This story was reported and written by our media partner the Virginia Mercury.
Virginia colleges and universities are feeling federal pressure to end diversity, equity and inclusion policies that promote representation from various backgrounds, and George Mason and Old Dominion Universities are the latest to make or propose changes that align with President Donald Trump’s Jan. 21 executive order to end DEI efforts within the public sector.
The University of Virginia was among the first in the state to respond to the rollbacks, and the Board of Visitors voted to dissolve the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships March 1.Gov. Glenn Youngkin praised the move and asserted that “DEI is done at the University of Virginia.”
Trump wrote in his order that “illegal DEI and DEIA policies” violate civil rights laws.
“The federal government is charged with enforcing our civil rights laws,” the executive order states. “The purpose of this order is to ensure that it does so by ending illegal preferences and discrimination.”
The federal government has also warned ODU and other universities and colleges to end race-based decision making, or they would lose federal funding.
After renaming DEI office and axing related staff positions, George Mason considers more changes
On Thursday, GMU’s Academic Programs, Diversity and University Community Committee considered a plan recommending the Board of Visitors adopt a resolution to comply with Trump’s order by eliminating all programs, training and processes not specifically required by federal or state law and, if necessary, scrapping staff positions within 30 days of the resolution’s approval.
However, student and faculty representatives challenged the effort at Thursday’s meeting, emphasizing the importance of DEI for inclusivity and student success.
Solon Simmons, president of the university’s Faculty Senate, said at least 90% of faculty members are opposed to the resolution. He also said more time is needed to debate the proposed clauses and that the proposal appears exclusive, opposite of the university’s culture.
“The thing that stuck to me was this idea that at Mason, we want people to belong, and then … there’s a compliance piece, which I think is really important for the board to do, but if we want everyone to feel like they belong, things like this probably are not going to help that,” Simmons said.
Bryan Caplan, an economics professor at the university who was invited to speak by committee chair and Youngkin appointee Lindsey Burke, supported the idea of the committee’s dissolution. He compared DEI to McCarthyism, an era of political persecution for progressive Americans and alleged communists in the 1950s.
“Renaming McCarthyism would not have removed the threat it posed to freedom of thought on campus, and renaming DEI does not remove the threat it poses to freedom of thought on campus,” Caplan said. “GMU’s DEI has never done anything to me personally … but this has to be done to protect GMU from all the witch hunts that we’re going to see in the future (if) we don’t do the right thing, right now.”
The resolution also proposes to dissolve the university’s Bias Incident Response Team, designed to mitigate or prevent bias occurrences, and the Access to Research and Inclusive Excellence program, which is responsible for examining university practices in identifying bias.
The university has also recently renamed the DEI office to the Office of Access, Compliance, and Community (OACC), provost and executive vice president Jim Antony and committee members highlighted, and eliminated certain positions, to ensure compliance with new executive orders.
Anthony said the Board of Visitors was scheduled to receive a comprehensive report from faculty on the university changes related to DEI in February, but the board tabled the presentation.
GMU staff did share that two vacant positions in the former DEI office were eliminated, the Antiracism Inclusive Excellence initiative was dissolved and inclusive excellence plans have been excised from the university president’s goals.
Staff also recommended the committee engage in more dialogue before passing any resolution, to ensure it aligns with the university’s values and goals after finding a few contradictions between the proposed DEI resolution and the board’s antisemitism resolution that passed in February.
Cameron Harris, faculty representative to the committee, said the antisemitism resolution invites OACC to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition for training and education. However, it is not allowed in the proposed resolution.
“The resolution seems to limit education, training and most importantly, the valuing of our diversity,” Harris said.
Burke criticized DEI at the meeting, linking it to critical race theory, and suggested it undermined merit-based admissions and academic excellence.
She also mentioned that other school leaders are dissolving DEI initiatives at institutions like the University of Virginia, James Madison University, VCU and Virginia Tech. She expects an updated resolution to be ready for the Board of Visitors’ May 1 meeting.
“Our job on this board is to make sure we are complying with the law and not jeopardizing the federal or state funding that may be received,” Burke said. “Federal funding is a privilege, not a right.”
Old Dominion’s quiet DEI changes
Unlike Mason, Old Dominion University made several changes to its DEI initiatives that remained unknown to the public for weeks. The Virginian-Pilot first reported the changes last week.
One of the major differences: ODU’s Institutional Equity & Diversity webpage was renamed Talent Management and Culture, with the banner now stating “Equity Compliance, Respect and Community.”
The original banner stated “equality, diversity, respect and inclusiveness for all.”
The new webpage excludes links to ODU’s Monarch Task Force for Inclusive Excellence, Monarch Plan for Inclusive Excellence 1.0, John R. Broderick Diversity Champion Award and it no longer states “Celebrating 85 Years of Diversity.”
The task force’s status is unclear, with its page now leading to a 404 “page not found” error.
The nine-member Diversity and Inclusive Excellence staff page was removed from the institution’s website. The webpage now reads “access denied.”
Most of the staff appears to have remained under the new office, Institutional Equity and Culture, except for an office manager position. The remaining positions cover training, community relations, outreach, and Title IX regulations.
One of the staff members is Veleka Gatling, previously the associate vice president for equity and inclusive excellence under the Institutional Equity & Diversity office. Gatling is now the associate vice president for community relations in the Community Engagement and University Events office.
September Sanderlin was also listed under the directory as vice president for human resources and DEI in the human resources office. Her title is currently vice president for talent management and culture.
Other clues preceded ODU’s departure from DEI. Stanley Goldfarb, also a Youngkin appointee, asked about DEI in the university’s medical school curriculum and requested to meet with the school’s dean before he was removed fromODU’s Board of Visitors by Senate Democrats in May.
Goldfarb, who recently spoke on Fox & Friends Weekend about his departure, did not specify why he wanted to see the curriculum or why he wanted to meet with the dean, which he attributed to Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera’s recommendation.
Goldfarb chairs an organization called Do No Harm, which he said represents physicians, nurses and medical students, patients and policymakers and is dedicated to keeping identity politics out of medical education, research and clinical practice.
“We think all patients should be treated the same, that this should be a colorblind environment, that physicians should be the best individuals that are available to practice medicine and care for all patients,” Goldfarb said on Fox & Friends Weekend. “And as far as I’m concerned, it has nothing to do with the proper practice of medicine.”
Several studies have revealed implicit bias — which DEI policies can counteract — plays a role in America’s health care system. A 2016 UVA study found “a substantial number of white medical students and residents hold false beliefs about biological differences between black and white people (e.g., black people’s skin is thicker; black people’s blood coagulates more quickly) that could affect how they assess and treat the pain experienced by black patients.” Bias can also influence how artificial intelligence applications in health care exacerbate existing disparities, research shows.
Virginia’s legislature passed bills this session that would require medical professionals to complete unconscious bias training before renewing their licenses. Youngkin amended the measures, removing the mention of cultural competency and unconscious bias in the original wording, a change lawmakers rejected. The bill now awaits the governor’s approval as-is or veto.
