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Undergraduate Admissions

Application Essays

Below are essay prompts for the 2024-2025 Common Application. First-time college students (future freshmen) will use the Common Application to  apply to Purdue .  

When applying to Purdue you should use the Common Application.

The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Purdue's own  Online Writing Lab  offers advice on  writing essays for college applications .

The Common Application Freshman Essay Prompts 

Required minimum-maximum word count: 250-650

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. 

Purdue Questions 

Respond in 250 words or fewer.

• How will opportunities at Purdue support your interests, both in and out of the classroom?
• Briefly discuss your reasons for pursuing the major you have selected.

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Argumentative Essays

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The Modes of Discourse—Exposition, Description, Narration, Argumentation (EDNA)—are common paper assignments you may encounter in your writing classes. Although these genres have been criticized by some composition scholars, the Purdue OWL recognizes the wide spread use of these approaches and students’ need to understand and produce them.

What is an argumentative essay?

The argumentative essay is a genre of writing that requires the student to investigate a topic; collect, generate, and evaluate evidence; and establish a position on the topic in a concise manner.

Please note : Some confusion may occur between the argumentative essay and the expository essay. These two genres are similar, but the argumentative essay differs from the expository essay in the amount of pre-writing (invention) and research involved. The argumentative essay is commonly assigned as a capstone or final project in first year writing or advanced composition courses and involves lengthy, detailed research. Expository essays involve less research and are shorter in length. Expository essays are often used for in-class writing exercises or tests, such as the GED or GRE.

Argumentative essay assignments generally call for extensive research of literature or previously published material. Argumentative assignments may also require empirical research where the student collects data through interviews, surveys, observations, or experiments. Detailed research allows the student to learn about the topic and to understand different points of view regarding the topic so that she/he may choose a position and support it with the evidence collected during research. Regardless of the amount or type of research involved, argumentative essays must establish a clear thesis and follow sound reasoning.

The structure of the argumentative essay is held together by the following.

• A clear, concise, and defined thesis statement that occurs in the first paragraph of the essay.

In the first paragraph of an argument essay, students should set the context by reviewing the topic in a general way. Next the author should explain why the topic is important ( exigence ) or why readers should care about the issue. Lastly, students should present the thesis statement. It is essential that this thesis statement be appropriately narrowed to follow the guidelines set forth in the assignment. If the student does not master this portion of the essay, it will be quite difficult to compose an effective or persuasive essay.

• Clear and logical transitions between the introduction, body, and conclusion.

Transitions are the mortar that holds the foundation of the essay together. Without logical progression of thought, the reader is unable to follow the essay’s argument, and the structure will collapse. Transitions should wrap up the idea from the previous section and introduce the idea that is to follow in the next section.

• Body paragraphs that include evidential support.

Each paragraph should be limited to the discussion of one general idea. This will allow for clarity and direction throughout the essay. In addition, such conciseness creates an ease of readability for one’s audience. It is important to note that each paragraph in the body of the essay must have some logical connection to the thesis statement in the opening paragraph. Some paragraphs will directly support the thesis statement with evidence collected during research. It is also important to explain how and why the evidence supports the thesis ( warrant ).

However, argumentative essays should also consider and explain differing points of view regarding the topic. Depending on the length of the assignment, students should dedicate one or two paragraphs of an argumentative essay to discussing conflicting opinions on the topic. Rather than explaining how these differing opinions are wrong outright, students should note how opinions that do not align with their thesis might not be well informed or how they might be out of date.

• Evidential support (whether factual, logical, statistical, or anecdotal).

The argumentative essay requires well-researched, accurate, detailed, and current information to support the thesis statement and consider other points of view. Some factual, logical, statistical, or anecdotal evidence should support the thesis. However, students must consider multiple points of view when collecting evidence. As noted in the paragraph above, a successful and well-rounded argumentative essay will also discuss opinions not aligning with the thesis. It is unethical to exclude evidence that may not support the thesis. It is not the student’s job to point out how other positions are wrong outright, but rather to explain how other positions may not be well informed or up to date on the topic.

• A conclusion that does not simply restate the thesis, but readdresses it in light of the evidence provided.

