OPINION: Eliminating DEI in Idaho higher education is a backward move

The Idaho State Board of Education is currently considering a proposal that would ban diversity-equity-inclusion (DEI) programs on all college campuses.

But, in their deliberations, are they also looking at the unintended consequences of such action?

A bit of background: The Idaho State Legislature has repeatedly expressed displeasure/distrust of DEI programs. Several legislators have called DEI unfair because it reportedly makes white students feel guilty about their place in society. To date, the legislature has yet to define DEI despite heated debates on the topic. Still, in 2023 the legislature passed a higher education budget prohibiting DEI activities, and the State Board of Education may vote in December on a policy that would eliminate DEI activities at the state's colleges and universities.

As a result, many state schools — including the University of Idaho — would be forced to disband their diversity programs. At UI, this would include the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Women’s Center, the African American Student Center and the LGBTQA Center.

For many people, DEI means promoting fair treatment of all people, but especially those groups who have been historically underrepresented or objects of discrimination because of their identity or disability. Traditionally, this includes people of different races, cultural backgrounds, religions, physical or intellectual abilities, economic and political backgrounds.

In short, diversity includes those things which separate us from one another as humans. Many people consider DEI as human rights.

By eliminating programs which can help people better understand other cultures and people, the SBOE and state legislature will be placing Idaho students at a disadvantage in understanding the world.

As a professor, many times I had to explain to students why another culture was different. Not bad, just different. So many students made truly shocking/insulting statements to people of other cultures purely out of ignorance, often they did not know it was an insult. In the business world, it would be a disaster.

If Idaho is preparing students to work in this deeply interconnected world, the students must know how to interact with other cultures and people, or they will not be successful in their jobs.

Recently, UI administrators announced a new program designed to help first generation students cope better with college life. While this is a great start, if the university was to eliminate programs such as the Women’s Center and the African American Student Center — along with groups for Latino/Chicano/Hispanic, Asian and Native American students — many students may feel as though they have no immediate support system.

Literally hundreds of my former female students used the Women’s Center as a safe place. The support ranged from adjusting to life as a woman on campus to dealing with gender inequality to rape or dealing with trauma.

African American students have a particular need for such a center since Idaho is 80% white. Having a space where there are other people who look like them and understand their cultures is important for their own mental health. The same is true of other groups.

Therein lies the financial rub for the state in the form of an unintended consequence. Without such support systems in place, many students will choose another school, another state for college and Idaho will lose tuition. More importantly, they will lose the more expensive out-of-state and international tuition and a wide range of multicultural students who bring a wealth of knowledge to Idahoans.

There is also the issue of accreditation. University programs with national accreditation demand diversity programs; without diversity, the program loses accreditation.

Idaho students could opt to go to another state rather than stay home, feeling they would be better supported emotionally and professionally elsewhere.

This is not to say there would be an immediate mass exodus from Idaho schools. What it will do is make recruiting the best and brightest students — and faculty — much more difficult, leading to a loss in both student and faculty retention and revenues for the schools.

Hopefully, the SBOE and legislature will look carefully at all the consequences. Exposing students to other ideas is not a bad thing, it helps them with their critical thinking skills and determining their own ideals as adults.

But the bottom line is still the simple fact that if such a rule is passed, it will be the students who suffer first, then eventually the state’s finances as people decide not to go to school or work at Idaho’s colleges anymore.

Tallent was a journalism faculty member at the University of Idaho for 13 years before her retirement in 2019. She is of Cherokee descent and is a member of both the Indigenous Journalists Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. She also writes for FaVS (Faith and Values) News.