Boris,
The problem is not that the statement says everyone should be treated equally. The problem is that Virginia Tech would have required that all faculty members who wished to get tenure or promotions ACTIVELY WORK to eliminate “inequality, hierarchy, and privilege” based on the specific characteristics listed in that particular definition of “diversity.” Much of that active work is of necessity political. To argue otherwise would be to argue that, for example, Martin Luther King’s fight for racial equality was not political, when it certainly was. The question is not whether working to advance this definition of diversity is right or wrong. The question is whether Virginia Tech’s policies would have required that faculty actively promote certain political viewpoints, and it certainly did do that.
