Programs at the University of Rhode Island have been scrambling to respond to executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federally funded institutions.
Which ones are actually at risk?
Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are vaguely defined within President Donald Trump’s “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” executive order. The order claims the Biden administration “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs” when beginning his term. The order also includes “environmental justice” programs, which are not clearly defined.
“The administration that has written the order has not defined the terms that it is using and has not defined what is at risk,” Markeisha Miner, vice president of the Office of Community, Equity and Diversity, said. “It’s not [programs affected] obligation to define the term.”
Trump’s executive order targets “all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI/DEIA mandates, policies, programs, preferences and activities in the federal government, under whatever name they appear.”
For URI, DEI is encompassed by the CED, which oversees the various identity-based centers on campus. This includes the Women’s Center, the Gender and Sexuality Center, the Center for Military and Veteran Education and the Multicultural Student Services Center.
No programs have been affected at the university according to Michelle Fontes, assistant vice president of CED, and she doesn’t see that changing.
“We’re also visiting places on campus to talk about inclusivity and how we can be inclusive, how we can uplift each other and come together in community,” Fontes said. “I supervise the directors of all our centers and we talk consistently about the kinds of programs we can have to bring the community together and invite everyone to come.”
The broad definition has affected groups at other federally funded institutions. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs placed nearly 60 employees on paid administrative leave while the department reevaluates the budget. Affinity groups are created around an identity or purpose, many of them based on race, sexuality, or gender. Colleges and universities, like Maricopa Community College in Arizona, have disbanded these groups in response to the executive order.
Groups run by URI’s Center for Military and Veteran Education or that focus on identity could be forced to disband in order to comply with the executive order.
Inclusivity at URI means every part of one’s identity, according to Miner.
“We are the state’s public land grant institution; land grant institutions were founded because rural communities did not have access to higher education,” Miner said. “Our very founding is inclusivity, is diversity.”
DEI sometimes is written as DEIA, the A standing for accessibility. Accessibility is an often overlooked part of DEI, but disabled students are at risk for negative consequences.
DAI is protected by complicated, long-standing laws, according to Nina Schiarizzi-Tobin, assistant director of Disability, Access and Inclusion at URI.
“It would be irresponsible to imagine that any laws or marginalized people are safe, but at least our department’s legislative concerns are not as imminent as those of our colleagues might be,” Schiarizzi-Tobin said.
DAI is protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, a 1990 civil rights law that ensures disabled Americans are able to access everyday activities. Schools that fail to comply with the ADA open themselves up to lawsuits and fines, according to the Partners for Youth with Disabilities.
Programs run by the Women’s Center, the GSC, MSSC and the Center for Military and Veteran Education will remain at URI under current regulations.
