LINCOLN — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Nebraska at Omaha have closed key diversity and inclusion offices in the past year, leaving some student leaders worried that the work will fall to them.

UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett on Aug. 20 announced the dissolution of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which came on top of $800,000 in related cuts in 2023. UNO similarly closed its Gender and Sexuality Resource Center this summer after shuttering its Office of Multicultural Affairs last fall, moving those services to other offices on campus.

Bennett, in his second year as chancellor, said in an email to faculty and staff that he made the decision “after considerable reflection and a thorough review of both the national landscape and the specific needs of our institution,” which he did not specify.

UNL Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion Marco Barker’s position will also be cut.

“We will reimagine how we approach this work at UNL,” Bennett wrote. “I fully grasp the weight of this decision and its implications, but a centralized approach to this work is no longer right for our institution.”

Student leaders raise concerns

Zein Saleh, internal vice president of UNL’s student government, said he was one of many surprised by the news. He said students understood the national and local pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion but thought UNL administrators were still supportive.

Saleh, a junior double majoring in political science and psychology, said the closure came without warning to students, who didn’t receive a similar email from Bennett or a chance to weigh in.

“The notion that this work can be decentralized, generally stripped of its funding, raises a lot of concern about the way in which it can be executed, not only across colleges but across divisions and units at the university,” Saleh said.

He said certain UNL departments have more resources than others, which could introduce disparities into the services that some students need. Saleh noted the Office of Diversity and Inclusion also helped with data and record keeping to keep UNL accountable.

‘Decisions seem surface level’

Ishani Adidam, a senior business administration major and student body president at UNO, said some of the concern comes in classifying the changes as “reorganizations.” She said a large part of belonging is physical space, so closing offices leaves some services more inaccessible.

“All these decisions seem surface level, but the more you dig into it, the more you realize that these resources don’t support just 100 students, they support 15,000 of us,” Adidam said.

Adidam pointed to the NU Board of Regents meeting in June when Regent Rob Schafer of Beatrice, the board chair, questioned funding for DEI programs and offices while other degree opportunities and employment positions were being cut. 

UNO Chancellor Joanne Li confirmed at the time that her campus has such funding, which includes support for first-generation students and veterans. Adidam said those students are often not thought of as being “DEI,” in the way that race, gender and sexuality often are.

NU’s $1.1 billion state-aided budget was ultimately approved 5-2, of which about $1 million goes toward DEI.

Schafer said last week that NU must continue to evaluate how it conducts business and delivers its services. He supported Bennett’s decision as necessary and said that restructuring is necessary to better allocate scarce resources.

“If we truly want to eliminate all racism and sexism in our society then we should remove race and gender as factors in any and all decisions and actions that are made and taken,” Schafer said in a text.

No stranger to controversy

The University of Nebraska system has been no stranger to controversy around DEI in recent years, including criticism from Gov. Jim Pillen and multiple state senators:

Pillen’s past positions

Pillen said in a statement last week that he was “pleased” with Bennett’s decision but that the work of eliminating DEI and critical race theory wouldn’t be complete with eliminating one office.

“Although that office should never have been established in the first place, it takes courage for a leader to recognize a mistake and chart a new direction,” Pillen said.

In December 2018, among the eight elected regents, Pillen was one of seven to vote for Barker’s hiring, as were Schafer and Regent Paul Kenney of Amherst who later supported Pillen’s CRT resolution. Former Regent Hal Daub of Omaha abstained from the vote on Barker.

Pillen represented the regents on UNL’s N|150 Commission in 2018 as well that sought to articulate UNL’s mission and values from its first 150 years into the next 25. 

The commission’s work included a subcommittee for diversity and inclusion that culminated into a final report of which Barker celebrated when he was hired. He said it was “evident how much Nebraska saw diversity and inclusion as a growing priority.”

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion was also borne from those 2018 efforts, which included community input, a national study, workgroups and committees identifying UNL’s needs and a five-year NU-wide effort to address DEI in Nebraska, Barker wrote in a 2019 special report.

Regent Barbara Weitz of Omaha, who taught at UNO for 16 years and ousted Daub from the Board of Regents in 2019, said DEI is a complex issue that hasn’t been fully discussed among the board. However, she said, making NU a place for all won’t change no matter what NU does or how it describes that work.

