Diversity Statement Requests Decline in Higher Ed Hiring

Use of diversity statements in university hiring is on the decline, according to a new report from Heterodox Academy.

The report, released Tuesday, is based on an analysis of more than 16,500 job advertisements collected between August and December of 2025. It found that requests for applicants to address diversity, equity and inclusion in their applications for full-time faculty jobs fell from roughly 25 percent to about 11 percent between 2024 and 2025. At the same time, about 37 percent of faculty job ads noted that a commitment to DEI would be valued, without requiring a diversity statement.

The prevalence of diversity statements also varied by region, institution type and job type in 2025. Requests to address diversity were more common in the Northeast and on the West Coast, especially compared to states with anti-DEI legislation. They also appeared at higher rates in job ads for humanities and social science roles compared to STEM roles. Full-time faculty job ads were much more likely to request that applicants address diversity, while these requests were seldom made of people applying for adjunct roles.

Private institutions asked applicants to address diversity more often than public institutions, though such requests at both institution types dropped from 2024 to 2025, from 31.8 percent to 14.5 percent at privates and from 22.1 percent to 9.6 percent at publics. Community colleges were the only type of institution in the Carnegie classifications at which requests for diversity statements rose, from 4.8 percent in 2024 to 8.3 percent in 2025.

The report also found that of the faculty job ads that required applicants to address diversity, 13 percent also mentioned “viewpoint diversity” or similar concepts, down from 18 percent in 2024. That suggests a continued focus on “demographic diversity rather than other dimensions of diversity, such as intellectual or ideological diversity,” the report said.