It is at this point of the essay that students may begin to struggle. This is the portion of the essay that will leave the most immediate impression on the mind of the reader. Therefore, it must be effective and logical. Do not introduce any new information into the conclusion; rather, synthesize the information presented in the body of the essay. Restate why the topic is important, review the main points, and review your thesis. You may also want to include a short discussion of more research that should be completed in light of your work.

A complete argument

Perhaps it is helpful to think of an essay in terms of a conversation or debate with a classmate. If I were to discuss the cause of World War II and its current effect on those who lived through the tumultuous time, there would be a beginning, middle, and end to the conversation. In fact, if I were to end the argument in the middle of my second point, questions would arise concerning the current effects on those who lived through the conflict. Therefore, the argumentative essay must be complete, and logically so, leaving no doubt as to its intent or argument.

The five-paragraph essay

A common method for writing an argumentative essay is the five-paragraph approach. This is, however, by no means the only formula for writing such essays. If it sounds straightforward, that is because it is; in fact, the method consists of (a) an introductory paragraph (b) three evidentiary body paragraphs that may include discussion of opposing views and (c) a conclusion.

Longer argumentative essays

Complex issues and detailed research call for complex and detailed essays. Argumentative essays discussing a number of research sources or empirical research will most certainly be longer than five paragraphs. Authors may have to discuss the context surrounding the topic, sources of information and their credibility, as well as a number of different opinions on the issue before concluding the essay. Many of these factors will be determined by the assignment.

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How to Write as a Graduate Student

The OWL Provides some helpful tips on writing as a graduate student. Here are some topics covered. The links below will take you to the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) website .

• Introduction to Graduate Writing
• Graduate Writing Topics
• Graduate Writing Genres
• Writing a Thesis/Dissertation

Creating an Annotated Bibliography

The OWL also provides guidance on creating an annotated bibliography, a common tool and assignment for graduate students.  Below are a few topics covered by the OWL.

• Annotated Bibliographies - Definitions & Format
• Annotated Bibliography Breakdown
• Annotated Bibliography Samples
• Writing a Literature Review

Just about every major research project involves a literature review, often these can be placed at the beginning of a paper or can be publishable in their own right. The OWL provides guidance for literature review writing.

Job Search Writing

Writing while on the job search takes various forms. The OWL provides useful tips for writing in this context.

• Preparing an Application
• Job Search Letters
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• Last Edited: Apr 5, 2024 9:55 AM
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Home > WRITINGLAB > WRITINGLABCM > 3

Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Creative Materials

Working with graduate student writers.

Purdue Writing Lab

Recommended Citation

Purdue Writing Lab, "Working with Graduate Student Writers" (2021). Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Creative Materials. Paper 3. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/writinglabcm/3

Date of this Version

graduate writing, graduate mentoring, writing centers, dissertation writing, faculty support

The purpose of this guide is to aid faculty across the university in supporting graduate students as writers. The guide offers information on the context of graduate student writing and on the development of graduate students as scholarly writers, addresses some common concerns about graduate student writing, and shares methods and activities for supporting writing development at the graduate level.

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3 Purdue University Essay Examples

Home of the Boilermakers, Purdue University was established in 1869 and is steeped in history and tradition. From the first 39 students to attend in 1874, to over 33,000 in attendance today, Purdue is matched in tradition only by innovation. Known for its world-class faculty, curricula, and facilities, Purdue attracts many future engineers.

As it is a selective university, you will need a strong application to stand out. A crucial aspect lies in your essays. To get some inspiration for your Purdue essays, we will be sharing three essays by real students who applied to Purdue in this post. We will also go over what they did well and where they could’ve improved. 

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Read our Purdue essay breakdown to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts. 

Essay Example #1

Prompt: Briefly discuss your reasons for pursuing the major you have selected (100 words)

To most Gen Z, life without computers and smartphones is like life without food: it’s impossible. However, I only started to appreciate the work behind the scenes (and screens) in the summer of 9th grade, when I created a small chatting program to exchange jokes with my sister in the next room. Through programming, I have found a clear and compelling way to reach the world beyond my fingertips. By majoring in computer science, I hope to build a solid foundation in AI, algorithms, UX design and more, with which I’ll help bring society a new generation of digital food.

