MOVING TO FRONT FROM OCTOBER 15 (first posted October 13)--INTERESTING DISCUSSION CONTINUES IN THE COMMENTS
A philosopher in Canada called to my attention this development, which would seem to have a significant impact on academic freedom. As this philosopher wrote:
I'm not opposed to thoughtful projects on topics related to diversity in various ways, but I worry that a requirement like this for *all* proposals is going to drastically reduce (if not eliminate) the funds given to great projects that just happen to have nothing to do with diversity.
Lots of my colleagues in Canada are terrified to say anything publicly about this that even resembles mild criticism (myself included). I'm hoping you might draw some attention to this issue on your blog.
One of the strange things about this initiative is that Canadian law is not beholden to "diversity" the way American law is since Bakke. Why not just specify that a certain amount of SSHRC funding will go to certain minority groups, and leave it at that? Does anyone know what's behind this? Given the climate of fear that apparently obtains, anonymous posts are fine, but please include a real email address, that will not appear.
