Thursday, November 21, 2024
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Which Schools Promised to Do Away with DEI but Haven’t?



Several states in recent years enacted policies that would have done away with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) on college campuses, but college administrators still found ways to get around it. 

This is according to a new report that the Rhode Island-based Legal Insurrection Foundation (LIF) published this month.

“Out of the 26 Universities we have evaluated in states where DEI laws have been passed, 10 claim to have eliminated their DEI offices (and related activities) and have replaced them with new offices that have similar programming and/or personnel,” according to the report.

The 10 universities that have enacted these changes include: 

• The University of Alabama

• Florida State University

• The University of Iowa

• University of Northern Iowa

• Oklahoma State University

• South Dakota State University

• The University of South Dakota

• The University of Tennessee (System-wide)

• The University of Utah

• Utah Valley University. 

New offices to replace the former DEI offices include the “Office of Access and Engagement” and the “Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity.”

“A common sentiment throughout universities is the statement of a University of Texas Tyler employee who said, ‘No, you can still do it. You just have to be creative’ regarding DEI practices at the school,” according to one passage from the LIF report. 

“This attitude fuels concerns that state legislation will not stop universities from practicing DEI, but will drive the ideological practices underground. With DEI practices deeply embedded into the ethos of higher education, lawmakers face a challenge to uproot the ideology from public institutions.”

The University of Alabama, for instance, disbanded its DEI office and launched the Division of Opportunities, Connections, and Success. The new division is led by Dr. Christine Taylor, who was the Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

Florida State University changed title names and reclassified positions of employees who were already working in DEI to give them different roles.

“While some state laws are ambiguous, Iowa left no room for confusion by limiting the positions that a University can promote including concepts such as ‘implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, antiracism, systemic oppression, social justice, gender theory, and racial privilege or any related formulation of these concepts,’” according to the report.

“The Iowa legislation bans public institutions from having DEI offices and from hiring or assigning anyone ‘to perform duties’ of a DEI office. Currently, Iowa has the most restrictive laws surrounding DEI.”

Special thanks to Warhammer’s Wife proofreading this story before publication to make certain there were no misspellings, grammatical errors or other embarrassing mistakes and/or typosFollow Warhammer on Twitter @Real_Warhammer