An Act to Define and Assess Equity: Reisman

“An Act to Define and Assess Equity” would require Maine state agencies, public K-12 schools, and the University of Maine System to define and assess “equity” if they are promoting it in any policy area. It turns out that there is no definition of equity despite widespread equity advocacy. The hearings should be quite the show.

Across the nation, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) divas are polishing up their resumes. The FBI has ditched DEI and a lot of corporate America is having second thoughts. Here in blue/purple Maine, the action will move to Augusta, courtesy of House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor), lead sponsor of the sessions most important proposal on equity.

If my personal investigation is any sign of the reality in the halls of government, Faulkingham’s legislation is urgently needed to elucidate exactly what equity is — an important matter considering its the North Star of American progressivism.

Shockingly, a series of Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) requests have revealed that the following have no definition of equity: Maine’s 2020 Climate Action Plan/2024 update , the Governor’s Office of Policy, Innovation and the Future (GOPIF), the Departments of Environmental Protection, Health and Human Services, Education, and the University of Maine system. There are more to come, probably also including the Maine School of Law. All of these entities promote equity — or, at least, some political agenda that they call equity — and some do so quite aggressively

The Climate Action Plan makes a major commitment to equity, but there is no definition of equity as this FOAA response from Gov. Mill’s Deputy Legal Counsel Tim Feeley admits:

Hello Mr. Reisman:

This message is to respond to your FOAA request of January 7 submitted to the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. The 2024 Climate Action Plan does not include a definition of “equity.” References to associated assessment metrics can be found in the Climate Council’s enabling statute, 38 M.R.S. § 577-A(8)(E), and in the reports incorporated into the plan, which are available on the Climate Council’s webpage.

The “Equity Subcommittee” that Feeley cited published a 98-page report on equity, mentioning the term 359 times, but somehow the committee members never got around to establishing a definition of equity. This was done with the assistance of the University of Maine’s Mitchell Center for Sustainability. I would categorize developing assessment metrics for an undefined policy goal as policy malpractice, but that’s just me.

In 2023 The University of Maine also rebranded DEI as just Diversity and Inclusion. There is still plenty of equity at The Office for Diversity and Inclusion – Diversity and Inclusion, but no definition of Equity. In 2022 I sent the following request for a definition of equity to UMS Chancellor Malloy and UM/UMM President Joan Ferrini-Mundy:

Chancellor Malloy, President Ferrini-Mundy-

I am writing to you because you have committed UMM, UM and UMS to an aggressive effort to implement equity and social justice. To my knowledge you have not offered a definition of those terms, nor had one offered by the faculty or the Board of Trustees. My understanding of those terms, based on my disciplinary training in economics and public policy, the work of economics Nobel Laureate F.A. Hayek and my understanding of equal protection under the U.S. Constitution is not a positive one. 

Attached you will find links to Hayek’s work on “social justice” and a recent paper on UMS and critical social justice from the Maine Policy Institute, with which I’ve been affiliated since its inception, and my own understanding of equity and social justice, which I intend to present to the faculty, Board of Trustees, legislators, and the public.

As you probably know, I expect to retire in the next few years, and I recognize that this course of action may well imperil possible emeritus status. As I complete my 38th year at UMM, I realize that I am unwilling to simply sit silently as we travel down a path that I believe is profoundly at odds with freedom, equal protection, and non-discrimination.

I believe as UMS leaders promoting equity and social justice you should offer definitions and attempt to explain why my understanding is incorrect. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Regards,

Jon Reisman

Hayek: Social Justice Demands the Unequal Treatment of Individuals – Foundation for Economic Education (fee.org)

CSJ-Report-Final-compressed.pdf (mainepolicy.org)

Here are the definitions I proposed:

Equity

Equity means equal outcomes. If a racial group, gender, or sexual preference makes up x percent of the population, they must make up x percent of any profession or group. Any representation less than x percent is prima facie evidence of systemic racism, sexism, and/or gender discrimination, unless the group is an oppressor class such as white heterosexual males. Representation over x percent is prima facie evidence that the group is an oppressor class.

Social Justice

Social Justice means the government transfers and redistributes income, wealth, and power from oppressor classes to oppressed classes. Oppressed classes have been the victims of systemic racism, sexism and/or gender discrimination as proven by inequity and unequal outcomes. Oppressor classes include heterosexual white males and by some lights, Jews and Asian- Americans.

I never got a response from either. 

Where are we to find a definition for equity? In fact, no government institution in Maine was able to supply me with a definition of equity. The closest I came was some documents that define equity as the removal of inequities(!). It would seem like a trivial matter, but it’s a word, idea, and ideology that has come to dominate every single policy and public institution. Shouldn’t we at least have a common working understanding of what is meant by a concept that is so important?

Pursuing a policy goal without defining it is policy malpractice.  Without a definition there is no way to assess success or failure, only an endless series of taxpayer-funded programs marching under the banner of equity.

Leader Faulkingham’s bill is not out of the Revisor’s Office yet. I have been trying not to engage in schadenfreude, but it’s a losing battle. I cannot wait to hear from Democratic critics of the bill why requiring a definition of equity is a fascist, racist, white supremacist threat to democracy. But requiring the definition and assessment of equity is just not fair. I’d argue that voting in favor of this common sense bill is the only equitable thing lawmakers can do.