On Jan. 2, UTSA President Taylor Eighmy announced the unexpected closure of the Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIE). This comes in stark contrast to the university’s original commitment to repurposing the office and its resources. OIE served as an agent and resource to provide leadership on issues related to diversity. “Our goal is to support and promote diversity and inclusion in all aspects of campus life by developing initiatives that encourage diversity and ‘Inclusive Excellence,’” the site originally stated in March 2023. Now the site has been replaced with a closure message as of Jan. 27, 2024.
The news has people believe that the closure would have significant impacts across the board, however, it may not be as harmful as the news shows. While the name of the office certainly leads to interesting connotations, that office only assisted in the mission of diversity. Diversity itself was not prohibited by Senate Bill (SB) 17. There are other offices still active today including Student Disability Services and the Equal Opportunities Office. Students should not have to worry about offices like these disappearing because they are federally mandated offices to receive federal aid including Pell grants. One may ask, is there anything missing when OIE is removed? No there is not and here are the reasons why.
The office coordinated the actions and activities of the aforementioned offices to help prevent miscommunication or a lack of it. A later version of the site from September 2023 backs this up, saying that they provide leadership and support to departments at UTSA. It will be missed, however, it is not believed that this closure will significantly affect operations or student rights. It could affect future hiring of faculty though, with research from the National Center for Education showing that DEI initiatives not only boost student enrollment numbers among underrepresented populations but also help universities hire employees from more diverse backgrounds, creating more cultural awareness.
According to University of Houston Chancellor Renu Khator, recruiting faculty has already gotten tougher, “The ban has already come up in the hiring of a vice president for research in her university system.” Some Chancellors’ thoughts on the matter show a grim outlook for what may come for faculty, with the Chancellor of Texas Tech University Ted Mitchell saying: “Institutions need to prioritize supporting students. Our charge is to develop young men and women. And so that happens whether you have DEI or not. We have to look internally at what it is that we’re doing day in and day out to make sure that every child that comes under our care feels like they are in an environment that is welcoming and supportive for them.”
On compliance, UTSA could maintain an OIE-esque student organization due to a provision under Section 1, Subsection D, Paragraph 3, “an activity of a student organization registered with or recognized by an institution of higher education” which hypothetically could bypass SB 17. Generally speaking, after analyzing the law, the impact was shown to be contained to OIE, allowing everything else to be left peacefully. In conclusion, the impact that OIE had cannot be understated; however, it stands to reason that the people who will see the most harm will be the faculty and staff at UTSA, more so than the students.
