Chapman DEI programming featured 'Fem Queer Fest' and 'Queer Halloween Dance Party'
'We value diversity and inclusion in the learning environment and believe it is vital to the fulfillment of the university mission,' Chapman writes.
The extensive DEI policies, however, have not completely insulated Chapman from claims of permitting discrimination, particularly in the form of anti-Semitism.
Chapman University, a private college in Southern California, has extensive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and positions, including a DEI program that has been ongoing for more than a decade.
During the 2023–24 school year, Chapman’s LGBTQ Staff and Faculty Forum hosted 16 events, including “Queer Halloween Dance Party,” “DEI All Affinity Parent and Family Spring Summit,” “Aromantic Awareness,” and “Fem Queer Fest.”
“We value diversity and inclusion in the learning environment and believe it is vital to the fulfillment of the university mission,” the university says in its “Statement on Diversity & Inclusion.”
Chapman operates a “Diversity Project” which, according to its website, “endeavors to bring students, staff, faculty, administrators, alumni, community members, and trustees together for meaningful dialogue focused on developing strategic priorities and recommendations for diversity and inclusion at Chapman.”
The initiative has been running since the fall 2014 semester and is sponsored by the Office of the Provost. “The Chapman Diversity Project is comprised of eight advisory groups, five task forces, and a response committee,” the university website explains.
Specifically, the university operates advisory groups on the “Status of Disability & Accessibility,” “Faith, Spirituality, & Secularism,” “International Communities,” “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, & Queer Communities,” “People of Color,” “Socio-economic Stratification,” and “Women.”
In total, the advisory groups have more than a dozen faculty and staff, chairpersons, and coordinators. The school also has a dedicated position entitled “Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”
On its “Diversity and Inclusion” page, the university also celebrates achieving “milestones” for DEI enrollment, despite the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard finding race-based affirmative action to be unconstitutional.
The extensive DEI policies, however, have not completely insulated Chapman from claims of permitting discrimination, particularly in the form of anti-Semitism.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a complaint against Chapman earlier this year for allegedly allowing anti-Semitism to continue unpunished at the school.
“After the October 7th Hamas massacre,” the center alleged, “actions by [Chapman Students for Justice in Palestine] and its members included removing a Jewish student from the group because of his shared Jewish ancestry and making heinous death threats against a different Jewish student.”
Campus Reform has contacted Chapman University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
