
One of the first acts Donald Trump took as president of the United States this past week was to put all diversity, equity and inclusion staff in the federal government on paid leave via executive order.
The executive order also ordered federal agencies to come up with a plan to lay off these employees by the beginning of February.
The concept of DEI offices is to help better serve marginalized communities by amending practices from hiring more people from diverse backgrounds who meet the job qualifications to employee training.
“EIU is committed to and will continue to advance inclusive excellence and foster a community where every member of our community thrives,” University President Jay Gatrell said. “For that reason, I can assure you that the university steadfastly supports and will protect academic freedom and continue to deliver programs and services that support our students and enliven our values.”
Universities in several states including Illinois have DEI offices.
Since 2023, 22 states have either banned or modified DEI programs at universities, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
At EIU, the office of belonging, access and engagement oversees DEI efforts by serving a variety of marginalized groups, such as people of color, LGBTQ students, veterans and first-generation college students, according to Executive Director of the office of belonging, access and engagement John Blue.
Blue addressed common misconceptions about DEI programs saying they’ve been made out to be groups hiring people based on their race, sexual orientation or gender and not their qualifications, which he says isn’t true.
Blue went on to say these programs serve everybody not just the communities that are typically thought of when DEI is mentioned.
“When you are in the real world you are going to be working side by side [with different communities] unless you live in a small state, small populous state like Montana,” he said.
Blue also had a lot to say regarding DEI programs being removed from the federal government and universities and a potential fight between Illinois and the federal government, expressing his hope for states to keep the offices. He said students need to be exposed to various experiences and various people.
“I would say diversity, equity and inclusion, in my opinion, it doesn’t weaken who we are as people or organizations. It strengthens who we are, and it’s a strength, not a weakness,” he said.
Jacob Hamm can be reached at 581-2812 or at jmhamm@eiu.edu.