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The Oxford Dictionary defines diversity as the “practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders and sexual orientations.”
Diversity allows students of various backgrounds, religions, learning styles, and abilities to obtain the same education as their peers by ensuring that higher education institutions like Ohio State, Cleveland State, and any other state-funded university admit heterogeneous or mixed groups of students.
Since the Trump administration’s upheaval of the Department of Education, terms like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have become words weaponized against educational institutions.
Local Ohio universities, including Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati, have recently been investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for alleged race-related discrimination. This investigation follows the Department of Education’s latest “Dear Colleague” letter, which was sent on Feb. 14 to public education institutions from K-12 through publicly funded universities and outlines concerns and guidelines regarding race-based discrimination.
In recent years, concerns have emerged regarding race-based policies in American educational institutions, with allegations that some practices have disadvantaged students of various racial backgrounds, including white and Asian students from low-income families.
Critics argue that race-conscious policies in admissions, financial aid, hiring, training, and other institutional programs have influenced many aspects of academia.
Additionally, some institutions have implemented race-based graduation ceremonies, housing policies, and programming, raising debates over whether these practices promote inclusion or reinforce division.
Some people disagree about DEI programs in schools. There are some who believe these programs focus too much on race and may create more division instead of bringing people together. Others think DEI programs help fix unfairness from the past and give more chances to students from different backgrounds.
The letter, which goes on for several more paragraphs, explains how the Department of Education believes that teaching about the history and ancestors of minority and non-white students can sometimes be “stereotypical” or even a form of “indoctrination.”
Lastly, the letter states that universities failing to comply with the vague guidelines could risk losing federal funding. However, it is peculiar that Ohio State would now come under investigation, given that university President Ted Carter sent out a statement to students at the end of February noting the closure of the Ohio State Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to keep the university in federal compliance.
According to an article by Katie Millard of NBC4, Ohio State’s participation in The PhD Project, a program aimed at increasing business opportunities through diversity, has made the university the Department of Education’s most recent DEI witch hunt target.
As words meant to build a bridge of opportunity and access for all students become weapons for exclusion, we must continue to educate ourselves on the many new bills and legislations that continue to negatively impact the progress of students, teachers, and families nationwide.
We must ask, “What harm is being caused to others when access to opportunities is made available to groups historically denied access?” We must continue to question the dismantling of education, as education empowers all groups of people to ask, learn, and process information for both personal progression and societal progress.