“I know my work as a regent is keeping the university inclusive and welcoming of all students, staff and faculty,” Weitz told the Nebraska Examiner. “There is much work to be done to create a culture that embraces the imperative of being an open place for all.”

The ‘mission’ of the university

Ashley Rae Turner, a 2012 UNL alumna with a degree in fashion communications, said she didn’t have an ideal experience or feel as welcome as she could have during her time as a student. She said the exception was the Office of Academic Success and Intercultural Services, or OASIS, which a spokesperson said won’t be impacted by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s closure.

Turner said that was why she was excited, however, when ODI was created, because it would have been great to have had when she was a student.

“Following that, when we reactivated the [Nebraska Alumni Association’s] Alumni of Color Network [Advisory Council], I raised my hand and said I really wanted to be involved,” Turner said.

The office was the best way to help support alumni and current students while on the ground every day, she said, so she is disheartened and hurt by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s closure. She questioned what the message is to future and current Huskers.

Associate professor of practice Stephanie Bondi, who researches DEI structures in education,  said the move signals to her that DEI isn’t valued and that academic leaders either ignorantly believe they’ve addressed community concerns or don’t want to address them.

“I don’t know how they achieve their mission, and why are we here if we’re not trying to achieve our mission?” Bondi said.

Turner said some alumni have already reached out and called for the alumni network to ask students not to come to NU or to leave, including Husker student-athletes. Turner said while she’s not making that call, she can understand where they’re coming from.

“We give money back to the university,” Turner said of alumni through the network. “I want to think that my dollars are actually going toward supporting students on campus who look like me, and this is not sending that message.”

Other restructuring shifts

Other parts of Bennett’s restructuring plan include elevating UNL’s student regent and the respective presidents of the Faculty Senate and Staff Senate to his cabinet. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dee Dee Anderson, who came to UNL from the University of Southern Mississippi, like Bennett, is now the vice chancellor for student life and reports directly to Bennett.

Bennett said three offices will share the role of respectively supporting and building a sense of “community and belonging” for faculty, staff and students. They are the Offices of the Executive Vice Chancellor (faculty), Business & Finance (staff) and Office of Student Life (students).

The existing UNL National Diversity Advisory Board will be renamed and elevated to become the Chancellor’s Advisory Board on Community and Belonging.

“It is incumbent on each of us to foster a welcoming environment for all members of our community,” Bennett said.

Faculty Senate President Peter Eklund and Staff Senate President Jordan Gonzales both said they were in favor of their own elevation. Gonzales said most changes were positive, and it was one of the first times that staff would have a formal seat at the table.

Eklund said he believes dissolving the diversity and inclusion office wasn’t something Bennett wanted to do.

“No one in higher academia has a clear crystal ball,” Eklund said in an email. “But, if I was a betting person, I would bet that the other campuses in the NU system follow suit, and not because they want to.”

Gonzales said he’s glad that UNL’s motto of “every person and every interaction matters” will remain and said his top priority will be ensuring all staff feel a sense of community and belonging.

“Nebraska needs to attract top talent if we want to increase the state’s economic competitiveness and development,” Gonzales wrote in an email to fellow staff. “The university — and by extension our staff — will be a critical component to solving this grand challenge.”

‘Students don’t really want a lot’

Adidam said some of the classes she’s most resonated with have been related to DEI or access, including one during her sophomore year about how businesses implement the concepts.

“That’s what’s missing, or that’s what I think people are misinterpreting,” Adidam said. “It’s not just about race or it’s not just about gender and sexuality. It’s about taking an all-encompassing approach to education. Not giving that to students … is definitely, I think, what is holding us back as a university, but then also as the NU system.”

Saleh said the changes will place a bigger burden on students, particularly minority students and leaders, who often do larger amounts of labor and work in maintaining DEI commitments in colleges and universities.

Turner said it’s often people “who have the luxury of speaking from a place of privilege” who question DEI and who usually have the chance to talk with others who look like them or be generally supported.

Adidam said getting discouraged is something everyone faces, but along with Saleh and Turner, she said students “need to be resilient and turn that into resiliency.”

All three said it will be up to the NU community to spotlight the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

“Students don’t really want a lot,” Adidam said. “We just want to be supported and feel like we belong.”