And in Other Higher-Ed News….
The Richmond Times-Dispatch contrasts how Virginia Commonwealth University dismantled Diversity, Equity & Inclusion with relatively modest controversy — and provides a sharp contrast with the University of Virginia.
Here’s how Eric Kolenich summarizes VCU’s response:
When state and federal officials told Virginia Commonwealth University to scrub DEI from every corner of campus, the university’s administrators went straight to work. They dissolved the university’s central office for diversity, equity and inclusion and started reviewing the work of DEI employees. They even hired a consultant to check their work.
After the university previously eliminated 13 DEI positions, ended diversity statements, and revised some scholarship requirements, the VCU board voted after contentious discussion to eliminate the office of Inclusive Excellence altogether.
Why is UVA in turmoil while VCU is not? A contributing factor is that VCU President Michael Rao acted proactively to comply with federal directives. VCU gave the Department of Justice no grounds to intervene, and the resulting polarization inherent with any Trump administration action was avoided.
Meanwhile, GMU is begging for trouble. Ian Kingsbury with the Educational Freedom Institute chronicles the track record of GMU President Gregory Washington in City Journal.
Washington built a vast DEI bureaucracy, amounting to 7.4 DEI staff per 100 tenure-track professors, Kingsbury writes. So far, “he has refused to scale back his DEI efforts.” Meanwhile anti-Semitic activity at GMU is on the rise. Even so, Washington opposed a Board of Visitors resolution directing the university from refraining to sponsor or endorse any group or activity whose position is anti-Semitic under the IHRA definition. (IHRA, by the way does not stand for International Hot Rod Association, it stands for International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.)
“Washington’s track record,” Kingsbury contends, “warrants his resignation or dismissal.”
Don’t be surprised if GMU attracts Department of Justice scrutiny.
— JAB