What the Essay Did Well

This essay is short and sweet; every sentence is intentional and conveys a new idea clearly and concisely. Comparing their generation’s reliance on technology to “ life without food ” speaks volumes more than the three words it takes up. They simply explain what they did and why without any extraneous fluff or flowery language: “ I created a small chatting program to exchange jokes with my sister in the next room. ” Getting creative with your prose is great for a longer essay, but this is not the time or place, and this student understood that. They also get straight to the point when discussing what they hope to gain and achieve from a degree in computer science—another plus.

Despite the limited space, this student still manages to work in some of their personality. The analogy of smartphones being as crucial as food is a humorous example of hyperbole that helps humanize the student.  The phrase “ behind the scenes (and screens) ” is another way of them expressing their playful side while also adding a rhyme to make the essay more interesting. Including these little crumbs with humor, coupled with the knowledge they learned to program to share jokes, makes the student come across as a fun person admissions officers would want on their campus.

What Could Be Improved

Although the opening line about Gen Z is a chance for the student to inject some of their personality, in reality it is not the best use of space. As we said above, every word counts in an essay this short, and although the observation about Gen Z did contribute to the essay, it’s not as crucial to include as additional details about the student.

They could have kept the analogy to food, but instead of generalizing to all of Gen Z, this student should have made themselves the focus of the sentence. For example, they could say something like this: “ At this point my phone is a permanent appendage of my hand; life without it is like life without food. ” This sentence focuses the attention on the student right from the beginning, telling us about their phone addiction rather than everyone else’s.

Essay Example #2

How much duct tape would my boat need to stay afloat?

I will never forget my first Do-It-Yourself Project of building a boat with cardboard. While the outcome of the project was bitter-sweet as my boat sank, my passion for engineering surfaced. Subsequently, I voyaged across countless pursuits until I reached an epiphany while developing a customized voice assistant for an enterprise; I was fascinated by the multifaceted applicability of technology. Hence, I intend to pursue Computer Engineering because the skills from this major will enable me to pursue my widespread goals of lobbying for technological advancements in under-developed societies.

Starting the essay with a question is a great way to catch the reader’s attention in a short amount of space. Right off the bat, we are asking ourselves why are they using duct tape, what’s the boat for, how much duct tape do they need,  all of which get us engaged and excited for what is to come.

The student also does a nice job of incorporating sailing-related language with lines like “ my passion for engineering surfaced ” and “ I voyaged across countless pursuits. ” This is a creative way of linking the main points of their essay with their anecdote.

The student’s realizations are a bit underdeveloped. They don’t explain how they realized the “ multifaceted applicability of technology ” or why exactly they want to lobby “ for technological advancements in under-developed countries. ” They could’ve perhaps been better-served by eliminating the boat anecdote and beginning with the voice assistant story, which would allow them to explain their realization and goals. 

A common mistake students make with this prompt is that they think they have to include the very moment they got interested in the major. You certainly can use this technique, but it may not always be the best way to approach this essay, especially when there is such limited space. Instead of starting with the introduction, students should first focus on writing the reasons they like the major and what they hope to accomplish with it, and find a story or moment that flows with these points.

Essay Example #3

Prompt: How will opportunities at Purdue support your interests, both in and out of the classroom? (100 words)

The Computer Engineering course at Purdue has a dynamic combination of fundamental courses and enthralling electives such as ‘Engineering Environmental Sustainability’, allowing me to apply my engineering proficiency to resolve complex global issues such as technological disparity. Furthermore, by joining the Engineers Without Borders – Purdue organization, I will gain first-hand experience in tackling real-world humanitarian problems and push my intellectual ability to higher stakes. Having followed EWB- Purdue’s pioneering Bolivia project, I aspire to contribute in both the Technical and the Leadership team. Hence, Purdue is the best institution for me to grow as an enthusiastic humanitarian engineer. 

Right off the bat, the student is specifically noting courses the school offers that they are eager to take. This is great! They show that they’ve been following a specific organization within the school, and already have ideas as to how they could contribute. They really specified why they wanted to attend the school, and personalized the essay accordingly. 

This student also chose two opportunities at Purdue that seamlessly fit into their future career. They want to be a humanitarian engineer, so discussing a class about environmental sustainability and an organization that creates solutions to humanitarian issues around the world is a great way to demonstrate their affinity to their career throughout the essay. When they tell us their career aspirations at the very end of the essay, it makes perfect sense to the reader based on the 100 preceding words we just read.

