DEI Changes at Radford University: What Can We Expect?
By: Keiko Klisiewecz
DEI stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. These three principles are foundational to creating fair and welcoming environments in various settings, including workplaces, educational institutions and communities. However, now Radford University will be without it, as the protocol is accused of excluding people who don’t fit into certain minority groups. Due to RU changing parts of its policies to accommodate the Washington ruling ending the program, many changes are being made. We spoke with Susan Trageser, Vice President of Student Affairs, to gather insight into these main changes and what Radford students should expect.
Firstly the CDI, Center for Diversity and Inclusion, is being forced to change its name. In addition, it is being fused with the First-Gen center, meaning they will no longer exist as two separate entities. Currently, the CDI is running a survey to take suggestions for its new name, and Trageser reassures us that the program will “continue to provide programs, services, supports … be responsive to populations that are served.” Meaning while the name may change, the programs offered by the CDI should not be affected.
Secondly, student clubs will not be affected, given that they are all technically open to everyone, with the exceptions of Fraternities and Sororities, which are allowed to be exclusive based on gender. I even specifically asked about clubs such as the Black Student Alliance and was told that even those are technically open to all students, not just black students, and therefore do not have to change.
Thirdly, some foundational scholarships will be changed/altered if they exclude certain populations, such as those only for people from a certain place or of a certain background. One example we were given was that “most of them focus specifically on international students or folks that are not from the United States,” shared Trageser. We were told that the process will start with looking for a living donor and attempting to reason with them to change the terminology of their scholarship to be open to everyone. In the event there is no living donor it would most likely go through a legal process to remove or alter the scholarship without the individual.
Lastly, any program, department, club, etc., on campus that uses language that may be interpreted as favoring anyone based on factors like race, religion, background, sex, etc., will be forced to change the language to accommodate with the new policy. This means that multiple departments that include any type of DEI policies or language will be rewriting multitudes of documents.
Not only do these changes inconvenience various campus organizations, but they are on a timeline as well. April 20 is when the Board of Visitors meets again and ensures that the university is “in compliance” with the changes that had been agreed upon at the previous meeting. Overall it seems that while mostly language and scholarships around Radford University will change, the services itself will not. We will make sure to be on the lookout for future changes and report them back to you.
