On November 21, Andrews University revealed that the 2017 Diversity & Inclusion (and Equity) position at Andrews would be replaced with an Assistant to the President for University Mission & Culture.
I believe this is a positive move for two reasons,
It is common for institutions/organizations to experience mission creep over time. Periodic re-connection with the original mission is helpful to keep the institution on the right path.
Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DIE) is a political fad that reached its zenith in 2020, following the death of George Floyd. It was a conduit to import hard left politics into organizations, companies and institutions.
Andrews Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity
There have been a couple versions Diversity & Inclusion position at Andrews which began in 2017. Although the title has changed a couple times since 2017, everybody knows it was Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity position headed by someone who had been trained in that field. Changing the title doesn’t necessarily change the ideology of the one who holds it.
The 2017 job title was Vice President for Diversity & Inclusion. “Wait!” you say. “Where’s Equity??” It was concealed from the title but present in statements by the search committee and the former AU President who hired him. See the NAD News Article of July 6, 2017:
“President Luxton describes Nixon as “an individual who has had to face challenging decisions on his faith commitment and his choice of priorities.” She continues: “In making his choices, Michael’s passion for his faith has deepened; so has his understanding and commitment to equity and inclusion. In the last few years he has shown unequivocally that when it comes to faith and career, faith must come first. And when he has chosen where to ‘walk’ it has been to walk alongside the disadvantaged, rather than where he might find visible personal success” (paragraph 8).
The committee’s work, and the final selection of Michael Nixon, reflected the job description that called for this new position to provide “spiritual, administrative and academic leadership for the equity and diversity vision, resources and programs across the University” (paragraph 4).
The 2020 job title was Vice president for University Culture and Inclusion.
The new job title in 2023: Assistant to the President for University Mission and Culture.
Both jobs are full-time senior administration positions who report directly to the president.
Following the announcement of this new 2023 position at Andrews, outrage began percolating through what we believe is a small but vocal minority in institutional Adventism. It started on Twitter and moved into Instagram videos and various Andrews faculty and then a petition. What do they want? They say they want Diversity, Inclusion and Equity. I believe what they really want is political leftism.
Instagram Video
The above individual claims to be a pastor in the NAD; she also works for the North American Division as a Recruiting and Marketing Specialist in the
Office of Volunteer Ministries.
Faculty Senate Officers
This letter was sent out on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving,
“We hope you had a refreshing Thanksgiving holiday! We rejoice over each one of you and your vital contributions to the Andrews community.
Over the past few days, the Faculty Senate has received numerous messages from faculty regarding the announcement of the senior administrative position of Assistant to the President for Mission and Culture, a role which will serve as our diversity officer and replace the office of Vice President for Culture and Inclusion.
We empathize with the pain that we have heard from a number of our colleagues. We believe that your voices deserve to be heard.
Recognizing that there are a variety of views among the faculty, in order to help us best represent the faculty at large, we have created a form to collect faculty sentiment on this position and change. You can submit your feedback through it anonymously or you may attach your name.
We are also engaging with university leadership to ensure opportunities for faculty to voice their reactions and questions regarding the important work of diversity and inclusion at Andrews.
Faculty Senate Executive Officers”
Professor of Chemistry
An associate professor of chemistry at Andrews issued the following public statement,
I offer the following recommendations:
1. That a posting for the board-approved Andrews University Vice President for Culture and Inclusion be done immediately and widely with the job description unchanged based on the one developed by AU Diversity Council, Faculty Senate, and administration,
2. That the Faculty Senate and administration votes to reaffirm that the board-approved Andrews University Vice President for Culture and Inclusion is the de facto chief administrator for all diversity, culture, and inclusion concerns and responsibilities at and involving Andrews University,
3. That the Faculty Senate and administration votes to ensure that any consideration and recommendations regarding the incorporation of diversity into and across university curriculum be carried out solely by Andrews University Center for Teaching and Learning in consultation with the Provost, Associate Provost, Faculty Senate, and Diversity Council,
4. That the current posting for the Assistant to the President for University Mission and Culture be immediately rescinded and removed and the search process halted. Furthermore, that an internal consultative process consistent with biblical principles be put in place to consider the merits of the proposed position of Assistant to the President for University Mission and Culture. The position as described in the current posting is problematic and flawed on several levels, including but not limited to its lack of clear limitations and boundaries vis-à-vis established university positions, and organizational structure, and the process by which it came to be.
Apparently, Mr. Murray is unhappy with the new position at Andrews, before it even begins. That seems a bit hasty to me.
Petition
There is a petition on Change.org demanding to save the office of VP for Diversity and Inclusion. Their concern: An Assistant to the President for University Culture and Mission may replace the VP for Diversity and Inclusion position at Andrews University.
The President’s Letter
If you agree that change is needed at Andrews University, please pray for Dr. Taylor and send him a note of your support!
Commentary
Whenever an invasive species over-reproduces, like pigeons in Chicago and bedbugs in American beds, they eventually experience population reduction. DIE (or DEI) positions experienced a 20% collapse last year as the woke agenda was exposed for what it is—a non biblical leftist artifact.
In 2023 organizations are cutting waste and few things are more wasteful than people who specialize in Zoom seminars where they string buzzwords like “impactful, white nationalism, diversity, justice, and best practices” into a monotonous 60 minute presentation. Fortunately, many of these individuals leave before people realize just how useless the position is. There are way better uses of God’s money than hiring someone to holler all day about the evils of white people.
WOKE—As a term, Woke peaked in 2020. In 2017, it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary and appeared as a category on Jeopardy. The following year, Essence magazine announced its list of ‘Woke 100 Women’. In 2020, Disney aired ‘Woke’:, a tedious series about a college activist. By 2023, wokeness has come to mean hard left extremism, and it has infiltrated various Adventist enclaves through BLM, DIE, and LGBTQ+. Most Adventists tend to see it as DUMB.
As evidenced by the pushback at Andrews, institutional wokeness is far from dead, although it’s been deemed externally unpopular and internally ineffective. DIE, like other forms of virtue signaling, made institutions seem as if they were about something more than the defining mission of Adventism. But such reputation laundering and virtue signaling becomes suspect to Adventist parents looking for a place to send their children to secondary school. Enrollment was dropping.
DIE won’t die off right away, but it is dying back. Like pigeons in New York City, it reproduced beyond the limits of its food source and now its proponents are looking for new jobs and fresh victims.
We support Andrews University’s efforts to realign the school with our biblical mission. Stay the course, brother John and others.
Biblical diversity is fine. Political diversity is an imposter. The Great Multitude of Revelation 7 is divine diversity—people from every corner and every tribe standing as one final family of God on the reflective glass of His grace.
Biblical revival, reformation, and repentance can help us get there.
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“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite’” ((Isaiah 57:15).
