Report: 'DEI' in Science Publications Has Surged by More Than 4,000 Percent

Has science been overrun by ideology? Not necessarily. A new report measures the degree to which “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” has increased its penetration of a realm once untouched by such things.

For those who believe science should remain purely a science — and also who consider any number under 5,000 to be low — the data is encouraging.

Released last month, an “ideological intensification” study by the National Association of Scholars “documents and quantifies the growing prevalence of DEI-associated language in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in the United States.” Per the NAS, between 2010 and 2021, DEI in education rose by 2000+ percent:

Our findings show that DEI-related language has increased significantly in all STEM sectors over the last decade, and exponentially so within the last few years. DEI indicators linked with STEM have risen 2,600 percent compared to a decade ago on university websites, with similar trends observed in social media content.

The government’s trying to help:

This increase has been catalyzed, in part, by significant increases in government spending. The two principal funders of scientific research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), increased DEI-related research spending by roughly 300 percent in one year alone (2020–2021).

And publications are positively doing their part:

This increase is also visible in scientific publications, with DEI-related language rising up to 4,200 percent between 2010 and 2021.

We’ve seen evidence of a general injection in headlines:

College Eyes Teaching Math and Science Through the Prism of Colonialism and White Supremacy

Medical Journal Apologizes for Its Empowering Call to ‘Bodies With Vaginas’

To Root Out Racism, Elite High School for Science and Technology Ends Merit-Based Admissions

Professor Claims There Are Two Sexes, All but One of Her Graduate Students Walk Out

Harvard Professor Insists There Are Two Sexes, Colleague Is ‘Appalled’

Professor Gets Kicked out of Neuroscience Group After Suggesting There Are Two Sexes

Back to the report, NAS credits one particular social element for STEM’s DEI surge.

From a December 7th press release:

The study finds that college and university websites incorporating DEI and STEM terms were 26 times more frequent in 2021 than they were in 2010. NSF funding for so-called “antiracist” themes more than tripled from 2020 to 2021. Similar trends are visible among the scientific literature. The study notes that much of this increase was likely triggered by the Black Lives Matter movement, as evidenced by the rapid spike in incidence in the summer of 2020.

Academia has been inspired by that year in multiple ways. At the University of Florida, for instance, faculty formed a 2020 alliance dedicated to the mere “survival” of “Black folx” — in light of “countless murders of Black people at the hands of white supremacy.”

If extinction looms, it seems sensible its prevention would take precedent over science.

Will America’s STEM revolution lead us to better days? Either way, one thing’s for sure: not everyone’s doing it…