Where is the moral courage in the decision to eliminate DEI at UMich?; The Michigan Daily, April 10, 2025

  Kevin Cokley, Ph.D., is the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Psychology and Associate Chair for Diversity Initiatives at the University of Michigan, The Michigan Daily; Where is the moral courage in the decision to eliminate DEI at UMich?

"There appears to have been no resistance by the administration to the factually inaccurate criticisms of DEI by the regents, resulting in a pivot on the University’s supposed core values. Perhaps my understanding of values differs from the administration’s. Values are what people or institutions believe are fundamentally right or wrong and what are most important in life. Institutional core values are not supposed to be easily changeable, and if University leadership is so quick to abandon its core values of DEI, one may wonder if they were ever really core values to begin with.

I’m reminded of the proverb, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” This proverb means that in difficult times, individuals with strong character are even more determined to succeed. As the University and higher education at large are being threatened with, what are likely, unconstitutional executive orders, it is more important than ever to have leaders who defend the University’s core values rather than acquiesce...

Martin Luther King Jr. once addressed the moral courage that one needs to stand up for what is right. He said, “Cowardice asks the question — is it safe? Expediency asks the question — is it politic? Vanity asks the question — is it popular? But conscience asks the question — is it right? There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.”"

Not Leadership Material? Good. The World Needs Followers.; New York Times, March 24, 2017

Susan Cain, New York Times; Not Leadership Material? Good. The World Needs Followers.

"What if we said to college applicants that the qualities we’re looking for are not leadership skills, but excellence, passion and a desire to contribute beyond the self? This framework would encompass exceptional team captains and class presidents. But it wouldn’t make leadership the be-all and end-all.

What if we said to our would-be leaders, “Take this role only if you care desperately about the issue at hand”?

And what if we were honest with ourselves about what we value? If we’re looking for the students and citizens most likely to attain wealth and power, let’s admit it. Then we can have a frank debate about whether that is a good idea.

But if instead we seek a society of caring, creative and committed people, and leaders who feel called to service rather than to stature, then we need to do a better job of making that clear."