PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Diversity, equity and inclusion are being scrubbed from the University of Pennsylvania’s websites and administrative offices, as a spokesman says the university is reviewing its programs “to ensure they are consistent with our nondiscrimination policies and federal law.”
It may take search engines a moment to catch up. The description for Wharton’s “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” home page in Google search results still reads: “Learn about Wharton's comprehensive effort to advance diversity, promote equity, and foster a culture of respect and understanding.”
Click through, however, and Wharton’s “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” page reads: “A commitment to equal opportunity has long been a guiding principle of the Wharton School. We have initiated a review of our efforts in this area to ensure they are fully consistent with the new guidance established by the federal government. We remain deeply committed to providing a respectful and welcoming environment for our faculty, staff, students, alumni and everyone in the broader Wharton community.”
The diversity, equity and inclusion site for the Penn Libraries is also no longer active.
The Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s student-run newspaper, says web pages across the university are disappearing. The Annenberg School for Communication and the Carey School of Law have both been cleansed of the words “diversity,” “minorities” and “underrepresented.”
This comes after the White House issued an executive order that federally funded universities must terminate any programs in support of diversity, equity and inclusion that could be in violation of federal civil rights laws.
It is not at all clear that any of the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts — which are intended to ensure nondiscriminatory policies — were in any way violating civil rights laws.
Dr. Nu’Rodney Prad is the director of student engagement at Temple University’s Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership, or IDEAL.
Prad says that Temple University, founded as an educational institution for the city’s working class, has a history of bringing opportunities to underrepresented people — and his office is an embrace of all the different types of people humans can be.
“Sometimes there is this mischaracterization … or misdefining … of what diversity, equity, inclusion is,” he said.
Prad says diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have resulted in having ADA-compliant ramps on campus and offering courses and programs that don’t exclude students on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious background and any number of attributes.
The tacit threat of withholding funding from universities that work to be diverse, equitable and inclusive is a direct threat to students, Prad said.
“Funding is a very important piece … of us being able to continue … a lot of the support that we offer to students. So a lot of places may be looking at things from the point of ‘If we don't have this funding, … how can we, in fact, … support students?’”
Penn also removed from its athletics site a policy of inclusion for transgender athletes, in direct response to the federal investigation into allegations that Penn committed Title IX violations by allowing a transgender swimmer to compete.