‘ Colleges and universities are reconfiguring and rebranding La work in order to avoid attention,’ doctor says
As diversity, equity, and inclusion programs lose footing due to state and national opposition, Connecticut College has decided to launch a innovative section to interweave “equity and incorporation work” throughout its organization.
Titled the Division of Retention and Success, it replaces the DEI division but appears to address the same goals.
A Cornell Law professor who has studied DEI in higher education described the change as “rebranding”. A number of higher education institutions have announced plans to close their DEI programs in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump that describes the programs as “radical and wasteful”.
” It’s hard to predict the full impact of the administration’s actions, but it does seem clear that colleges and universities are reconfiguring and rebranding DEI efforts in order to avoid scrutiny”, Professor William Jacobson told The College Fix.
The president of Connecticut College, Andrea Chapdelaine, announced the creation of the new division on Feb. 25.
” In complementary ways, the Division of Equity and Inclusion has supported student belonging and cultivation of a healthy campus climate, significantly contributing to retention and success as well”, Chapdelaine said in a statement.
” The new structure will facilitate the ability of the combined team to support not only students, but also to meaningfully contribute to efforts to retain and invest in the success of faculty and staff”, she said,
Chapdelaine referred to the new division as a “more sustainable approach to equity and inclusion”.
The College Fix reached out to Chapdelaine and Vice President Erika Smith two days after the announcement, asking why the new division was created and what it will do for students. The Fix also asked how the division differs from its DEI division, and what impact they believe the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI programs will have on Connecticut College. Neither responded to the email or a follow up request last week.
College spokesperson John Cramer did respond to The Fix, saying,” We have no further statement beyond the president’s message”.
Chapdelaine tied the Division of Retention and Success to the college’s DEI goals in her statement.
As a result of the change, “equity and inclusion efforts will be woven into every aspect of the College experience- including departments, personnel, policies, curriculum and operations – rather than being siloed within a single division”, she stated.
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Asked about the creation of the new division, Professor Jacobson, a law professor at Cornell University and founder of Legal Insurrection, pointed The Fix to a recent report by his organization about the rebranding of DEI programs in higher education throughout the country.
” I expect this rebranding to be even more aggressive in blue states and at left-leaning institutions like Connecticut College”, Jacobson said in a recent email.
Furthermore, relating to the political effects of Trump’s orders and the responses of colleges nationwide, Jacobson told The Fix that” such evasive maneuvers will present a challenge to the new administration’s enforcement efforts”.
Legal Insurrection’s report” How Higher Ed Is Rebranding DEI Departments”, published in September, states that” DE I isn’t going away, it’s just going underground”.
The authors looked at 26 universities in states with laws restricting DEI and found 10 that” claim to have eliminated their DEI offices” but really just replaced them with” similar programming and/or personnel”.
” Whether campuses are renaming their DEI offices, or moving administrators into other departments to do the same work, DEI still exists”, the report states.
Other scholars have voiced similar observations, including Boise State University Professor Scott Yenor who recently said the University of Wyoming merely rebranded its DEI programs.
Other examples cited in past College Fix reports include Kent State University in Ohio, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Georgia Tech.
MORE: Arizona State U. reviewing Trump DEI directives to comply with the law
IMAGE: Connecticut College
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