On Friday, the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees voted to mostly eliminate the University’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) office, after the state legislature voted to prohibit any state funds from being used to fund DEI programs:
After an hours-long executive session Friday morning, the Trustees unanimously accepted the recommendations made by UW President Ed Seidel to cut the office, while still retaining some of its services that he believes the university has long offered and do not show preferential treatment. The trustees had indicated on Thursday that the executive session would cover personnel matters related to this topic.
The move comes after the Wyoming Legislature prohibited any state money be used to support the DEI office, which many supporters argued reflects the values of Wyoming residents. Gov. Mark Gordon supported the cut, but retained the right for the school to use state money on DEI related programming and activities, which weren’t mentioned in Friday’s discussion.
Seidel’s recommendations were based on the report of a working group the president assembled in March to study which direction the school should move on the office of DEI.
Some functions of the DEI office will be retained, specifically, functions that are not exclusionary and which predated the DEI program and were later folded into it.
Even as red a state as Wyoming, of course, had some vocal proponents of the DEI program:
State Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, who represents the UW campus in her district and vehemently opposed the directive passed in the budget, said she found it concerning that Seidel and trustees took the Legislature’s directive to heart.
“We have extreme-minded politicians in this state determined to use dishonest rhetoric to divide Wyoming families,” she said. “Instead of looking at how they can improve opportunities for students and the university, they are looking to shut down programs and make students not want to come here.”
It’s hardly extreme-minded to vote to no longer waste time and money on a, yes, divisive program that adds nothing to the university’s core purpose of producing young adults with skills that make them employable in the world of work, and that is becoming apparent in places other than the Cowboy State.
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UW President Seidel proposes also to eliminate a hiring requirement that candidates be evaluated on their “commitment to diversity,” which sounds a lot like an ideological litmus test, something that is anathema to the purpose of an institution of higher education, while being all too common in American academia.
Wyoming is acting on something that should be apparent across American academia: DEI programs are inherently divisive. They add no value to the educational process.