LINCOLN, Neb. – This week, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Chancellor Rodney Bennett announced plans to close the university's Office of Diversity and Inclusion and eliminate at least one leadership position dedicated to this important work.
The decision at the state’s largest university comes amid a nationwide wave of efforts to defund or outright ban similar programs in colleges and universities. In Nebraska, that took the form of LB 1330, which failed to get out of committee this year.
Joy Kathurima, legal and policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, made this statement on UNL's announcement:
“We need higher education leaders to do more than talk about fostering a welcoming campus and supporting underrepresented students. They need to walk the walk. The university’s decision to cut an office that is specifically meant to foster learning for all students is troubling, particularly given the political targeting of these programs along with the longstanding racial and ethnic disparities in Nebraska’s college and university graduation rates. Although Chancellor Bennett has pledged to ‘reimagine’ this work, dissolving an office dedicated to diversity and inclusion without a clear, public plan for the work going forward is deeply troubling.”
