The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen:

The city is grilling museums and cultural institutions about the racial and ethnic diversity of their entire staffs — and if they don’t answer, they’ll be cut off from taxpayer cash.

Nearly 1,000 organizations were asked to fill out a survey this summer detailing the race, gender and disability status of their employees and board members.

“As long as you complete the survey, you will be eligible to apply for funding from [the city] in fiscal year 2017,” institutions were told in a July 20 letter from Tom Finkelpearl, commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs. […]

In addition to providing the workforce information, the cultural groups had to answer a questionnaire with up to 48 questions — including “How does your organization engage with issues of diversity on a daily basis?” and “What forms of diversity do you think are important for strengthening the quality of work of your organization?”

Groups are also queried on whether there were barriers to increasing diversity among staff and board members, according to a copy of the survey obtained by The Post. […]

The city plans to hire a “diversity consultant” to coordinate activities coming after the survey. That has led to some worries that particular groups would be punished for not being diverse enough.

But the city says in the survey that it will not know individual ­responses, only the overall figures. The paperwork adds that ­responses will not affect future funding.

Yeah, and if you believe that last bit, I have this nice bridge in Brooklyn you can have for a song.

The Left finds individual merit, ambition and talent (and the independent spirit to pursue a life of one’s own choosing) anathema to its collectivist dogma. Groups need to be brought to heel to ensure their perpetuation in positions of power. The fastest way to that is to get institutions to accept “public money” and then use such acceptance to enforce any number of social justice goals.

Even when an institution goes out of its way not to accept government money, no matter how distance, Leftists will seek ways to punish.

HILLSDALE, MI – Hillsdale College is questioning its exemption from the recently released U.S. Department of Education’s “College Scorecard.” […]

In a story published in The Collegian, Hillsdale College’s student newspaper, Denise Horn, assistant press secretary for the USDE, is quoted saying that Hillsdale College was left off the list because it offers a majority of graduate certificates, not two- or four-year degrees.

In a press release, Hillsdale College says this is false, citing its issuance of four-year bachelor’s and master’s degrees and its non-issuance of certificates of any kind for academic credit.

Hillsdale College contends its exclusion from the scorecard is based on its refusal to accept federal funds and track and report the racial demographics of its students, the release said.

Only schools that participate in the Title IV federal financial aid program and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, which requires institutions to track and report racial demographics, were included in the scorecard, the release said.

Hillsdale College, founded in 1844 by abolitionist Free Will Baptists, is prohibited by charter from discrimination based on “nationality, color or sex.”

“Hillsdale College is proud of its heritage and has remained true to it, despite attempts by both federal and state bureaucrats for force it to count its students by race,” the release said.

Hillsdale College is consistently ranked as a top liberal arts college in independent studies done by U.S. News & World Report, Kiplinger and The Princeton Review.