The main issues in this essay come from minor grammatical mistakes that could confuse the reader. For example, the first sentence covers too much ground: The Computer Engineering course at Purdue has a dynamic combination of fundamental courses and enthralling electives such as ‘Engineering Environmental Sustainability’, allowing me to apply my engineering proficiency to resolve complex global issues such as technological disparity. Instead, the reader should separate these ideas into two sentences. In the first sentence, the student can explain the courses they are interested in, and the second can give reasons why and explain what the student’s career goals are. Overall, it very clearly addresses the prompt, shows the student has done their research, and shows their ambitions after graduation. It is very well done. 

Where to Get Your Purdue Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your Purdue essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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April 10, 2024

Survey tallies consumer attitudes toward lab-grown meat alternatives

In the latest Consumer Food Insights Report, Joseph Balagtas, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University and director of the Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability, gauged consumer perceptions of and willingness to try exotic and cultivated (or laboratory-grown) meats. (Purdue Agricultural Communications photo/Tom Campbell)

Conventional beef, chicken and pork products perceived more favorably

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Many consumers view conventional meats as both tastier and healthier than laboratory-grown alternatives, according to the March Consumer Food Insights Report.

The survey-based report out of Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability assesses food spending, consumer satisfaction and values, support of agricultural and food policies, and trust in information sources. Purdue experts conducted and evaluated the survey, which included 1,200 consumers across the U.S.

This month’s report explores consumer perceptions of and willingness to try exotic and cultivated meats. The report highlights differing responses to queries based on meat type: conventional (noncultivated) or cultivated. The researchers use the term “conventional” meat to describe meat that is sourced conventionally — bred and raised or hunted, slaughtered, and butchered. Cultivated meat is grown or cultivated in a laboratory from animal cells.

Focusing on familiar meats that Americans can find in any grocery store, such as beef and chicken, center researchers saw a big difference between the perceived taste and healthfulness of conventional versus cultivated versions of these meats. The conventional versions received a higher average rating in both aspects.

“We see similar results when evaluating consumers’ willingness to try conventional and cultivated meats in a restaurant setting,” said the report’s lead author, Joseph Balagtas , professor of agricultural economics at Purdue and center director. For common meats, such as beef, chicken and pork, the researchers found that about 90% or more of consumers are willing to try conventional or noncultivated meats.

“The proportion of consumers willing to try the cultivated versions of these meats is around 30 percentage points lower, though it is still a majority, about 60%,” Balagtas said. “Given the fact that cell-cultured meat is not widely available, these results reflect consumer distrust of the unknown when it comes to food, which is a barrier for any novel food trying to break into the market.”

ARE CONSUMERS WILLING TO TRY EXOTIC OR CULTIVATED MEATS?

Among consumers unwilling to try conventional chicken, cow and pig, however, around 46%, 26% and 22%, said they are willing to try cultivated versions of these meats, respectively. “This shows that there may be (a) market for cultivated meat among a sizable portion — albeit small number — of consumers who do not eat meat along with a majority of consumers who already are willing to try conventional versions of these meats,” Balagtas said. 

The questions about exotic and cultivated meats stemmed from a collaboration with Jacob Schmiess, a Purdue PhD student in agricultural economics, who co-authored this month’s report. The results showed that fewer consumers are willing to try exotic meats, though around 50% say they are willing to try professionally prepared octopus, shark and ostrich.

“Again, we see a willingness to try cultivated versions of these meats drop significantly,” Schmiess said. 

The Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability team broke down the results for these and other questions on the March survey by employment status. The researchers compared consumers of working age (ages 18-64) who are working and not, as well as seniors (ages 65-plus) who are working and not. The researchers combined the last 27 months of data (January 2022 to March 2024) for their analysis.

The team has been tracking a sustainable food purchasing (SFP) index every month since 2022, and quarterly since the start of 2024. The index is a self-reported measure of food purchasing designed to assess how well consumer shopping habits align with healthy diets from sustainable food systems based on components from the EAT-Lancet Commission .

The SFP index reveals that retirement-age consumers score higher overall than those of working age regardless of employment status. “This disparity is driven primarily by the differences in the ‘economic’ and ‘security’ sub-indicators, which measure consumers’ current ability or plans to buy a variety of nutritious and safe foods that fit their budgets,” Balagtas said. “Wealth tends to correlate with age, so finances may be less of a constraint for retirement-age individuals, resulting in higher scores.”

