Helen Capote | Staff Writer
On January 26th, 2024, FIU shut down its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Department following the passing of Senate Bill 266.
FIU’s DEI Office received 1,282,945.703 in funding in 2022-2023, with 1,060,071.703 being state-funded. Other offices that received DEI funding included the Office of Social Justice and Inclusion, which received 226,015.08, with 153,912 from the state.
Courses that included discussions about DEI were not an exception to this cut. Along with SB266, House Bill 999, signed on May 15th, 2023, has prohibited courses that teach politics related to systematic oppression and discrimination.
Courses such as Global Women’s Writing, Sociology of Gender, and Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity received federal funding before the passing of this bill.
Though offices promoting DEI initiatives have dissolved, their roles have shifted to other ones. Its duties now reside in the Department of Human Resources and Department of Access, Compliance, and Equal Opportunity.
“I don’t think anybody has a really good grasp on what DEI means. It started out, as you know, with efforts to diversify the workplace and universities and to ensure that it’s a reasonably safe and welcoming space for historically disadvantaged groups,” said Howard M. Wasserman, FIU Law Professor.
“What it has become is basically shorthand to refer to any non-white male person at a university or in the workplace. So, you know, I don’t think anybody agrees. So the way the Trump administration or the State of Florida uses DEI and the way scholars and employers who want to diversify their workplace use those terms have nothing to do with one another,” he said.
Since this announcement, student organizations have spoken out. One includes Florida’s ACLU chapter and FIU’s ACLU club, “For the Panthers.”
“DEI has stemmed from a need to close gaps between people who normally wouldn’t have opportunities that the general population with resources would have. ACLU focuses on the fact that it isn’t just a political problem, and that it’s becoming very polarized,” said Camila Melinkoff, “For the Panthers” Head of Campaigns.
“I think that with the current administration, a lot of people are villainizing DEI, but DEI is something we all benefit from. DEI is things like mothers being able to step out at work if they’re lactating. DEI is having accessibility ramps for people who may be in wheelchairs. DEI is paying interns so people who wouldn’t be able to take an unpaid internship are able to also have these opportunities,” said Melinkoff.
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