Diversity in academia will be fucking dead after the pandemic.

If the wave of hiring freezes doesn’t do it, then inequality in publishing will do it. If that doesn’t do it then the academy’s retreat from diversity initiatives due to budgetary concerns will do it. (1/n)

If those things don’t do it, retreats to the good-old-boy network and “fit” to fill the precious few positions will do it. If that doesn’t do it, the shuttering of area studies programs and the elimination of “less profitable” fields will do it. (2/n)

If those things don’t do it then administrators’ cowardace in the face of right-wing faculty, trustees, and politicians tired of a “woke” professoriate will do it. If that doesn’t do it, then the ongoing death of shared governance will do it. (3/n)

To be clear, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone: all COVID-19 has done is intensify existing inequalities in higher-ed and provide an opportunity for folks to remake the academy in their image. The writing has long since been on the wall, folks just refused to read.