Colleges and Universities Are Trying to Get Around DEI Bans by Simply Renaming Programs

Colleges and Universities Are Trying to Get Around DEI Bans by Simply Renaming Programs

This has been going on for months and is typical of the left. They think changing the words will fool people but it won’t.

Inside Higher Ed reports:

Are DEI Office Name Changes Enough?

Not long after Texas passed SB 17, a law prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public colleges and universities, many institutions chose to rename their former DEI offices, using words like “belonging,” “community engagement” and “student development” in the new titles.

But last month, an anti-DEI legislator warned that cosmetic adjustments were not enough. Republican state senator Brandon Creighton, the lead sponsor of SB 17, wrote letters to Texas’s public university systems reminding them that compliance with the law goes beyond renaming offices.

“While I am encouraged with the progress I have seen from many institutions of higher education in implementing SB 17, I am deeply concerned with the possibility that many institutions may choose to merely rename their offices or employee titles,” he wrote. ”This letter should serve as notice that this practice is unacceptable.”

Last week the University of Texas at Austin announced it was closing its Division of Campus and Community Engagement—formerly its DEI division—and laying off 60 employees, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

UT Austin president Jay Hartzell said the change would cut down on programs that were duplicated amid the restructuring to comply with SB 17. But many in the UT Austin community and beyond chastised the institution for appearing to cow to anti-DEI politics beyond what was mandated by state law.

An editorial in the Austin American-Statesman slammed the state—“driven by Republican fervor to hunt down and crush what they’ve deemed ‘woke’ tendencies in education”—for “gnawing deeply into the reputation of its magnificent higher education system.”

Austin wasn’t the only UT campus to flip-flop. Last December the University of Texas at San Antonio announced it would close its DEI office and open an Office of Campus and Community Belonging instead. But on Jan. 2—the day after SB 17 went into effect—PresidentTaylor Eighmy backtracked, announcing that the new office would not open after all.

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