For those in the United States navigating the potential loss of federal funding due to the presence of “DEI language” in policies or on institutional websites, how is this issue affecting you? What has been the response from your colleagues, students, and upper administration? What actions are you being asked to take?
Since I have all the self-preservation of a goldfish deciding to explore a desert, I’ll share what I’m currently observing: Coworkers seem frustrated and depressed (as am I). Students mostly don’t seem to have noticed the changes, although I anticipate that will change over time. Upper administration appears to be quietly scrambling to comply with the new regulations- and seem to be prioritizing practicality over principle in an effort to maintain institutional operations. Although we weren’t given a vocabulary list of banned words (yet) it seems that the three words which DEI stands for are what are being flagged. I have been assisting with going through the library portion of our school’s website to see if it adheres to the new “inclusionary” (doublespeak, anyone?) language. In response to this, I have downloaded copies of what I have access to and stored what I could on external sources, with the hope that in the future—ideally sooner rather than later—we can analyze and compare these changes in academic discussions and work toward restoring any content that was removed due to fear of financial reprisal instead of community consensus.
I can admit that our library hasn’t had much that was flagged- regardless, I can’t help the seething pit of resentment I feel at even going through the motions of these tasks.
There’s never been a better time to put the URL of pages that one would like to see preserved forever into the Wayback Machine.
Robin,
I truly feel for all of our colleagues throughout the U.S. I’m in Canada and have been thinking about all of the materials that we have, particularly open materials that you will hopefully continue to be able to access.
Perhaps those of us outside of the U.S. should come up with some sort of “hub” that points to DEI, LGBTQ+, Indigenous/Reconciliation, etc., related resources to help our colleagues who are losing their own materials.
We have a slight advantage at my college. Our admins don’t think we need DEI so we learned that wasn’t the way to get things approved even if that is our goal,. Still, yes, people are very hurt and concerned.
The more I’ve thought about this, the more I like it. I have a colleague who is advocating engaging in subtle acts of resistance, such as writing information on post-it notes and placing them in various locations. The ability to incorporate coded language into our sites to bypass automated detection, along with sharing links to other sites providing that information is more effective than what I am currently doing- I have been attempting to find a compromise in putting resources in a “private” mode, but that is antithetical to everything I love about the Open movement, and what I fundamentally believe in.
A significant source of my frustration stems from a sense of powerlessness. As I am still in my first year, my position feels somewhat precarious, and I have a tendency to voice my thoughts before fully considering the consequences. This has heightened my concerns about job security. Of course, many others share similar fears, which contributes to the overall lack of opposition to censorship—creating a self-perpetuating cycle.
Ultimately, over the last couple of weeks I have found myself nearly paralyzed by disappointment—not only in the institution I work for and the leadership within academic departments, but more particularly with myself. In the past I could somewhat excuse putting my foot in my mouth with the justification that I’m at least being honest about what I believe. Now I have to face the fact that I’m just as cowardly as the people I’m frustrated at for lack of action. Possibly worse, since they might actually have some honest belief (if misguided) that they are doing the right thing- I know for a fact I think it’s wrong not to push back, and wrong to censor ourselves, but I’m doing so because my fear of unemployment is apparently greater than my moral compass. It’s an unflattering reality check.
Thanks for opening this thread, Robin. I sense this weight, shock, paralysis in many meetings and conversations with colleagues.
The “what to do” would seem first start with self-care and those around you, and then finding/being part of conversations that are happening in a lot, and largely/appropriately non public spaces.
The small acts, not only of resistance, but seeking/spreading signs of hope/togetherness matter too. Even if forced to self-sensor language, we can take action and go about our work aligned with our ethics of those three words, which have somehow been made into a bogeyman when they are imbued into the foundational documents at the formation of the US.
