SUNY runs semester-long institute to train faculty as ‘DEI practitioners’
The public university system sponsors an annual institute aimed at advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion work on campus.
SUNY says the institute supports its goal of becoming the country’s 'most inclusive' university system.
The State University of New York (SUNY) sponsors an annual semester-long “Institute for DEI Professionals” that trains professors to be better “DEI practitioners.”
Next year’s rendition of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) institute will run from January to June. It’s open to SUNY employees who hold a master’s degree and “[e]xhibit proven leadership experience and a clear professional trajectory that aligns with advancing DEI work within their organization.”
SUNY describes the institute as a “rigorous and immersive program designed to advance the skills and leadership capacity of DEI practitioners by focusing on a wide range of topics and disciplinary areas with an emphasis on promoting and impacting diversity, equity, and inclusion through inclusive teaching, student support, and service to the campus community.”
“To advance SUNY’s diversity, equity, and inclusion pillar, SUNY has boldly committed to becoming the most inclusive University System in the country – where all students, faculty and staff regardless of background feel welcome and supported,” the description continues.
Throughout the program, participants will attend virtual sessions, in-person meetings, a conference, and a graduation ceremony in June.
The university will fund “the cost of meetings, materials, and speakers, as well as breakfast and lunch during in-person sessions.” Applicants must provide a “personal statement outlining the applicant’s experience in DEI.”
[RELATED: Georgia universities join Florida-backed anti-DEI accreditation agency]
SUNY’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI), which “aspires to strengthen diversity as an integral component of academic excellence,” organizes the annual institute.
SUNY’s institute could conflict with President Donald Trump’s January executive order, which threatens the loss of federal funding for universities that continue to sponsor DEI programs.
The order criticizes colleges and universities that “actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) or ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.”
Campus Reform has previously reported on similar DEI-based conferences at other universities.
In March 2024, the Washington Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference discouraged “submissions with all white male speakers.” Conference organizers sought proposals with “diverse representation in the proposed speaker line-up.”
The University of Vermont’s Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion hosted the “Inclusive Excellence Symposium” in the same month.
Campus Reform contacted the State University of New York for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
