish students. [05:33] This is why I have called for your resignation and your testimony [05:36] today not being able to answer with moral Clarity speaks volumes. [05:40] Are you back in Norton who has repeatedly denied her mouth [05:45] is worth worst atrocities on October 7th, [05:48] or how about Huda fakhreddine who romanticize the murder of over [05:54] 1,000 Israeli Jews as quote Palestine and venting a new way of [05:59] life and clapped. [06:02] As a speaker said Jews should go back to Berlin and Moscow. [06:06] Why does that Professor still have a job at your University? [06:12] I'm very troubled by what you're describing Congressman [06:16] that kind of both sides of your mouth. 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