The Dean of the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University is reconsidering a policy that would have required a minimum number of female guests at all panelists events on campus following criticism from both the media and faculty.
An article published in the George Washington University student newspaper claims that backlash over a proposed policy that would have required a minimum number of female speakers at panel events has caused administrators to reconsider. The student newspaper specifically cites reporting by Breitbart News as a catalyst for some of the backlash against the policy, which would have penalized all students by canceling events that did not meet the gender quota.
“For any panel, symposium, or multi-speaker event (3 or more speakers) held at the Elliott School, there should be no single-gender discussion panels,” Elliott School Dean Reuben Brigety wrote in an email that described the policy.
The backlash came not only from media but from George Washington University professors, such as noted legal scholar Jonathan Turley. He argued that the policy subordinates the practice of free intellectual pursuit in favor of social justice politics.
“The policy raises serious questions of academic freedom and the subordination of intellectual content in favor of the diversity policies.” George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley wrote.
“We do not intend to undermine the academic freedom of the Elliott School’s faculty, but to inculcate a sense of urgency about aligning our actions with our stated values around diversity and inclusion,” Brigety added in his email.
John Banzhaf, a public interest law professor at George Washington, blasted the policy, calling it a “draconian attempt to prohibit ‘sausage fests’” on Elliott School panels.
“I’m not an expert in international relations but I hadn’t been aware that there was a great gap in the approach of male faculty members and female faculty members. He singled out one criteria which doesn’t seem to be directly relevant to the kind of issues which would come up at a panel on international affairs,” Banzhaf said in an interview, referring to Brigety.
“That’s a much fairer way of doing it, a much more reasonable way, and much more likely to guarantee you and other students that they’re going to get the benefit of a variety of viewpoints based on criteria other than their genitals,” he added.
Mark Langevin, the director of the Brazil Initiative at the Elliot School, admires the new policy and claims that the George Washington community should applaud similar efforts to increase diversity.
“I think we should applaud policies like this and work hard to incorporate them into our work,” he said. “It’s something that the students really appreciate and faculty like myself need to work as hard as we can to meet that standard.”
Jonathan Chaves, a professor of Chinese at the Elliott School at George Washington University, said he was “outraged” by the new policy. He argues that the primary focus of a university should be on finding those with expertise, gender aside.
“It’s a total, obvious infringement on common sense to begin with and academic freedom. There’s only one standard that applies to an institution of higher education and that is who the best person is in the field. Period,” Chaves said.