Under pressure from Trump, UC abandons its ‘diversity statement’ requirement for faculty

By Dan Walters | CALmatters It’s likely that most Californians have never heard of the Levering Act, passed by the California Legislature in 1950, but it symbolized the state’s political orientation in the post-World War II era. As the Cold War flared, anti-communist furor was sweeping the nation, most dramatically in Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy’s crusade to weed out what he said were sympathizers with and agents for the Soviet Union that had infiltrated the federal government and other institutions. Named for the state legislator who carried it, Harold Levering, the law required all state employees to take a loyalty oath that disavowed left-wing political beliefs and was aimed specifically at University of California faculty members.  In fact, 31 tenured UC professors refused to sign the required loyalty oaths and were fired. By and by, the law was challenged in court as an unconstitutional abridgement of public employees’ rights — which, of course it was. The California State Teachers Association condemned it, rightfully, as “a political test for employment.” For many years afterward, the UC Board of Regents declared that “no political test shall ever be considered in the appointment and promotion of any faculty member or employee.” However, in...