URBANA — Chancellor Robert Jones and Provost John Coleman announced by email on Thursday that the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign will not strike sensitive words or phrases from websites under pressure from the federal government. Instead, administrators will help departments add language stating its activities are inclusive and “open to all.”
The letter also said U of I administrators are reviewing scholarships, awards and events but not curriculum or research .
“We are still maintaining those programs, but we are being responsible and looking at those where language may need to change in order to send a strong message that we are open to all,” Jones told IPM News on Friday.
President Donald Trump has been pushing universities to drop diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI programs, arguing that initiatives like the Ph.D. Project violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by limiting eligibility based on race.
Jones said the idea that DEI programs are exclusive is a misperception.
“That’s what a lot of this is all about — the sense that some of these programs are exclusive or inclusive only of a certain racial group,” he explained. “We’re making those kinds of changes, but we have no intention of just backing away from our value proposition of diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Jones said the purpose of a land grant university like the University of Illinois is to provide education to the masses and the underserved, regardless of their skin color, gender or race. He said he does not foresee the university ending its DEI programs, because U of I is clear about that land grant mission.
Jones also said that complying with the law is different from complying with executive orders.
“As a public entity, we will always abide by the law, but I remind people that there is the law is not necessarily a binary situation,” he added. “That’s why there’s so much litigation going on, because some of these executive orders are not necessarily lawful and are potentially detrimental to the mission of universities like ours.”
More of Jones’ comments will be shared later this month on the 21st Show and WILL-TV in May.
