The University of Texas-San Antonio has closed its Office of Inclusive Excellence ahead of a law taking effect Jan. 1 that bars Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offices at public universities.
But in an email to the campus community, UTSA President Taylor Eighmy announced a new office has been created using the same staff.
“I’m writing today to share a new path ahead that upholds the law while still advancing our core values to ensure a welcoming, collaborative and supportive environment where all faculty, staff and students can thrive,” Eighmy wrote.
As you know, Senate Bill 17 goes into effect on January 1, 2024 and charges college and university governing boards with ensuring that diversity, equity and inclusion offices are not maintained or upheld. As a result, effective January 1, UTSA's Office of Inclusive Excellence will be closed.
A new office—the Office of Campus and Community Belonging—will be established to enhance our university’s mission and create unique opportunities for faculty, staff and students. The new office will focus on three pillars: ADA & Accessibility, Campus Climate, and Community Partnership Bridges.
The office’s first pillar, ADA and Accessibility, will serve as the university’s focal point to coordinate and connect established campus-wide systems, programs and processes designed to support accessibility for our community members. The second pillar, Campus Climate, will take a proactive approach to maintaining a welcoming environment to enhance the student, staff and faculty experience. Lastly, the third pillar, Community Partnership Bridges, will work to increase access to higher education for community members across San Antonio. A plan to support this pillar will be implemented in the coming year. (UTSA)
The president said the new office will be staffed with those from the Office of Inclusive Excellence, though in “new roles with updated responsibilities.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 17 in June. The measure says an “institution of higher education may not establish or maintain a diversity, equity, and inclusion office or hire or assign an employee of the institution, or contract with a third party, to perform the duties of a diversity, equity, and inclusion office.”
Whether the university respects the law with the new office remains to be seen.
“I would be shocked and dismayed were they to seek to circumvent the DEI bans,” Texas Public Policy Foundation's Thomas Lindsay told The College Fix.
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