Worth pointing out is our CCCOER has an ongoing, and name not changing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee, and held a very valuable non-recorded session I was glad to attend
I might also suggest the work and activities of Equity Unbound co-led by @mahabali - they are organzing the next MidYear Festival or MYFest June-August in for which I have heard interest in more spaces/places to connect, talk, and strategize about the washing out of DEI.
The heroic efforts to archive vast amounts of data, websites that the government is shuttering has been effective, and perhaps organizing some efforts is possible as suggested above. Peter’s suggestion to make sure web sites are added to the Internet Archive is solid, and I am also recently a fan of https://archive.ph for single web pages (e.g. unlocking paywalled articles, but still a snapshot).
You can be sure many many people around thew world are horrified about the demolition of the first word of USA, and at the same time, keep in mind that other countries/regions are not immune, especially as right wing entities can be emboldened by what they see in America.
Stand/stay together any way we can.
Hi Robin,
I am experiencing the same feeling of paralysis and so I attended a webinar by Muckrock on Federal Data Disappearing. I’ve linked to the recording.
It doesn’t cover all of my concerns in all of the areas related to what’s happening with this administration, but it’s a place to start.
Thank you @cogdog for linking to CCCOER’s EDI Committee. We are strategizing ways to move forward, but our members are also understandably dealing with issues and concerns at their institutions. If we continue having “safe space” webinars or other community webinars, we’ll be sure to market them.
I remember equity unbound being mentioned in one of the OEG podcasts- I’m garbage with names, but I remember the guests were all so kind and personable and inspiring, and I signed up for email updates about MYfest, because it sounds fantastic, and meeting more people like them from around the world can only be a good thing. And thank you for sharing archive.ph, that’s not one I’ve heard of before, but I’m enjoying exploring it now. Also enjoyed the wombat oatmeal comic you shared in a different post- it really did cheer me up a bit, and I sent it along to my sister (a virologist who also happens to be concerned about possibly losing her job from forced government funding cuts- which is terrifying for many reasons). I think one of the phrases from OEweek I took away was “little is big” in reference to small acts bein impactful. Perhaps our arm-chair revolution won’t involve physically taking over the capital like some movements (I’m not really interested in smearing excrement on walls, so that’s okay with me), but I’d like to think small acts focused on kindness, empathy, and education will have a more meaningful and longer impact. Or just make people smile. On that note, I’m going to write the address to that wombat comic on a post-it note and put it on a wall on my way out of work this evening 
Thank you so much for starting this thread. I feel shy in replying because I’m not very credentialed or within an institution right now. But the feeling of shock, helplessness and just plain mourning I feel at so many of the things I believed in, studied, and volunteered with being stripped away, is very real. It’s great to see all the replies and creative ideas in this thread.
Here in Tennessee, it’s nothing new. We already had something similar happen in 2022 with our “Divisive Concepts” law. Unfortunately, I think we set a precedent. I was shocked to see that no one other than a few K-12 districts fought back. Not even our faculty senate. At our community college, we quietly scrubbed away any reference to “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” We couldn’t give or collect statistics on how any programming helped groups labeled by sex or race. Our Equity & Compliance Office that handles discrimination complaints and cases is now “Institutional Compliance” and many of our staff had to rewrite their job descriptions to make sure “DEI” trigger words or activities were not included. We are not allowed to offer implicit bias training to staff. We had to get rid of any scholarships we had based on sex/gender or race, including a scholarship for international students. I work in accessibility/ADA matters, and I’m bracing for that to go next…it’s awful. It’s dystopian.
Appalling becomes an understatement and hearing these stories together does at least thread together a patchwork.
“How” the three letters of DEI got made into a bogeyman is astounding considering the words of the countries allegiance pledge
one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Sounds like inclusion and equity
The founding declaration rings out
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
sounds like equity.
The Latin on the country’s seal and it’s money
“E pluribus unum” (Out of many, one)
Sounds like inclusion
The 14th Amendment states
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws
Is the spirit of DEI.
If DEI is a radical ideology to be ferreted out so are these documents.