Campus Reform Reports: Texas Tech University has officially removed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) statements from faculty hiring requirements.

The Department of Biological Science at Texas Tech issued a motion in January to “require and strongly weight a diversity statement from all candidates” for faculty positions, as reported by the National Association of Scholars (NAS).

For example, treating all students equally in the classroom or not clearly articulating the differences “between D, E, and I” were reasons to deny a faculty application regardless of other potential merits, according to documents obtained by the NAS.

The university issued an official response to this development on Tuesday stating that they “immediately withdrew this practice and initiated a review of the hiring procedures.” On Wednesday evening, the statement was removed from the website.