For nearly a decade, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), has worked to grow its Hispanic undergraduate population. As part of that effort, the university launched the "Latinx Cluster Hire Initiative," a race-based plan to recruit 14 faculty members "across a set of diverse candidates including intersecting identities," according to a proposal obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The May 2021 proposal, crafted by a UCSD committee, didn't explicitly say it wanted to hire Latino faculty. But it lamented that the university's Latin American Studies department was "predominantly white." The proposal details a "stagnant progress" of "diversifying the faculty at UC San Diego" and a faculty-to-student ratio for Latinos that "lags far behind their White counterparts."
The committee also noted that it was looking for candidates "whose research and pedagogical [sic] focus on issues affecting and of interest to Chicanx/Latinx students." It describes the hiring initiative as part of the university’s efforts to strengthen its "clear and continuous commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion."
The hiring initiative launched in June 2021, at the height of the nation's short-lived racial reckoning in the wake of George Floyd's death. If UCSD successfully expanded its Hispanic undergraduate population, it would become eligible for federal grants through the Department of Education. But with the Trump administration targeting universities that push discriminatory practices, UCSD's federal funding may be in jeopardy because of those very same race-based efforts.
So far, UCSD has hired 11 employees, all from minority groups, through the Latinx Cluster Hire Initiative. Among them is an assistant professor whose research interests include "Indigenous responses to colonialism and evangelization during the early colonial period" and an associate professor who was the founding artistic director of an "activist dance theater."
Those backgrounds seem to fall in line with UCSD’s intentions. The May 2021 proposal said it expected the Latinx Cluster Hire Initiative to result in new courses such as "LatCrit Theory in Higher Education" and "Decolonizing Sociology."
That proposal, as well as a 2023 report on the initiative, was obtained by the National Association of Scholars, which provided them to the Free Beacon. The group also pointed to another successful UCSD program that welcomed 13 black faculty members to "serve as connection points between the experiences and outcomes of Black and African American people and issues in science, technology, engineering and health."
"‘Black’ and ‘Latinx’ hiring initiatives violate Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibition of race, color, or national origin-based discrimination in hiring, in addition to the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment and recent Executive Orders," National Association of Scholars research fellow Louis Galarowicz told the Free Beacon. "Perhaps more worrying than the civil rights issue, the design of the program guarantees the selection of activist-scholars from ideologically monocultural disciplines."
UCSD’s race-based hiring initiative was part of its strategy to expand its Latino undergraduate population to 25 percent, which would make it eligible for a U.S. Department of Education designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. That would open up federal grants for the university to "create a more welcoming and inclusive campus culture" that reflects "California's diversity and dynamic cultural heritage," according to a UCSD webpage. That webpage also repeatedly describes the targeted population as "Latinx," a term that only 3 percent of Hispanics use, a Pew Research Center survey found in 2020.
It’s unclear, however, whether the Department of Education will continue the Hispanic-Serving Institution program under President Donald Trump. A webpage for the federal program was removed soon after he took office. Trump also signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at dismantling the Department of Education.
UCSD began efforts to grow its Latino student and faculty populations in 2016 when it formed a task force to develop strategies to become a Hispanic-Serving Institution. The University of California system provided its San Diego campus with funding through its Advancing Faculty Diversity (AFD) program, which claims to have "contributed to the recruitment of talented scholars from a broad cross-section of society, enhanced faculty commitment to enhancing UC's mission and promote an equitable academic culture for all."
"Programs like AFD discriminate on the basis of group identity as well as ideology" and "have worked to eliminate heterodoxy for generations, raising serious questions about the feasibility of one-off university reforms," Galarowicz said.
The UCSD committee pushed an array of justifications for the Latinx Cluster Hire Initiative and requested that the university invest $500,000 into the project. It argued in its 2021 proposal that "underrepresentation of Latinx faculty across campus is clear," but hiring 14 faculty focused on "issues affecting and of interest to Chicanx/Latinx students" would "contribute to a campus infrastructure dedicated to its diverse student body through asset-based, anti-racist, and student-centered approaches to pedagogy and engagement."
"Faculty who can explain the implicit cultural biases [students] are experiencing and support them through their years at UCSD are crucial for student recruitment and retention," the proposal said. "Students want to learn about their identities in an academic setting and they want to learn from people who represent and validate who they are."
"Latinx faculty and faculty of color say yes more often to mentorship opportunities for undergraduate students," the proposal also argued.
The committee noted that the cluster hire would allow additional course offerings in areas such as "climate change, environmental justice, race and racism in Latin America, urban geographies of inequality, sexuality and feminism, border and migration, and cultural ethnography."
The UCSD committee suggested assigning "Faculty Equity Advisors" to "oversee the recruitment process to ensure transparency and diversity in the pool of candidates." Anyone hired through the cluster hire would be invited to attend the "faculty of color" reception and other welcome events, according to the proposal.
The proposal drew endorsements from top administration officials, including the executive vice chancellor and four deans. In June 2021, the month after the proposal was submitted, the president approved funding, and the Latinx Cluster Hire Initiative was underway.
Two years later, the UCSD committee added to its justifications for the plan. It wrote in a November 2023 report that the recruiting effort would "advance the project of social equity through creative linkages" by offering a variety of subjects including ethnic studies, "critical geography," and environmental social justice.
The university announced in fall 2024 that its undergraduate Latino population hit the 25 percent mark, meaning it would be eligible to apply for the Hispanic-Serving Institution designation in 2027—if the Department of Education program still exists.
In October, the Biden-Harris administration boasted that it had sent $16 billion to Hispanic-Serving Institutions across the nation, including nearly $6.4 billion to California institutions. Former president Joe Biden also signed an executive order directing the Department of Education to steer increased funding to Hispanic-Serving Institutions.
Trump rescinded that order on his first day in office. His Department of Education has consistently targeted race-based and DEI programs. Earlier this month for example, the department launched Title VI investigations into 51 schools it argued had used "racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities."
On Wednesday, meanwhile, the University of California announced it had ended its years-long practice of requiring DEI statements in faculty hiring.
Race-based hiring initiatives have taken root at other public universities across the country as well. The University of Illinois Chicago’s Department of Industrial Engineering, for instance, in 2022 pledged that 50 percent of its faculty hires would be women or minorities, the Free Beacon reported. A former professor sued the university in response, alleging that he was fired for both raising concerns about the programs and as a form of race discrimination.
UCSD did not respond to a request for comment.