MTSU shutters DEI offices to comply with state, federal mandates
Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro has announced that it will cut down on its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies to comply with recent state and federal mandates.
On Wednesday, MTSU President Sidney McPhee outlined the closure of several DEI-related offices.
Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro has announced that it will cut down on its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies to comply with recent state and federal mandates.
On Wednesday, MTSU President Sidney McPhee outlined the closure of several DEI-related offices, including the June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students, the Office of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs, and the Center for Fairness, Justice, and Equity.
Websites for MTSU’s Office of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs and Center for Women and Nontraditional Students have been taken down and, as of publishing time, display error messages.
The university also restructured the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, renaming it the Office of Civil Rights Compliance.
MTSU has revised existing scholarships to remove prohibited criteria and is currently reviewing all website references to DEI, per the announcement.
McPhee also announced that, by Sept. 1, MTSU will remove website references to DEI and eliminate university support for “affinity groups or programs that focus on characteristics that fall within the referenced DEI mandates.”
McPhee explicitly stated in his letter that the purpose of the reforms is “to comply with the referenced DEI-mandated directives.”
“[W]e know these changes have caused some concerns across our community,” McPhee explained. “However, let me reiterate, MTSU has, and will continue, to serve all students and provide the resources needed to succeed.”
The recent announcement follows a campus-wide message from June 10 that outlined the DEI reduction at MTSU. “The University is required to make the necessary adjustments to achieve full compliance with state law and executive orders,” McPhee stated at the time.
Campus Reform recently reported that Sen. Marsha Blackburn demanded three Tennessee universities completely dismantle their DEI initiatives, rather than simply rebranding them.
In letters to the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, and Belmont University, Blackburn cited undercover videos showing staff admitting to disguising DEI efforts and, in Belmont’s case, shielding illegal alien students.
