As a part of the “Dear Colleague Letter” issued by the Department of Education on Feb. 14, Marywood put the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee in abeyance on Feb. 28 to comply with the federal interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act was enacted as a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin to programs receiving federal financial assistance.
According to the Dear Colleague Letter, educational institutions have “indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices.” The letter also states that these practices have been justified through the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” committees at universities by “smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.”
The letter states that DEI programs have preferences toward racial groups and stigmatize students who belong to racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes. The Department of Education states that it “will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this nation’s educational institutions.”
Now, educational institutions have to remove the DEI programs. If institutions fail to follow the federal civil rights law, they will face potential loss of federal funding.
According to CNN, the Trump administration has already froze over $2 billion in grants and contracts at Harvard University after the university’s administration refused to eliminate its DEI program.
In a statement released by President Lisa Lori about the abeyance, due to the former executive director of equity and inclusion stepping into a faculty position and leaving the Office of Equity and Inclusion unstaffed, the Office of Equity and Inclusion was dissolved effective July 1, 2024.
President Sister Mary Reap established the University Standing Committee in 2002. The committee was formerly known as the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee from 2017 to 2021 and as the Cultural Diversity Committee before 2017.
President Lori states, “At all stages and iterations, this USC, which flows from Marywood’s welcoming and inclusive mission, has been non-discriminatory with equal access to all, both in practice and in composition, complying with all applicable federal laws, and, specifically, with Title VI.”
Yerodin Lucas, an assistant professor at the school of Social Work and the previous executive director of institutional equity and inclusion, helped bring programming to Marywood, including working with students with disabilities, different races and different backgrounds.
“The committee was made up of faculty, staff and administrators, and we did all sorts of things, such as programming and policies, because it was people from all different facets of the university. The idea was that we could be silent in what we do, so the idea of the committee was to make sure whatever we did impacted the entire campus community through different disciplines and departments.”
Lucas believes that although the committee no longer exists, its impact will still be seen throughout campus life.
“Because of our mission and core values, the work that we do is still going to be there to support students in areas that students need support. I know that the committee was very influential in doing that, but the people that were on the committee are still a part of the university and we still work together on certain projects. We have all kinds of types of resources for students. The committee did serve a vital role, but I think that to the best of our ability, we’re going to do the best with what we are given and work to support students.”
As of April 24, CNN reports that three judges, two of which were appointed by Trump, ruled against the Department of Education’s policy, which threatens to withhold federal funding for schools with DEI committees.
According to CNN, Judge Landya McCafferty believed that the administration’s policy violated the First Amendment’s free speech protections and Judge Friedrich stated that the policy was “likely unconstitutionally vague.”
The future of DEI programs across universities in America is uncertain. However, Marywood confirms that learning will not be impacted and services will be offered to support students through this abeyance period.
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