On Friday, University of Cincinnati posted a letter from President Neville Pinto announcing the end of the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In the letter, he referenced President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14173 titled, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” and said, “In response to these mandates, Provost Kristi Nelson and I spent this week informing our deans and vice presidents of the initial steps we must take to ensure compliance.”
Pinto also referenced the “Dear Colleague” letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which was sent out Feb. 14. This letter directed educational institutions of all levels to stop using “racial preferences in financial aid, hiring, admissions and other areas.” All places of education, including universities, have been given an ultimatum: eliminate DEI initiatives or risk losing federal funding.
According to NPR, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation Cynthia Jackson-Hammond said the letter was vague and, “There’s a fine line between removing programs that are considered to be discriminatory by race and removing programs that speak to a cultural or ethnicity support for students.”
In the “Dear Colleagues” letter, the Trump administration argues that, “In recent years, American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families.” The problem with this is that many DEI programs do aid prospective low-income first generation students as well as veterans and people with disabilities.
In an email to PolitiFact, UCLA School of Education & Information Studies professor Lori Patton Davis, who’s research includes campus diversity initiatives, said, “In general, people erroneously equate DEI solely with initiatives to advance the conditions of Black people or other racial groups, LGBTQ groups and women. However, DEI boosts opportunities for low-income first generation people, veterans (and) people with disabilities.”
It is no question that the educational advancement of these groups is important and foundational in ensuring equal opportunity for all. However, the advancement of these specific groups is not the only focus of DEI initiatives. The administration’s portrayal of DEI initiatives, specifically at universities, as something that favors one group of disadvantaged students over another, serves only to deepen division throughout the country. In fact, although DEI initiatives began as a way to create racial diversity, the largest benefactors of affirmative action programs are white women.
Research also shows that workplaces with more inclusive environments experience lower turnover rates and higher employee engagement. The productivity of diverse workspaces will not continue if universities do not continue to commit themselves to the inclusion of people of all backgrounds, income levels and identities.
Ohio Senate Bill 1, which seeks to eliminate DEI efforts, passed Feb. 12. It is now up to the state’s public universities to either comply or fight both Trump’s executive order and this bill’s passing. In the meantime, Ohioans can only sit and wait.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: Editor-in-Chief Alyssa Cruz, Managing Editor Madalyn Blair and Equity Director McKenna Christy. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage. The Post can be reached via editor@thepostathens.com.
