EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION
An education watchdog group has good reasons to be concerned that diversity, equity, and inclusion practices are still deeply embedded at Ohio State University – one being its faculty.
A new Manhattan Institute investigation uncovered a “massive personnel building project” at Ohio State, launched in 2021, that “stacked the faculty with scholar-activists”
Among Ohio State’s diversity hires was Maya Cruz.
When considering her for the position, a faculty hiring committee mentioned that some of her most notable research included a paper about NASA’s Mars rovers being “colonial laboratories” and “global racial capitalism,” according to the investigation.
Ohio State hired Cruz to be a professor in its Department of Comparative Studies.
For anyone who doesn’t know (I didn’t), comparative studies “addresses processes of cultural interaction, with particular attention to the dynamics of knowledge, power, authority, and cultural difference,” according to the department website.
Cruz was just one example of the DEI hiring initiative. Other notable examples from open records obtained by the Manhattan Institute include:
- A job ad for an archaeologist that emphasized “decolonization, feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and/or Indigenous ontologies.”
- A philosophy department job opening for a professor of “philosophy of race” to explore the “metaphysics of race” and “epistemological significance of race or racism.”
- A faculty hiring committee noting of interest one candidate’s work on “how fatphobia and ableism are institutionalized in public infrastructure through race science, gender oppression, and legacies of colonialism.”
Manhattan Institute senior fellow John Sailer, the author of the report, wrote:
When delivering the records to me, Ohio State spokesman Benjamin Johnson pointed out that the university had eliminated [its] diversity officer position. He said that the university’s hiring policies have been modified to “align with Ohio Senate Bill 1, which took effect in June 2025 and includes broad prohibitions on DEI.”
However, Salier noted that these hiring decisions will continue to have an impact on the university’s operations – potentially for decades.
His report comes on the heels of a letter from watchdog Defending Education to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, calling for an investigation into the public institution’s DEI practices.
“Our letter showed that the Ohio State student registration portal still lists one course in ‘Race, Ethnicity & Gender Diversity’ as required as a Foundation in General Education,” spokesperson Reagan Dugan told The College Fix in a recent interview. “We believe this DEI requirement in General Education clearly violates this prohibition.”
It makes sense that a DEI-focused faculty would continue to promote such views, whether openly as the course appears to do or more surreptitiously. That’s why they were hired, according to the documents that Salier uncovered.
It’s also a reminder that a single anti-DEI law will not solve the problem. Only by remaining vigilant and intentional in their efforts will higher education reformers be able to restore these institutions to places dedicated to the pursuit of truth, not ideology.
MORE: Education watchdog urges Ohio AG to probe OSU over mandatory DEI course
