Education

Experts Question Whether Universities Are Actually Closing DEI Offices

By Ben Slayter / Wikimedia Commons

Multiple universities and colleges across the U.S. have announced the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices, but some appear to have changed nothing but the name, according to conservative experts.

Many universities in the U.S. have had to scrap their DEI offices following laws banning such policies, according to multiple reports. But some universities may not have fully scrapped DEI offices, and appear to have rebranded to comply with the state laws, conservative education experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“It’s very clear what is and is not allowed,” Matt Beienburg, director of education at the Goldwater Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It doesn’t just say, you know, as long as you don’t call it DEI, you can go do it. It’s actually getting to the substance. You know, you can’t have offices and personnel whose function is literally to promote race-based programming and policies. Doesn’t matter what you call it. You can’t do it.”

In July, the three universities in the Alabama system stated that they were dismantling their DEI offices by creating new offices in its place, but the same staff that previously worked in the DEI office remained, the DCNF reported. The new offices have names like “Student Success” and “Office of Access and Engagement.”

Following the Alabama university system’s announcement, other universities like the University of Kentucky and the University of Mississippi announced in August that they are closing DEI offices, and experts questioned whether it will be a real change.

Florida University Eliminates All DEI Positions https://t.co/TForvmI2pF

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 2, 2024

Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah have passed laws that prohibit DEI practices, including offices, admissions, programs and hiring processes, according to the American Speech Language Hearing Association. In other states like Missouri, lawmakers have introduced bills to end DEI practices, but the bills have not yet passed, Inside Higher Ed reported.

Both the Goldwater Institute and the Mississippi Center for Public Policy have questioned the institutions’ efforts to dismantle DEI. The Goldwater Institute stated that it is not enough to trust the universities’ statements saying they vow to dismantle DEI, and the president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy noted that he fears it could be a “rebrand.”

Despite universities changing their DEI offices, experts told the DCNF that they believe the institutions might still be violating state laws since many appear to be promoting similar practices.

“There’s no more wiggle room,” Brian Norman, director of state affairs at the Goldwater Institute, told the DCNF. “If you’re engaging in the activities listed within the law, then you’re in violation of the law.”

The University of Mississippi was the most recent to announce the change in its DEI office, but experts stated that the changes are only to avoid criticism, according to the Center Square. The University of Mississippi announced in August that it would change the “Division of Diversity and Community Engagement” office to the “Division of Access, Opportunity and Community Engagement.”

“They [colleges and universities] let the leftist ideologues in the sociology department and the liberal arts departments promote this nonsense and teach this nonsense to young Americans in return for a quiet life,” Douglas Carswell, president and CEO of Mississippi Center for Public Policy, told the DCNF. “It’s a vested interest on campus now to perpetuate DEI even if they change the name because people get big salaries, fat salaries from it, and the university administrators don’t want to have to root out the ideologues in their faculty, because they want a quiet life.”

The 19 states where universities have altered their DEI offices are Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

“DEI is a cancer upon actual diversity, on actual intellectual diversity,” Beienburg told the DCNF.

The University of Mississippi did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment. When reached for comment, the University of Kentucky referred the DCNF to its Aug. 20 announcement of the changes.