Emory University student newspaper bemoans Trump compact, DEI cuts
An article recently published in The Emory Wheel blasted the Trump administration’s targeting of DEI initiatives in colleges and universities.
The piece decried the closure of the school’s DEI office earlier this year following a Trump executive order, and took aim at the more recent higher education compact.
A leftist student recently criticized the federal government’s actions against diversity, equity, and inclusion in an article published in a student newspaper.
The article, titled “Students: Hold line against federal influence over DEI cuts,” was published on The Emory Wheel website, a student newspaper at Georgia-based Emory University.
Will Carraway, the author of the piece, went on a lengthy diatribe against the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI, which he called “authoritarian strategies to exert greater control over educational and political institutions.”
Carraway extolled the supposed benefits of DEI and the necessity for it within the university, writing, “The departments and progressive principles that Trump seeks to erase through DEI suppression are vital to Emory’s mission of serving humanity. If we do not actively research, teach and learn with DEI principles in mind, we risk leaving individuals and valuable voices behind.”
He also condemned the closure of the school’s DEI office and criticized its “reliance on the amicable political environment required for federal money that keeps the lights on.”
Campus Reform reported on the announcement of the closure in September, which followed the Trump administration’s “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” executive order earlier this year.
The order prohibits DEI offices in institutions of higher education, along with other anti-discrimination policies, and threatens the possibility of funding cuts to schools that refuse to comply.
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The article took particular issue with the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which it called “a blatant representation of the federal government’s ongoing desire to control one of the most powerful drivers of change in the United States: college students,” though it recognized that Emory committed to rejecting the compact.
The compact, which was originally offered to nine schools and later extended nationwide, promises funding opportunities in exchange for institutions implementing a number of reforms, such as promoting free speech, acting against anti-conservative bias and violence, and using a system of merit-based admissions, Campus Reform reported.
While critical of the DEI cuts and closures, Carraway asserted his belief that the ability to continue promoting DEI policies lies with students.
“Students can and must pick up the slack left by our paralyzed administration,” he wrote. “Our power is in our numbers and in our choices: If each student chooses to recognize and appreciate the value of diversity, while working intentionally to apply principles of equity and inclusion in their learning and leadership, our campus community will be stronger than ever.”
Carraway has not been the only advocate for DEI policy in the face of pressure from the federal government. Campus Reform reported on the school’s Student Government Association posting a flyer on Instagram encouraging students to “SPEAK UP & VOTE FOR DEI AND STUDENT PROTECTION” ahead of a referendum on restoring the progressive programs.
All relevant parties have been contacted for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
