Hacking DEI with Complexity and Nuance

In 2022 Counterweight, the organization that Helen Pluckrose founded and that was absorbed into the Institute for Liberal Values had a virtual conference on Alternatives to Diversity and Inclusion. Starting in 2025, we will be rolling out one talk a month that was presented at the conference. We sit down with the original presenters throughout 2025 to see what has changed since 2022. With Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives seemingly on the chopping block, we are curious to hear what our original participants are witnessing and experiencing on the ground. Is DEI really dead or just in remission? Are there healthy alternatives to DEI that we should consider, or do we throw the baby out with the bathwater and wipe our hands clean? What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments.

This month Jennifer Richmond interviews Lyell Asher.  In the update to his original talk on Liberal Approaches to Diversity and Inclusion, where he gave us suggestions on how ways to “hack” DEI, we explore what has changed since 2022. His methods of introducing complexity and nuance into DEI conversations remains a viable “hack” for DEI, but we note that the fervor for DEI training has subsided or maybe gone underground. However, what has not changed much is the rise of the “bureaucratic class” in academia, responsible for implementing ideological pedagogy that maligns the pursuit of knowledge.

Podcast Notes:

How Ed Schools Became a Menace to Higher Education, Lyell Asher in Quillette https://quillette.com/2019/03/06/how-ed-schools-became-a-menace-to-higher-education/

Look Who’s Talking About Equity, Lyell Asher in Quillette https://quillette.com/2020/08/12/look-whos-talking-about-educational-equity/

Understanding Ed School Ideology and Dysfunction | Lyell Asher, Hold my Drink Podcast (now Dissidents Podcast)

Why Knowledge Matters: Rescuing Our Children from Failed Educational Theories, E.D. Hirsch, https://www.amazon.com/Why-Knowledge-Matters-Rescuing-Educational-ebook/dp/B07MTP1Q7Y/

The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them, E.D. Hirsch https://www.amazon.com/Schools-We-Need-Dont-Have-ebook/dp/B0036S4DX8/

How The Other Half Learns: Equality, Excellence, and the Battle Over School Choice, Robert Pondiscio https://www.amazon.com/How-Other-Half-Learns-Excellence-ebook/dp/B07PH9J87P/

Undoctrinate: How Politicized Classrooms Harm Kids and Ruin Our Schools―and What We Can Do About It, Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder https://www.amazon.com/Undoctrinate-Politicized-Classrooms-Schools_and-About/dp/1642939129

Episode 47: Undoctrinating the Classroom | Bonnie Snyder, Hold my Drink Podcast (now Dissidents Podcast

The Longing for Total Revolution: Philosophic Sources of Social Discontent from Rousseau to Marx and Nietzsche, Bernard Yack https://www.amazon.com/Longing-Total-Revolution-Philosophic-Discontent-ebook/dp/B0CVPV7QHS/

Why Colleges are Becoming Cults, Lyell Asher on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hybqg81n-M

The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth, Orlando Patterson https://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Matrix-Understanding-Black-Youth/dp/0674728750/

Soft White Underbelly, YouTube Channel