Oregon State boasts about diversity award as its US News ranking drops another 8 spots

Oregon State University boasted about a national diversity and inclusion award concurrent to the school continuing to slide in national rankings.

The school released a statement on October 4 announcing that it had joined 100 other schools in receiving the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award. OSU Interim President Rebecca “Becky” Johnson is quoted as saying the award reflects the institution’s commitment to “advancing diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the university.”

Around three weeks earlier, on September 13, U.S. News & World Report announced its 2022 Best National Universities Rankings, which showed OSU occupying the #162 position. 

OSU’s ranking was eight spots lower from the previous year, when in 2020 the school appeared as #153 on U.S. News’ list.  

In 2018 and 2019, the university ranked #140 and #139, respectively.

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Around the same time period, OSU has actively promoted social justice among its student body. 

As Campus Reform previously reported in the last three years, the school has a special therapist for African-American students and a “Food and Culture in Social Justice” certificate program. 

Likewise, the school hired in 2017 an administrator charged with pushing “diversity education” in residence spaces.

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OSU has earned the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award every year since 2018. 

Three years prior to that first award, the university paid a DEI consulting firm $100,000 to conduct diversity training workshops.

The workshops were part of a five-year “strategic plan” to advance DEI efforts within the OSU Department of Engineering.

Campus Reform reached out to Oregon State University for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.