Consumers reported $190 in average weekly total food spending. This is 2.5% more than in March 2023 and 7.3% more than in March 2022. The consumer estimate of food inflation rose from 6.0% in February to 6.5% in March.

“Similarly, expected food inflation rose to 4%,” said Elijah Bryant, a survey research analyst at the center and co-author of the report. “We continue to see consumer inflation estimates diverge from the consumer price index measure of food inflation, which dropped to 2.2%.

“Recent media attention to food prices may be driving consumer pessimism about food inflation and future food costs, despite the CPI indicating that food inflation is on the decline,” Bryant said. “While prices do continue to rise, they are not quite rising at the high rate perceived by the average American.”

WHICH AMERICANS ARE HAVING TROUBLE BUYING FOOD FOR THEIR FAMILIES?

Retired consumers reported their household food spending as $168 per week in March, almost $40 less than younger working adults ($206 per week). “A substantially larger proportion of working-age adults share their households with more than two people,” Bryant said. “More mouths to feed mean more food must be bought to sustain all members of the household.”

Food security remained unchanged at 12.4% from February to March. “When aggregating all 27 months of data, we see that the food insecurity rate is much higher among working-age adults who are not currently employed (27%),” Bryant said.

People of retirement age are the most food secure, with only 3% of those who are 65-plus being food insecure. Participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) showed a similar difference, with around one-third of those who are not working but are of working age reporting that they or someone in their household received SNAP benefits in March.

“The increased use of SNAP benefits among this cohort since January 2022 might be the result of high food inflation in 2022. While annual food inflation has cooled substantially since 2022, it remains positive, which means prices continue to rise. Higher prices can strain the food budgets of those who are out of work or maybe are unable to work, which might be why we are seeing an increase in food assistance use among this group over time,” Bryant said.

In addition, survey results showed that consumer beliefs about food claims appear to vary more based on a respondent’s age rather than employment status, Bryant noted. “We see a smaller proportion of retirement-age individuals agreeing with statements about the healthfulness of plant-based milk over conventional dairy milk, or the taste of grass-fed beef over the taste of grain-fed beef relative to working-age adults,” he said.

The researchers further examined how trust in federal organizations and initiatives as information sources on healthy and sustainable foods has changed over time. “We observe an increase in the level of consumer trust in organizations such as the USDA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a government program with a mission to support healthy diets,” Bryant said.

“It will be interesting to see if this positive trend in trust continues or if consumer sentiment shifts as many Americans turn their attention to U.S. politics this year,” he added. 

The Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability is part of Purdue’s Next Moves in agriculture and food systems and uses innovative data analysis shared through user-friendly platforms to improve the food system. In addition to the Consumer Food Insights Report, the center offers a portfolio of online dashboards .

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives .

Writer: Steve Koppes

Media contact: Maureen Manier, [email protected]

Sources: Joseph Balagtas, [email protected] ; Elijah Bryant, [email protected] ; Jacob Schmiess, [email protected]

Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415;

Maureen Manier, Department Head, [email protected]

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NPR's 'obsession' with DEI, diversity 'tracking system' scrutinized following veteran editor's bombshell essay

T he bombshell essay penned by a veteran National Public Radio journalist puts a spotlight on what's been called NPR's "obsession" with the left-wing DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) ideology.

Uri Berliner, the senior business editor and a 25-year NPR veteran, went viral for exposing how liberal groupthink has captured the NPR newsroom and drew significant attention to diversity becoming the news outlet's so-called "North Star" following the death of George Floyd in 2020.

"It was an anguished time in the newsroom, personally and professionally so, for NPR staffers. Floyd’s murder, captured on video, changed both the conversation and the daily operations at NPR," Berliner described in a piece published in The Free Press.

NPR EDITOR REBUKES OUTLET'S OWN COVERAGE OF HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP, COVID LAB LEAK AND RUSSIAGATE

Berliner repeatedly cited then-NPR CEO John Lansing, who left the organization last fall after a four-year tenure. 

"When it comes to identifying and ending systemic racism, we can be agents of change," Lansing wrote to staff at the time. "Listening and deep reflection are necessary but not enough. They must be followed by constructive and meaningful steps forward. I will hold myself accountable for this."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

An article published by NPR in September 2020 declared DEI "is not a project: it is our work" with Lansing stating, "the leaders in public media — starting with me — must be aware of how we ourselves have benefitted from white privilege in our careers. We must understand the unconscious bias we bring to our work and interactions. And we must commit ourselves — body and soul — to profound changes in ourselves and our institutions."

