Georgia Tech “restructuring” to comply with White House DEI mandates

Credit: Steve Schaefer

Credit: Steve Schaefer

Those changes include the creation of a Belonging and Student Support unit. It’s part of what the administration referred to as an ongoing “restructuring” wherein some existing resource centers will be placed under the new entity.

An email from vice president for student engagement Luoluo Hong and another from academic affairs provost Steven McLaughlin do not offer many further specifics. But in town hall sessions during the week – organized as alarmed students and faculty heard murmurs of impending changes to DEI-related resources – Hong specified that the Women’s Resource Center, the LGBTQIA Resource Center and the Black Culture, Innovation, and Technology team could all be affected.

The prospect of those or other resources being touched has raised alarm for many on campus. Hundreds attended the town halls, with the 950-seat Ferst Center for the Arts at near capacity on Thursday where students expressed dismay and disappointment.

President Donald Trump’s administration has put universities in a bind. Executive orders from his first two days in office targeted DEI at federally funded institutions, and a letter released by the U.S. Department of Education on Feb. 14 gave K-12 schools and universities two weeks to eliminate the “insidious” DEI programs that “frequently preference certain racial groups.”

Georgia Tech’s announcement came on Friday’s deadline, with each of the administrators mentioning the possibility of losing federal research funding. Both McLaughlin and Hong acknowledged that the legality of the executive orders and the letter’s guidance are in question, as each currently faces legal challenges and could be struck down in court. Nonetheless, both noted Georgia Tech’s significant federal funding; last fiscal year it received more than $1 billion from the federal government for research and other purposes.

“While there is still uncertainty in additional court actions in response to federal decisions, the risk universities face right now in not complying is the loss of federal funding – dollars that support student federal financial aid programs such as Pell Grants and work-study, as well as help pay for assistantships, internships, and research for faculty and graduate students via grants,” McLaughlin wrote.

Some students and faculty were disheartened to see their school make any changes, feeling like administrators have given in.

“I am deeply concerned about Georgia Tech’s recent decisions to comply in advance,” said faculty member Jennifer Glass in a text message. “Erasure of diversity, equity and inclusion programs and resources will erode decades of hard-won progress that makes us the exceptional institution we are today.”

Hong said in the Thursday town hall that rebranding programs would allow the college to continue providing services for those students, as opposed to eliminating the services altogether. The administration insists that its resource centers have always been open to all students, and that the decision to comply in advance will help it continue to deliver those resources for students.

“I want to be very clear that we have never engaged in illegal discrimination,” Hong said.

Professor Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb is skeptical that Georgia Tech will be able to continue offering the same level of support to historically underrepresented students if programs are consolidated and names are changed.

“Call it anything you want, but you cannot change conceptually the fact that on the Georgia Tech campus women are a minority, that LGBTQIA students are a minority, that the Black students are a minority and that they have different challenges,” Bassiri-Gharb said.

Following a Tuesday town hall, a group of students stood outside debriefing about what they’d heard. Losing a resource center that supports historically underrepresented students, said third-year Hannah Laing, would “show that our institution is not willing to stand up and protect these people.”

Third-year student Parker Alderman has found a sense of community via some of the programs Georgia Tech has offered. By complying now, Alderman fears Georgia Tech will take more significant steps in the future.

“I worry for other people who are coming in and won’t have that space to feel like they can explore, and to feel like they have somebody else who understands them,” Alderman said. “It feels like a start of a slope that is really terrifying.”

The Republican-controlled Georgia legislature has many DEI opponents, as the Senate is currently discussing a bill that would withhold state funding from schools that promote DEI programs. It’s another consideration that Georgia Tech and other higher education administrators may soon have to account for as they try to balance their missions to support students with their need for state and federal funding.

“I’m going to be a little bit direct here, but if the law requires us to terminate and separate and cancel programs, we’re going to comply,” Hong said.