By Karina DiMare
TAMPA, Fla. — The Executive Orders Committee at The University of Tampa has decided to restructure the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the “Office of Access and Community Programs.” This decision was made in response to the “Dear Colleague” letter that was issued by the Department of Education on Feb. 14.
The Office of Access and Community Programs’ new website says that the office intends to “Access, Engage, Impact” students.
“The name was inspired by the mission of the University, to be ‘an inclusive learning community,’” said Eric Cárdenas, the assistant vice president for Communications and Public Affairs.
The website for the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Tampa cannot be accessed anymore. In addition, the UTampa DEI Instagram has been renamed to @utampa_access.
“Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” said Craig Trainor in the “Dear Colleague” letter.
The university created the Executive Orders Committee in response to this issue. The committee is led by Thomas Witherspoon, whose title is now the vice president of Access and Community Programs.
“His [Witherspoon’s] office has not just been renamed, his office has been renamed and the mission has broadened,” President Dahlberg said at a Board of Trustees meeting on Mar. 27.
“All the titles of his personnel … and the job responsibilities have been broadened to comply with new laws,” she added.
The “Dear Colleague” letter “deemed DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] initiatives illegal,” said Dahlberg.
However, this decision was challenged by the court. The Executive Order Committee has been keeping in contact with national organizations since the letter’s release on Feb. 14, preparing for the courts’ decision. On Mar. 14, the Fourth Circuit Court upheld the DOEDCL.
Since the court outcome, the Executive Orders Committee has been figuring out their course of action to comply with the new laws put in place. According to the email sent out by the Office of the President on Mar. 24, the Executive Board Committee members include:
- Eric Cárdenas, AVP, Communications and Public Affairs
- Mike Hendricks, VP for strategic enrollment planning
- Teresa Perez, executive assistant to the president and board liaison
- Donna Popovich, VP, Human Resources
- Stephanie Russell Krebs, VP, student affairs and strategic initiatives
- David Stern, provost
- Monnie Wertz, VP, operations
- Thomas Witherspoon, VP, Access and Community Programs
The committee has flagged 1,300 PDFs and 314 web pages that need to be modified or removed from the UTampa website and their vendor websites, according to Dahlberg. All of the PDFs were immediately removed for public consumption and cannot be found upon searching without logging into SpartanNet.
“We will either modify them or decommission them permanently,” said Dalhberg.
“One of my bosses [Williamson] was saying there’s a list of words we can’t use anymore because they’re considered offensive,” said Lance Carr, student assistant and LGBTQ coordinator at the renamed office.
“A lot of those words have to do with diversity, inclusion, and women,” Carr added.
A plethora of words are being erased from government documents and websites in an attempt to not only dismantle DEI but also references to vaccines, COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change.
“My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense,” said President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum on Jan. 23.
Federal agencies have been left to interpret how to follow a series of executive orders President Donald Trump has recently issued relating to the dismantling of DEI initiatives across the federal government and in schools. Including the following:
- Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling
- Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Removes DEI From the Foreign Service
“If you’re targeting DEI initiatives, then you’re taking opportunities away from people,” said Carr.
This is an ongoing situation, and more information will be released soon.
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Photo courtesy of The University of Tampa website.