‘There is no workaround to this moment – we are all targets’

You’ve watched in horror as politicians decimate higher education’s core tenets of academic freedom and institutional independence. 

You’ve seen the deflation in your colleagues’ and students’ posture as their very existence, histories and qualifications are attacked through perversions of what true diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is.

You wonder when the higher education sector ceded its position of authority on innovation and knowledge production. Let me tell you, we are not powerless in this moment. There are things we can all do. But first, let’s all get clear about the moment we are in and the institution we each work in. 

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The attacks on DEI (also called EDI), institutional autonomy and academic freedom are not going away. They are well orchestrated and supported by private and public dollars in the millions. More than 1,000 people across the US have lost jobs because of anti-DEI legislation, according to estimates. 

Step one is understanding that the current attacks are real and long-term, and that higher education needs to build coalitions where associations, work groups and organisations outside the sector intersect and think together. I started Education for All, a coalition of college presidents, in February 2023. It’s grown from five presidents at the start to now more than 400.

Avoid platitudes that make us feel better

We also have to move beyond euphemistic approaches to “belonging” and recognise the impact anti-DEI legislation is having on students. After Senate Bill 17 came into effect in Texas in January 2024, banning DEI in public higher education institutions, 52 per cent of students considered leaving their colleges and 78 per cent considered leaving Texas entirely, according to an ACLU Campus Climate report on the bill’s impact. LGBTQ+ students felt more unsafe at Texas institutions than their peers, according a USC Race and Equity Center Report. 

In Florida, one in eight high school seniors say they won’t attend a public college in-state because of DeSantis-era education policies, reported economist Lucie Lapovsky in Forbes. Despite these realities, our sector has relied on mantras such as “we can still do the work” or “we just need a flip in political seats”.  These mantras, like the euphemism of belonging, are used to gloss over the very real assault our students are facing. There are fewer students to do “the work” for as a result of this legislation. Further, those who dare to continue doing the work are being videotaped, reported on and often fired. It is true that people are still doing good work, but they are not doing that same work for the same number of students.

Ironically, there is now more work to do because of the assault on higher education and our students. We have to see these realities with clear eyes.

Read carefully

While all institutions must perform risk assessments, they should read legislation and White House-issued executive orders from a standpoint that the work being done at institutions does not violate the law. So much of the language in directives towards higher education rests on phrases such as “illegal DEI”.  We have not practised illegal DEI. Language like this is used in hopes that administration, faculty and staff make fear-based changes, from omitting topics in syllabi to changing names of offices. Careful, measured review of the language of legislation and texts shows this is not always required.

Develop team mentalities where they may not have existed before

While factions have often developed between administrators and faculty, those tired tensions need to be ceased immediately. If we, collectively, can agree that DEI, academic freedom and institutional autonomy are paramount for the sector, collaborating on these three non-negotiables must be an urgent priority. We must also develop teamwork to address anti-educational legislation.

To maintain our mission in the throes of federal and state legislation, institutions should create teams that include both legal counsel and trusted experts in DEI to address drafted and/or passed bills or executive orders. Experts in DEI can inform legal counsel about practices on campus and would most likely find that these practices are not illegal. Presenters and those sponsoring them also need to underscore the difference between open-access institutions and those that are selective in offering advice.

To develop a unified front – both institutionally and beyond – we must collectively acknowledge and remedy the fact that many higher education leaders, from boards to presidents to cabinets to shared governance leaders, have not done the deep reading required to understand DEI, shared governance, institutional autonomy or academic freedom. Education for All has relevant training for presidents and boards, which will be crucial in this moment. 

Likewise, faculty, staff, students and leaders would do well in these moments to recognise that chaos is a goal of those attacking higher education. The more that leaders can communicate a hard line for the institution that articulates when and where changes will have to be made, the less self-censorship will occur in classrooms or offices. For example, many institutions have said regarding their internal cultures: “We will not change anything unless or until our students’ financial aid or state funding is at risk.” 

Consistent, regular communication from leadership allows a sense of calm and understanding regarding direction. Such clarity allows faculty and staff to know that the administration is focusing on the external environment, and they can focus on innovation and supporting students, instead of worrying and making fear-based changes because of a lack of communication. 

Recognise there is no workaround to this moment, and we are all targets

Whether at state or federal level, there is no benefit changing anything on campuses prior to it being legally required. Many institutions and their leaders believe they are being savvy by changing language, support or policies pre-emptively. However, the entire sector is under assault.

Every institution is a target, whether singled out by name or through federal and state budgets. Pre-emptive changes do the work of anti-educational legislation without it being law. It does not remove a target from an institution, as we have seen many times when institutions that have complied with anti-DEI orders were targeted anyway, the most recent of which was the University of Virginia. Waiting until law requires change, or until certain fiscal realities require it, is of utmost importance. 

Concrete tools are necessary, not rhetoric

Education for All has been providing tools for leaders to work through regarding state and federal laws for more than two years. While much of the current environment centres on fear-based risk assessment, institutions should also push themselves – whether from the bottom up or top down, or hopefully somewhere in between – to consider the risk to our mission and the role higher education plays in the wider concept of democracy. 

Rooting all decisions in a historical and future-driven lens, not the moment

Higher education did not arrive in the crosshairs by accident. The more Black and brown people that higher education enrolled, the more legislation was created to deny access. Moreover, the most restrictive DEI states are the least educated. Education is a pathway to dislocating power and to economic mobility.

Those attacking higher education rely on two truths. The first is that our sector and country will be complacent towards problematic policies, rhetoric and budgetary decisions. On campuses, having the courage to supply supervisors with tools, like the ones Education for All has developed, is part of the fight back against this complacency. In the grocery store, moving beyond explanations of what you do, from “I’m a professor” to “I educate the next citizens of the world”, also matters. 

The second truth is that those attacking us rely on our slow-moving systems. From governance to course delivery, our paradigms were built for a world that was much slower than the one in which we live now. As we’ve seen from bills like the one in Indiana, which places low-enrolled programmes on the chopping block through legislation, slow-moving programme review processes and decisions are no longer viable if we want a voice in programme viability. 

But this urgency does not need to be couched in crisis. Let’s view it with a visionary mindset. The attacks on higher education have revealed that:

1. DEI work has hardly permeated the sector and reformed the oppressive structures in society – there is so much still to be done.
2. We move too slowly.
3. Collaborations are key.

Likewise, we need collective, deep introspection and quick work to ensure that those with the heart for DEI are armed also with the deep knowledge to make it show up in the lives of potential students.

Finally, our sector cannot remain in arcane silos between work groups and even associations. We need a coalition that:

1. Situates higher education alongside the American ideals of developing a more perfect union and enabling access and achievement for all. This includes unapologetic, visionary commitment to DEI
2. Establishes an education system where all belong on campus and in the curriculum, and so also defends academic freedom
3. Considers the power of each higher education institution type as defined by the Carnegie Classification, from community colleges to Ivy Leagues
4. Places primacy on ensuring institutional autonomy
5. Considers education as a fundamental right of all those residing within US borders.

Consider joining us.

Mike Gavin is president of Delta College.

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