‘A very significant morale issue’ for staff
A University of Utah administrator has said the closure of the school’s DEI — diversity, equity, and inclusion — division has been a “grieving process” for many staff members.
Lori McDonald, the vice president of student affairs, told Inside Higher Ed in a recent interview the state’s “Equal Opportunity Initiatives” law, which went into effect July 1, also has been “a very significant morale issue” for staff.
The law states that “student services be available to all students and not provided to individual students based on ‘personal identity characteristics.’”
To comply with the law, the U of U noted in June programs such as the Women’s Resource Center and LGBT Resource Center would be eliminated, but then incorporated into the new Center for Student Access and Resources and Community and Cultural Engagement Center.
McDonald (pictured), who emphasized she didn’t want to “come across as defensive in any way,” said the pace of the change since the new law has been “difficult for many of our [university] communities to wrap our heads around.”
“I feel that maybe what was missed […] is maybe we don’t take as much time to appreciate how the infrastructure of an institution [traditionally] changes rather slowly,” she said.
MORE: University of Kentucky closes DEI office
McDonald said guidance from the Utah System of Higher Education “clarified” that the university could still have centers based on “personal identity characteristics”; however, they must “have a very clear focus on only things like celebration, education [and] awareness of cultural issues.”
They also must be available to everyone, and “for the purpose of learning” (no services are to be provided).
[T]he primary concern of our faculty and staff, who rightly say, “If a student comes to me in a classroom or somewhere else, I would refer them to these centers, knowing that they would have a space that might be more comfortable, more safe, to talk about what they’re going through.”
I think student affairs and all of our student resources on campus have always strived to be a welcoming place for everyone. The Financial Wellness Center is providing financial literacy and workshops, and they’ve always tried to do it in a culturally thoughtful, relevant way. Now, we have to really ensure that that is everywhere, because there [will no longer] be the financial wellness workshop in the LGBT Resource Center, where someone maybe felt more comfortable asking questions about something related to that identity. …
We still need to make sure that students know there are people all over campus that want to help them, and allow them to be their authentic selves when they are getting those services … But it’s not going to be “Here’s the obvious place to start.”
The Daily Universe reported that the closure of U. Utah’s LGBT Resource Center led to consternation among many. Its now-former coordinator for community engagement, Tomoya Averett, said it felt like a “punch to the gut,” and a former U. Utah student said the center’s resources had “saved [her] life.”
Attorney and “LGBT activist” Laura Milliken Gray, who gave the commencement address at the center’s premiere “lavender graduation” 20 years ago, said she was “really heartbroken” about the closure.
MORE: UNC-Wilmington shuts down DEI office
IMAGES: Ruslan Guzov/Shutterstock.com; U. Utah
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.