CREDIBILITY CRISIS: NPR INSISTED COVID ORIGINATED NATURALLY BY DISMISSING LAB LEAK THEORY AS NONSENSE

According to Berliner, Lansing "declared" that diversity of NPR's staff and audience was "the overriding mission, the ‘North Star’ of the organization" and that race and identity had "became paramount in nearly every aspect of the workplace." Several affinity groups dedicated to various subsets of NPR staffers were also formed, including "MGIPOC (Marginalized Genders and Intersex People of Color mentorship program); Mi Gente (Latinx employees at NPR); NPR Noir (Black employees at NPR); Southwest Asians and North Africans at NPR; Ummah (for Muslim-identifying employees); Women, Gender-Expansive, and Transgender People in Technology Throughout Public Media; Khevre ( Jewish heritage and culture at NPR); and NPR Pride (LGBTQIA employees at NPR)."

NPR also began requiring its journalists to log the "race, gender, and ethnicity," among other traits, of their interviewees and sources in a "centralized tracking system" that monitored diversity. 

"I wouldn't have a problem with it if we were also looking at trying to figure out people's perspective, their viewpoint. I didn't love it, but I also think it was very limited. If we were going to do it, let's go all the way," Berliner told The Free Press founder Bari Weiss on her "Honestly" podcast. 

NPR HIT WITH MASSIVE LAYOFFS, CANCELS 4 PODCASTS

DePauw University journalism professor Jeffrey McCall told Fox News Digital that tracking sources based on their identity "artificially disrupts the process of sourcing and researching the news."

"A tracking system is certainly designed to chill the reporting process and alter the normal journalism instincts to go where the story can best be told," McCall argued. 

"The obsession at NPR on race and diversity post-George Floyd is a microcosm of the destructive impact of DEI," Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News Digital. "Rather than focusing on the accuracy of a source's information, the source's race, ethnicity, and other identities were tracked and used to measure reporting performance. The news and reporting mission were inevitably corrupted."

NPR editor-in-chief Edith Chapin sent a memo to staff Tuesday saying she and her leadership team colleagues "strongly disagree" with Berliner's essay and are "proud to stand behind the exceptional work" of their journalists.

"We believe that inclusion - among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage - is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world," Chapin wrote. "We track sources… so we can expand the diversity of perspectives in our reporting." 

While diversity of skin color took priority at NPR, Berliner told Weiss "diversity of outlook" had ultimately fallen by the wayside, pointing to his own stats that found while 87 of NPR's editors were registered Democrats, zero were Republican. 

Berliner also acknowledged the irony of NPR's diversity push, which resulted in 2023 with only 6% of its audience being Black and 7% being Hispanic, something he stressed "doesn’t come close to reflecting America" since NPR's audience is "overwhelmingly White and progressive, and clustered around coastal cities and college towns." 

NPR did not respond to requests for comment. 

Original article source: NPR's 'obsession' with DEI, diversity 'tracking system' scrutinized following veteran editor's bombshell essay

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The Morning

Abortion politics in 2024.

Four key points to help you make sense of the current debate.

By David Leonhardt

No American president has done as much to restrict abortion as Donald Trump. When he was running in 2016, he promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, and his three nominees helped do precisely that in the 2022 Dobbs decision. Twenty-one states have since enacted tight restrictions. Yesterday, Arizona’s highest court reinstated an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions.

These laws have proven to be unpopular. When abortion access has appeared on the ballot since 2022, it has consistently won, even in red states like Kansas, Kentucky and Montana. A Wall Street Journal poll last month found that abortion stood out from immigration, inflation and foreign wars as the only major issue on which most voters trusted President Biden more than Trump.

All of this helps explains why Trump has tried to reduce his vulnerability on the issue — and why the Biden campaign is already running advertisements about abortion. “Donald Trump did this,” reads the onscreen text at the end of an ad released this week. It focuses on a Texas woman who nearly died during a miscarriage after a hospital refused to treat her.

Trump released his own video this week, meant to serve as his defining statement on the issue. He said that states should be free to set their own laws, which is the post-Dobbs status quo. In so doing, he tried to distance himself from his past support for a federal ban.

