By PEDRO GONZALEZ
The Trump Administration has cracked down on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives wherever and however it can. Several publicly funded universities have, as a result, scaled back or done away with DEI programs, to avoid the risk of losing federal funding.
However, it appears DEI will likely assume a different form rather than disappear outright.
A recent lecture at the University of Alaska Fairbanks shows how the shape-shifting will be done.
On Feb. 21, the University of Alaska Board of Regents voted to scrap all things related to DEI from university websites, titles, and office names in order to align the university system with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
The board made its decision ahead of a lecture scheduled to be held at UAF called “A White Guy’s Road to Decolonial Pedagogy,” to be given by Kevin Gannon, a liberal history professor and political activist at Queens University, a private institution in Charlotte, NC.
Mysteriously, the name of Gannon’s lecture was changed to “Critically Reflective Pedagogy” on the UAF website. Hyperlinks with the original title can still be found online.
Similarly, a page that displayed UAF’s statement of its commitment to inclusivity has been taken down or moved.
“As a unit of a Land, Sea and Space Grant institution, we acknowledge the university system’s role in forming and maintaining colonial structures of power through land seizure and assimilation via education,” the page, which is still visible through a digital archive, reads.
The substance of Gannon’s talk was consistent with both UAF’s inclusivity statement and concepts at the core of DEI.
“This lecture uses personal vignettes to illustrate how an educator whose identities come from culturally dominant and privileged places might encounter, and embrace, a decolonizing practice for teaching and learning,” a description on the UAF website explains.
A spokesperson for the university told Must Read Alaska that Gannon was “a guest lecturer and that the event was hosted by the Center for Teaching and Learning at UAF.” At the time of this article’s publication, they were unable to provide more information as to why the title of the lecture was changed.
Critics consider this pedagogical approach controversial because it pits groups against one another on the basis of race, tribe, or ethnicity, and characterizes certain institutions as fundamentally racist.
Indeed, in a blog post, Gannon describes himself as an “abolitionist,” that is, he supports the elimination or dramatic reduction of policing and the prison system. He also says that he is “a strong proponent of DEI work and the people doing it.”
UAF offers just one example of how DEI might adapt to the changing political landscape.
Last July, Microsoft disbanded its DEI team, which seemed to herald a hard about-face. But come January, in response to mounting pressure from the Trump administration and conservative activists, chief executive Satya Nadella wrote in the company’s annual report that the values associated with DEI “ensure our work force represents the planet we serve.”
Major U.S. firms like Apple, Costco, Delta Air Lines, and JPMorgan Chase have also redoubled their commitment to DEI, while others have disbanded their DEI offices as pressure mounts to disassociate from race-based policies and practices.
