DEI departments will be banned in Texas colleges and universities. At what price?

By Bill Zeeble

On July 20, 2023

Texas is the latest state to target Diversity, Equity and Inclusion departments in public colleges and universities.

A new law going into effect in January bans DEI departments in higher education. With it, Texas joins more than a dozen other states that have either done the same or are seriously considering it, including Florida and Iowa.

M. Yvonne Taylor, a lecturer at Rice University and recent PhD graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, says the law will hurt not only students, but higher education overall.

“DEI work is really important. Student-belonging for students of color is really important. Retaining and recruiting faculty of color is really important in a state like Texas,” she said. “And this is going to be harmful to those institutions but ultimately to the state.”

Taylor runs her own DEI consulting firm, EquityWithin. She spoke with KERA education reporter Bill Zeeble about what the DEI ban could mean for businesses, schools, and the state.

Yvonne Taylor: What you’re going to see is a chasm between those organizations and institutions who are continuing to do this work and those who aren’t. Texas, for example, is one of the most diverse states in the United States. One out of every 10 people under the age of 18 lives in Texas. Sixty-seven percent are of color. And so you want those folks to be successful in your schools and in your workplaces, because ultimately that’s beneficial to everyone. Not supporting those folks in our educational organizations actually does a disservice to everyone.

Bill Zeeble: Given that view of what DEI means and can do, how do you expect this might affect colleges and universities now forced to dismantle their departments?

Diversity, equity and inclusion includes those with marginalized identities, which is beyond race and ethnicity. It includes gender. It includes queer communities. It includes disability advocacy. It even includes, in higher education, veterans support as veterans are a protected class.

So I think it’s important for people to understand that DEI, yes, it is very valuable related to race and ethnicity, but it also includes programming far beyond that that is effective in the recruitment and retention of students, faculty and staff in higher education across many marginalized identities.

In Texas, even though it’s a law that says you’ve got to get rid of your DEI departments in our colleges and universities, I’m wondering how enforceable it may be, especially since some of these departments aren’t named DEI specifically.

Yes, there’s a lot of work that can be considered DEI. As I mentioned before, work that has to do with gender studies, queer communities, disability studies, veterans support any kind of work that is related to supporting those with a marginalized identity in higher education in some way. And ultimately, the work is about removing barriers for those folks, providing them with supports that that allow them to be successful in the college environment or in a work environment.

That work happens in student belonging. It happens in it happens in even in student housing. It happens in lots of different positions. If the organization is still committed to equity and inclusion, it will be very difficult to completely weed that out because that kind of effort is embedded within the kind of work that everyone does.

If you’re working with organizations and businesses, profit and nonprofit, who still hold to DEI desires and standards, what defines the difference between those who think it’s a good thing and Texas lawmakers who say it’s a bad thing?

Well, one of the things that I would say is that this is actually my research. This is actually peer reviewed and evidence-based. My position is. I don’t know that the folks advising the governor actually are looking at the evidence-based research on what is beneficial to organizations, what’s beneficial to students. I think a lot of the rhetoric that you’ll hear about DEI is related to how students may feel. Those feelings, those ideas, even about their students feelings, just aren’t borne out by the research.

This piece was republished from the KERA PBS News.