Many colleges around the country that have spent decades building up their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are now having to rethink — and in some cases completely dismantle — those efforts.
Conservative policymakers have been pushing back hard on higher education programs that use racial preferences to recruit and retain more students and faculty of color, and promote inclusivity for students of all identities. And change is happening: In this last year alone, race-conscious admissions was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court and many states have moved to defund and ban DEI-related programs and hiring practices in higher education.
As of July 2023, 40 bills have been introduced in 22 states that would place restrictions on DEI initiatives at public colleges, according to data compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The bills aim to prohibit the following: using federal or state funding to support DEI offices or staff at public colleges, mandating diversity training, using diversity statements in hiring and promotion, or using identity-based preferences in hiring and admissions. Legislation has officially passed in five states: Florida, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas. There are also related bills aimed at limiting discussion of race and gender in classrooms.
Critics of DEI efforts claim they are divisive, push “woke” ideologies on staff and students, and are a waste of taxpayers’ money.
“In recent years, DEI offices have grown in size and influence across college campuses requiring political litmus tests, compelled speech and mandatory diversity statements,” a June press release from Texas state Sen. Brandon Creighton’s office stated. A recently passed bill in Texas banning DEI offices on public campuses will, it said, “put an end to all activities that discriminate against students based on their race, ethnicity, or gender.”
But proponents of DEI efforts say they help create a sense of belonging, build inclusive learning environments and increase student success on college campuses.
“DEI is for students with disabilities, veterans with PTSD, minority students, and students who are New Americans who may need extra help due to language or cultural barriers,” Laura Lanese, president and CEO of the Inter-University Council of Ohio, an educational association of Ohio’s public universities, wrote in an open letter in May. “DEI helps more students achieve the American Dream of success via a college education.”
Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, says the legislation and the Supreme Court decision are “dismantling at least 50 years of incremental progress, slow progress in addressing the needs of diverse students in higher education.”
Here’s what to know about these state bans on DEI initiatives and their effect on both colleges and students.
Evolution of DEI Programs
Beginning in the 1960s, outreach efforts like Upward Bound and other TRIO programs were created through the U.S. Department of Education to encourage more students of color to attend predominately white institutions.
But schools “began to realize it was going to take more than just the admissions of students,” Granberry Russell says. Students of color found “they had particular concerns and needs, whether it was around both academic support as well as social support, and that often the climate on the campus itself was not welcoming or friendly.”
[Americans Have Less Confidence in Higher Ed: Why?]
The work evolved from outreach into efforts to create a more inclusive and welcoming campus environment — moving from admissions to student affairs. Some diversity offices also came out of the offices for equal opportunity and civil rights, which focused on Title IX and disability accommodations, as well as from advocacy efforts and responses to the Black Lives Matter movement and the 2020 death of George Floyd, experts say.
“We’ve seen the evolution through student advocacy, alumni work, as well as an emphasis on research and new knowledge production,” says Lisa Coleman, the inaugural senior vice president for global inclusion and strategic innovation at New York University.
Why Are DEI Programs Important?
At colleges across the country, student populations have become increasingly diverse. Enrollment among all racial and ethnic groups, except for white students, grew on college campuses between 1980 and 2021, according to recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Student populations have become diverse in other ways too, Coleman says, such as their age and how they identify. Many are parents, veterans, part-time or full-time employees or returning students.
“DEI on our campuses is really about creating an inclusive environment where all students can flourish,” says Steven M. Bloom, assistant vice president of government relations at the American Council on Higher Education, a Washington, D.C-based membership organization that works with higher ed institutions to shape public policy and promote innovate educational practices.
To accomplish that, many schools offer supportive programs and resources for various identity groups, including LGBTQ+ centers and veteran affairs offices, as well as focus on recruiting historically underrepresented faculty members. Some research indicates that racial diversity among college faculty, especially in academic disciplines like STEM, has shown little to no progress in decades.
Representation in the classroom matters: A 2018 study, for example, found a correlation between increased faculty diversity and positive overall graduation rates for underrepresented minority students.
[Read: Diversity in College and Why It Matters.]
There are also benefits of having a diverse student population. A 2019 study by the American Council on Education indicated that racial and ethnic diversity in education and the workforce leads to greater innovation, productivity and cultural competency.
Outside of representation, Granberry Russell says these efforts around DEI prepare “all students for their roles in a diverse society” post-graduation. “We do this by building an inclusive curriculum, providing opportunities for engagement and dialogue, and protecting academic freedom so our faculty can engage in research and teaching that addresses the needs of a diverse society in a global context,” she says.
How Colleges Are Responding to DEI Bans
Experts say that enacted legislation is already having a “chilling effect” on campuses, even in states where an official bill hasn’t been passed. Colleges have taken steps to eliminate DEI offices or remove DEI-related statements from their websites.
“Unfortunately, the intention that folks who want to ban DEI efforts and mischaracterize it as some kind of a misguided attempt to advance one group over another or to inculcate kind of what they would call divisive concept on campus, I think is just an inaccurate and a false narrative,” Bloom says.
Earlier this year, the new conservative board of trustees at the public New College of Florida voted to abolish DEI programs at the school. A few months later, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill passed by the state legislature prohibiting all of the state’s public colleges from spending money on “discriminatory initiatives” such as DEI programs.
“If you look at the way this has actually been implemented across the country, DEI is better viewed as standing for ‘discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,’ and that has no place in our public institutions,” DeSantis said during a news conference at the New College of Florida. “This bill says the whole experiment with DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida.”
While uncertainty remains in many states, some DEI programs on college campuses have been put on pause. For instance, Michael J. Richards, president of the Iowa’s state Board of Regents, announced in March a “comprehensive study and review of all (DEI) programs and efforts at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa,” and a pause on implementing new DEI programs.
[Read: Consider Faculty Diversity When Applying to College.]
Two bills were introduced in Iowa earlier this year that restrict identity-based preferences for hiring and admissions, and prohibit public colleges from spending money on DEI offices and staff. They have not yet come up for a vote before the state senators or representatives.
Currently proposed and passed legislation has not applied to private institutions, since state governments don’t have that authority over private educational institutions. But both public and private institutions are “still unpacking the implications” of the Supreme Court ruling against race-conscious admissions, Bloom says.
What Is the Effect on Students?
Students attending college in states where legislation has been enacted are likely to see an impact on their campuses this fall, Bloom says. This could include changes to curricula or elimination or restructuring of different identity support services on campus, like LGBTQ+ centers.
But in places with stalled legislation, he encourages concerned students to use their First Amendment rights to object.
“We think that most students would see these kinds of programs as a positive aspect to campus life and they should exercise their first amendment right to tell the policymakers that they don’t understand what they’re trying to do and that it’s really going to undermine their college experience and harm their college experience,” Bloom says.
Granberry Russell says bans and defunding of DEI programs are “silencing students’ voices,” denying them access to curriculum they may have been interested in and may have a lasting impact on the future workforce needs of employers, especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, fields.
“I think we will see fewer students, particularly from underrepresented communities, that are engaging in the kind of rigorous study that we need to enhance participation in STEM,” she says. “We know that employers demand a globally proficient workforce. We need more students in STEM, particularly in artificial intelligence. Equity, diversity and inclusion efforts are critical to building our capacity in these areas, which is essential for all industries.”
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DEI Bans at Colleges: What Students Should Know originally appeared on usnews.com
