Since the outset of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, universities nationwide have reconsidered their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. Columbia University (N.Y.) and the University of Pennsylvania have removed DEI information from their websites. After the federal government began withholding over $2.2 billion in federal funding from Harvard University (Mass.), the university renamed its Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging to the Office of Community and Campus Life.
Emory University is the latest higher education institution to respond to federal directives.
Interim University President Leah Ward Sears (80L) announced Emory’s decision to close all DEI programs and offices on Sept. 3.
University Senate President and Philosophy Professor Noelle McAfee said Sears informed her, and President-Elect of the University Senate Jodie Guest “just before” the university-wide announcement about the decision to shut down DEI programs and offices. McAfee said that faculty across Emory’s campus were “devastated” and “livid” about the decision.
Additionally, McAfee highlighted that the decision-making process at a university is different from Sears’ previous experience.
“When you are a senior partner at a law firm, you get to decide things,” McAfee said. “Higher education is very different. We have these aspirations of shared governance and consultation, and putting forward the educational mission of the university. So it’s a very different climate.”
Despite her dismay with the changes to DEI at Emory, McAfee mentioned that since Sears is new to her role, she hopes the interim president will “find her footing.”
“She got here, and she dropped this bomb,” McAfee said. “It is not going well, but we should offer a little grace and give it a minute and see how do we help each other learn.”
McAfee mentioned that she could understand Sears’ decision in the broader political context of the Trump administration’s attacks on DEI policies. However, she still called the decision a “mistake.”
“Private universities can’t be regulated by the government, but they can … pressure us by threatening to remove any federal funding,” McAfee said.
Sears’ email to the Emory community did not mention specifics of the process to “discontinue” DEI programs and policies, leaving many to question the effects of this decision.
In an email to The Emory Wheel, Emory Student Government Association Speaker of the Legislature Sohan Bellam (26C) wrote that he only learned of Emory’s decision when he received the email from Sears. He said the email was “hopelessly vague.”
“It’s quite unusual for schools to send out an email saying [they] are ending all DEI programs without any specificity as to what is or is not DEI,” Bellam wrote.
College Council Executive Vice President Braden Newsome (25Ox, 27C) said that while he was disappointed, he was not surprised by the University’s decision.
For Newsome, the lack of clarity regarding the closure of DEI offices and programs adds to students’ distrust in the University administration.
“In Sears’ email, when it said that inclusivity is still a core principle of Emory, we’re just getting rid of the office, I don’t know that I trust that,” Newsome said. “That’s the kind of thing that this lack of trust has caused, and you can rebuild it. It starts with just open, honest communication.”
Newsome also shared that he believes the recent decision reflected a neglect of the student experience by Emory administration.
“We are not their highest priority as students, and that is concerning,” Newsome said.
Even though Emory’s recent decision to close DEI offices and programs left many with questions, McAfee still believes that the University can continue to support inclusivity among its students and faculty.
“What if we built programs on campus — the Office of Fairness, the Committee on Belonging, the Institute for Opportunity for All, and then really robustly filled them out,” McAfee said. “We need institutions, practices, structures through which to live out those values. You can’t just wish them.”
Siya Kumar (she/her) (28C) is a news editor at The Emory Wheel. She is from New Orleans, La., majoring in Economics and Creative Writing on the pre-law track. Outside of the Wheel, Kumar is a market news analyst for the Emory Economics Investment Forum and a writer for the Emory Economics Review. She loves baking, reading, and drinking coffee.
