500 activists rally to defend DEI at University of Michigan Faculty Senate-led protest
Approximately 500 demonstrators gathered for a Faculty Senate-led protest in favor of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the University of Michigan.
Led by the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, the rally took place on Monday morning as the board of regents are expected to eliminate DEI funding in a vote on Thursday.
Approximately 500 demonstrators gathered for a Faculty Senate-led protest in favor of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the University of Michigan.
Led by the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, the rally took place on Monday morning, The Michigan Daily reports, as the board of regents are expected to eliminate DEI funding in a vote on Thursday.
“DEI is so much more than quizzes and classes,” one student activist who spoke at the rally told the Daily.
”DEI is the reason so many students can study here and thrive. I can cite the Go Blue Guarantee, I can cite the Collegiate Fellows Program, but I will just say this: the principles of DEI have positively impacted every person here, and with improvement, DEI initiatives can do even more, but without DEI initiatives, we will all suffer,” she continued.
Associate Professor Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, who also addressed the rally, argues that Michigan has not “done enough” for DEI.
“Unlike those who claim DEI here at the University of Michigan has done nothing, my critique is we haven’t done enough,” she said according to the Daily. “Plans to defund DEI would go after programs like LSA Collegiate Fellows, which clearly indicates there are some folks in leadership on this campus who don’t know what diversity really means.”
Since 2016, the university has reportedly spent $250 million on DEI initiatives and staffers.
Michigan’s Graduate Employees’ Organization took to Instagram on Tuesday to promote the protest and argue that “DEI makes UMich better,” including by “Funding anti-racist research.”
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One professor and Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs member told the Daily that the regents are making changes in anticipation of the incoming Trump administration, which he likened to a “totalitarian” government.
“We in faculty government would prefer that the Regents saw themselves as representing us and the people of the state rather than bowing prematurely to a government that is likely to be hostile to DEI,” Derek Peterson reportedly said. “Acquiescing too early, too easily, without protest, is the way that totalitarian governments come to power.”