This back-and-forth will be a theme of the 2024 campaign. Democrats will try to focus voters on abortion, while many Republicans will try to shift attention elsewhere. Today’s newsletter offers four key points to help you make sense of the debate.

The four points

1. The politics of abortion have changed.

Before Dobbs, polls suggested that the issue didn’t offer a big political advantage to either party. Most voters favored both significant access to abortion and significant restrictions, which put them to the left of Republican politicians and to the right of Democratic politicians.

But Dobbs — and the reality of statewide bans, as opposed to the mere prospect of them — altered public opinion. Gallup’s polls suggest that almost 10 percent of Americans on net switched from an anti-abortion position to a position favoring abortion access:

Americans’ attitudes on abortion

Do you think abortions should be:

Legal under any

circumstance

Legal only under

certain circumstances

Illegal in all

circumstances

2. Democrats still have a challenge: salience.

In the 2022 midterms, several high-profile Democratic candidates highlighted their Republican opponents’ role in restricting abortion access. Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Beto O’Rourke in Texas were among them. So was Nan Whaley, the Democratic candidate for governor in Ohio. “We think it is the issue,” Whaley said.

It wasn’t. These candidates all lost by substantial margins. Nationwide, not a single Republican governor or senator has lost a re-election bid since the Dobbs decision. In House elections, the decision may have played a decisive role in a small number of races.

How could this be? In today’s polarized atmosphere, most voters have already made up their minds. “There’s no one issue in this day and age that can be a silver bullet,” Danielle Deiseroth, executive director of Data for Progress, a left-leaning research firm, told me.

If anything, Democrats may have a harder time focusing attention on abortion in a presidential election, when a larger portion of the electorate doesn’t follow politics closely and prioritizes pocketbook issues. Some of these voters are Black and Hispanic working-class Americans who tend to care less about abortion policy than white voters, Rachel Cohen of Vox has written .

3. Trump’s has his own problem: suburban swing voters.

Democrats who tried to run on abortion in the 2022 midterms were trying to oust incumbent Republicans. Biden has an easier job this year: He’s trying to reassemble a winning coalition.

His 2020 coalition included many college graduates — and women — in metropolitan areas like Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta and Phoenix, who allowed him to win swing states. Abortion access is popular with these voters, Deiseroth notes, especially when framed in terms of freedom and government overreach.

A recent poll found that only about one in four independents blame Trump for recent abortion bans. Biden hopes to increase that share — and win back people who voted for him four years ago.

4. Trump hopes voters ignore the past.

Trump’s latest position on the issue is a middle ground for Republicans, in favor of Dobbs but implicitly against a new federal law restricting abortion. This stance is meant to suggest that voting for him won’t lead to new laws forbidding abortion. That may be true (if he were to veto a Republican-passed federal ban, which he didn’t promise in his video). Yet it also ignores some important facts.

As president again, Trump could appoint dozens more federal judges who would interpret existing laws to reduce access. And Trump is effectively asking voters to ignore his first-term record. He remains arguably the most important opponent of abortion access in American history.

Biden condemned the Arizona abortion decision as “cruel” and “extreme.”

“I’m pretty pro-life, but I think it should be the woman’s choice”: Read the mixed responses of Arizonans to the ruling.

Trump’s abortion stance is designed to look moderate , Times Opinion’s Jamelle Bouie writes.

Trump’s contempt for weakness is toxic to the pro-life movement , which promises protections to the most vulnerable, Times Opinion’s Ross Douthat writes.

THE LATEST NEWS

The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, is on a state visit to Washington. The U.S. and Japan are expected to further integrate their militaries to counter China.

David Cameron, the British foreign secretary and former prime minister, met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago .

A bipartisan group of lawmakers plans to introduce a bill in Congress today that would limit troops’ exposure to blasts from weapons that can cause brain injuries.

Congress passed legislation to get food to children from low-income homes over the summer break. Nearly half of Republican-led states are yet to join the program.

More on Politics

An appeals court judge rejected another attempt by Trump to delay his criminal case in Manhattan. The trial is set to start Monday.

A judge ordered Trump’s lawyers to redact the name of witnesses from a public filing in the classified documents case. The special counsel, Jack Smith, expressed concern for their safety .

