University of Denver Ending DEI Policies

University of Denver Ending DEI Policies

Note how the school chancellor has to qualify this to appease campus progressives.

The Denver Post reports:

University of Denver ends DEI initiatives to protect funding, but chancellor says school isn’t ‘kowtowing’

The University of Denver is doing away with practices and programs supporting students of color and other marginalized scholars out of fear that the school could lose federal funding under a presidential administration hostile toward diversity.

The rollbacks apply to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which often help people of color, LGBTQ students and low-income residents have equal access to educational opportunities. The Trump administration has railed against DEI, threatening to pull funding from institutions that have these initiatives, claiming they represent unlawful discrimination.

Chancellor Jeremy Haefner told The Denver Post that inclusivity remains a core value at DU and vowed the federal government will not strongarm the campus into shirking from that.

“I don’t feel like it’s kowtowing,” Haefner said. “We have to self-reflect and ask, ‘Can we do this differently?’ And, by golly, I know we can, cause we’re a damn smart community and passionate about a lot of things, and we work so hard to support our students. I just know that if we’re self-critical and realize there are other ways of supporting our values, we’re going to find the ways and be in compliance with the law. I’m excited by that.”

Students and local organizations that support diverse scholars are pushing back, raising concerns about what they consider to be DU signaling a waning, conditional support for Black and brown students who have historically faced more obstacles to obtaining college degrees.

“It’s just really horrible to see,” said Camryn Gunter, a 21-year-old DU physics and math major, and president of the campus’s Black Student Alliance.

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