DEI inquisition on Idaho campuses raises alarms about free speech and student support | Opinion
On Dec. 18, the Idaho State Board of Education effectively banned a huge variety of inclusive excellence, diversity in education, equity, belonging and justice-focused centers and programs from state university campuses under the guise of banning “DEI ideology.” The state’s universities had already closed — or set in motion the plans to close — many of these programs, including women’s centers, gender centers, Black and African student centers, LGBTQIA centers, and a myriad of others. Judging from the shock many university communities have expressed when these program closures were announced in advance of the policy shift, these campus closures appear to have been largely done under the cover of secrecy, despite statements to the contrary.
To make matters even worse, Boise State and University of Idaho closed these programs when students were not in town, over holiday breaks.
The closures of these well-loved and proven student centers, and the state policies that drove the closures, have already harmed Idaho college students, have degraded our state institutions, and contrary to what the State Board of Education believes, harm free speech and curtail free expression across the state.
While the universities claim that they will disperse the services of these centers elsewhere within their institutions, this ignores the fact that all of these institutions have already caused enormous psychological harm to the students, whom the universities disingenuously claim to be the center of their concerns. The mere fact that Boise State, U of I and Idaho State have intentionally and specifically erased women’s centers, Black or Hispanic serving centers and LGBTQIA support centers sends a strong and clear message to these vulnerable populations that at least in the State of Idaho’s educational institutions, they don’t belong and aren’t valued.
During my career in higher education in Idaho, I have seen countless instances of students from these various populations struggle to find community and belonging on campuses that were established and historically run for predominantly white students. They may suffer from anxiety, depression, and the stress of university environments that are generally built to cater to only the culturally dominant populace — in Idaho’s case, largely white students.
This stress causes them to underperform academically and often leads to withdrawal from higher education. But as an educator whose sole focus is to bring out higher performance in students, a referral to one of these centers, one of these learning communities, is an invaluable tool. I have seen almost instantaneous changes in many of these students who were struggling before.
They find people who are like them, who come with a shared experience, who make them feel as though they do belong, and, more importantly, that they can succeed in this academic environment. It isn’t the generic “student services” that brings about this change. It’s the community that these centers create that accomplishes this goal.
Closing these centers will have deleterious effects on these students, and literally ignores the needs and wishes of thousands of vulnerable students across the state. College presidents taking these actions and then claiming that students are the center of their focus is as disingenuous a statement as one can make.
Stomping on 60 years of progress for non-white-male college students is also not good for our state’s institutions themselves. One of the callings of higher education is to expose students to new and different ideas and perspectives. It is this exposure that allows students to grow and learn more about the world they live in, and to hopefully become successful, productive members of society.
A key function of these centers in our educational institutions is to provide this exposure through programming, engagement, and empowerment of their respective community members to speak and share their perspectives on campus. By doing away with these centers of cultural knowledge, our institutions are diluting at best, losing at worst, the ability to execute this critical piece of the educational experience.
Finally, and equally disturbing, Idaho’s new attacks on “DEI ideology” are nothing short of state-mandated speech, forcing all who attend or work at our higher education institutions to toe the line on one, and only one, form of speech that is deemed appropriate by the State of Idaho. Our state’s students, faculty, and staff have the right to free speech, the right to associate with whom they choose, and the right to be exposed to and learn about the ideas that emanate from these centers.
By lumping these inclusive excellence, diversity in education, and belonging centers under the inaccurate and broad penumbra of “DEI ideology” — an “ideology” of the state’s own invention— the state of Idaho is rather ham-handedly quashing the free speech rights of innumerable people. For all these reasons, this is an ill-advised and harmful policy and Idahoans from all walks of life should be uniting to speak up against this injustice.