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Lori McDonald, the vice president for student affairs at the University of Utah, said that the timeline in which the university had to close its Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion was much shorter than universities usually require for major restructuring decisions.
Photo illustration by Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed | University of Utah | CRobertson/iStock/Getty Images
The University of Utah is one of many institutions in Republican-led states nationwide to be impacted by legislation mandating the closure of diversity, equity and inclusion offices—as well as the cultural and affinity centers that typically fall under the DEI umbrella.
Though some lauded Utah’s law for being more lenient than others, it still prompted the U, as the flagship is known, to close three centers: the LGBT Resource Center, the Women’s Resource Center and the Center for Equity and Student Belonging, previously called the Center for Ethnic Student Affairs. The Black Cultural Center remains open but has been stripped of all programming, leaving it only as a “community gathering space.”
The U implemented the changes to comply with guidance from the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE), which clarified that universities could not offer resources that appeared to be available only to some students and not others (even if they were technically open to all). When the changes went into effect on July 1, they drew backlash from campus community members.
Inside Higher Ed spoke over Zoom with Lori McDonald, the U’s vice president of student affairs, about how the university approached the roll out of HB 261, Utah’s anti-DEI bill, what the fall semester will look like without the campus cultural centers and the potential comeback of the Black Cultural Center. Her responses follow, edited for length and clarity.
On public misconceptions about how the U implemented the state’s anti-DEI bill:
I feel that maybe what was missed, not intentionally or anything, is maybe we don’t take as much time to appreciate how the infrastructure of an institution [traditionally] changes rather slowly … and this moment in time was something that was done very quickly.
A law was passed that had implications to how we structure and do things. I appreciate that the law in Utah was written so that it would go into effect July 1, and it was signed into law at the end of January, so many would think that is a good period of time to figure it all out and to make these changes. Actually, when it comes to the way we traditionally do things here, that is not very long … It then took some time to get guidance from [USHE].
It was like we were making changes quickly, and that is difficult for many of our communities to wrap our heads around. I don’t want that to come across as defensive in any way, but I also recognize that, at least at the University of Utah, many of our faculty [and students] are not around [over the summer] … I think there’s this perception that has come out in reporting that things were done … at a time when many stakeholders and people in the community did not feel that they had time to give input, and that’s very valid … but I think looking at the context is important.
On the steps the university had to take in figuring out how to implement the bill:
[Within student services], probably the largest, most profound part of the bill was that it prohibited the university from having a division of equity, diversity and inclusion. The division here had included several centers that were mostly student facing, but I would be remiss in saying that they didn’t also bring the community together and our faculty and our staff. Saying that that needed to be reorganized was tremendous. It had staff. It had spaces. It had programs—some long traditions that moved to EDI when it was created, and some were brand-new traditions.
In many ways, the first steps were really getting people to talk about this. What is this implication? … We [were] reading the law and [saying], “Well, we can’t have a division, but I think some of these things that we’re doing would not be a violation of the law, and some things we need to change.” But nobody really knew what it was going to look like, and that is incredibly difficult.
[There was] a lot of talking through it and a lot of seeking clarification. Our law in Utah [includes] a requirement of our Utah Board of Higher Education to make a report to the legislative body at a certain time, so that they are charged with really ensuring that we’re following the law … so it was also very important for us to hear from them. How are they interpreting the law? What might work? What might this look like?
On why some of the university’s cultural centers—including the American Indian Resource Center, which was renamed the Center for Native Excellence and Tribal Engagement—survived while others didn’t:
The law is that student resources and programs need to be made available for all students. In many ways, those who were working in these centers in particular were thinking, “Well, we don’t restrict people from using these centers.” But the guidance that we got from our USHE board was more instructive about the fact that resources and student support services … need to be in a place where all students know they have access.
There are obviously some perceptions that services and supports in some of these centers are not open to all students. The LGBT Resource Center at the University of Utah was just over 20 years old, and it had the word “resource” in its name. Certainly, our whole campus community benefited from programs and things like that. But ultimately it was started as a student support center with resources. And so, if we take that away, what is that?
The guidance that came also clarified that we could still have cultural centers based on the personal identity characteristics mentioned in the bill, but that those centers needed to have a very clear focus on only things like celebration, education, awareness of cultural issues that must be open to all and [must be] for the purpose of learning, and that they must not provide services.
Our Black Cultural Center was … designed around a lot of community-building with the community and [later] developed some student services. That’s why I think that that is a natural place for us to look at developing a potential for that to reopen.
On the future of cultural centers at the University of Utah:
Our Black Cultural Center was our newest, or our youngest, and that really was designed around a lot of community-building with the community and [later] developed some student services. That’s why I think that that is a natural place for us to look at developing a potential for that to reopen.
We are hoping to learn what this process [would be] through our first proposal to the [USHE] board coming up in October, where we are saying, “This is how we are first changing the centers to be what we believe is compliant with the guidance and the bill. I think we will learn a lot from that process. What have we missed? What did we get it right? What are their questions, concerns, changes that they want us to make? Or are we on track?” And then I think we could say, “OK, how might a Black Cultural Center be open and welcoming to everyone and provide that specific education and awareness?”
It was designed, again, very specifically with outreach to our community—the Black Chamber of Commerce, the Divine Nine [sororities and fraternities]. We have a number of community organizations that the Black Cultural Center was interfacing with and doing programming [with] out in the community, and bringing them here to campus. [We] would be also looking to the community to engage in providing that, but [also] being very thoughtful and intentional about the fact that all of that programming is open to all students and [making clear] that it is intended for everyone to come and enjoy.
On the impact of the changes on the EDI division’s staff:
It was a very significant morale issue, saying, “This won’t exist.” The bill [also says] an institution cannot take a position on some things, some concepts, that really were part of the work that these offices did. It’s been a grieving process for many of our staff, who probably started that process earlier than our students and faculty.
It was also just kind of grappling with, “Where might we put this team?” … We thought some people might want to leave because of this tremendous change, and how do we kind of support that, in a way, while also thinking about how we could put these new teams together? That is something that we would normally do over the course of a year. In higher ed, we usually do things by task force and committee, and it takes a really long time, and this was by necessity to be ready by July 1.
On how minority students can be supported in the absence of cultural centers:
That’s the primary concern of our faculty and staff, who rightly say, “If a student comes to me in a classroom or somewhere else, I would refer them to these centers, knowing that they would have a space that might be more comfortable, more safe, to talk about what they’re going through.”
I think student affairs and all of our student resources on campus have always strived to be a welcoming place for everyone. The Financial Wellness Center is providing financial literacy and workshops, and they’ve always tried to do it in a culturally thoughtful, relevant way. Now, we have to really ensure that that is everywhere, because there [will no longer] be the financial wellness workshop in the LGBT Resource Center, where someone maybe felt more comfortable asking questions about something related to that identity. We still need to make sure that students know there are people all over campus that want to help them, and allow them to be their authentic selves when they are getting those services … But it’s not going to be “Here’s the obvious place to start.”
It has helped me, at least, thinking about, “What are the resources in our community?” We tend to be very insular in the university, but we happen to be in Salt Lake City. It’s a very large city. We’re an urban campus, and really reaching out more to … the resources in this thriving community that could provide some spaces that maybe we cannot.