A Florida woman who stole the diary of Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter, and helped sell it to a right-wing group was sentenced to a month in prison .

The U.S. is now almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, a Pew report says. More voters have shifted toward the Republican Party.

“A reality distortion bubble”: America isn’t as divided as many people think, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write for Axios .

Israel-Hamas War

Iran is smuggling weapons to Palestinians in the West Bank to stoke unrest, according to Iranian, Israeli and U.S. officials.

Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed that Israel would invade the crowded city of Rafah in southern Gaza. “No force in the world will stop us,” he said in a speech to military recruits.

At the top U.N. court, Germany rejected an accusation from Nicaragua that it had aided genocide by shipping arms to Israel. It said most of the equipment was nonlethal.

The U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, told a Senate committee that the Pentagon had no evidence that Israel was carrying out a genocide in Gaza.

Turkey said it would limit exports to Israel until there’s a cease-fire in Gaza. Israel threatened to retaliate.

England’s health service restricted medical gender transition for minors after a four-year review cast doubt on the treatment’s benefits. Several other European countries have similar rules.

Europe’s top human rights court ruled that Switzerland violated its citizens’ rights by not doing enough to stop climate change .

Ireland is now led by its youngest ever prime minister: the 37-year-old Simon Harris .

Ukraine’s military has turned to drones from China after models sent by Silicon Valley start-ups failed in combat, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Other Big Stories

The parents of a teenager who shot to death four fellow students at a Michigan high school each received 10 to 15 years in prison .

The total solar eclipse delayed some Islamic communities’ declaration of Eid al-Fitr , the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan.

The E.P.A. will require utilities to remove “forever chemicals” from tap water. The chemicals identified are linked to cancer.

Benjamin Netanyahu must step down and leave Israel’s war in Gaza to someone who can win it, Bret Stephens writes.

The U.S. economy has been far more successful at recovering from the Covid shock than from the 2008 financial crisis, Paul Krugman argues.

Here are columns by Thomas Friedman on an exit strategy for Israel in Gaza and Thomas Edsall on Trump and the politics of intimidation .

MORNING READS

Passion projects: A lab in France is famous for its medical discoveries. Some of its staff are also excelling in another field: music .

Cure-all? People claim that apple cider vinegar can help you lose weight and clear acne. The science is more nuanced .

Guns, machetes and food poisoning: Read about what one man encountered when he ran the length of Africa .

Eclipse: Internet traffic dropped by 40 percent or more in the path of totality.

Space: Rising temperatures make it harder for researchers to collect meteorites in Antarctica.

Lives Lived: Peter Higgs predicted the existence of a new particle, sparking a half-century search that culminated with a Nobel Prize. The particle — the Higgs boson — was named after him. Higgs died at 94 .

College basketball: The men’s national title game between UConn and Purdue averaged 14.8 million viewers , four million fewer than the women’s game.

Stepping down: The Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer, who holds the record for most wins in college basketball, announced her retirement .

M.L.B.: The Baltimore Orioles will promote Jackson Holliday , considered the best prospect in baseball, to the major leagues.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Dr. Jane’s Dream: Next year, sometime around World Chimpanzee Day — July 14 — “Dr. Jane’s Dream” will open its doors. The cultural complex, between Mount Kilimanjaro and Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, will celebrate the English primatologist Jane Goodall, who turned 90 last week.

Read more about it, and about Goodall’s career .

More on culture

Donna Dennis is a trailblazer of installation art who has long been overlooked. Some of her work is being exhibited at O’Flaherty’s in Manhattan.

Conan O’Brien returned to “The Tonight Show” for the first time in 14 years.

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Bake budget-friendly cheesy chicken and mushroom pasta .

Exercise even when you’re experiencing allergies .

Buy a robot vacuum (they can work).

Find a good raincoat for spring showers.

Drink from an insulated tumbler .

Download these apps before visiting a national park.

Here is today’s Spelling Bee . Yesterday’s pangram was hangable .

And here are today’s Mini Crossword , Wordle , Sudoku , Connections and Strands .

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.— David

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox . Reach our team at [email protected] .

David Leonhardt runs The Morning , The Times’s flagship daily newsletter. Since joining The Times in 1999, he has been an economics columnist, opinion columnist, head of the Washington bureau and founding editor of the Upshot section, among other roles. More about David Leonhardt