Rutgers faculty upset over DEI losses
By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Rutgers University has recently removed DEI language from websites disbanded committees related to diversity and ended a faculty career training program, geared to women, moves that have alarmed many faculty and librarians.
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The changes included removing the words "diversity" " equity," "inclusion," "belonging," and "safe space" on the website for Rutgers' libraries. including from a section discussing its values and principles.
..... The move is at odds with the core mission of a publicly funded state university library system, which in New Jersey are synonymous with safety and welcoming, Rutgers librarians said.
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"Reports are mounting that the Rutger University administration is pressuring departments, centers, institutes and libraries to erase or dilute diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) language and initiatives that reflect decades of collective work," according to a statement released by the faculty union, the American Association of University Professors at Rutgers.
..... When asked about the array of changes, the university said it was complying with federal law, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that banned affirmative action in college admissions.
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"Since the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision on schools; use of race in admissions, Rutgers has been engaged in an exercise to ensure that university is complying with all federal and state anti-discrimination laws that cerate even a perception of exclusion based on sex, race, ethnicity," Dorey Devlin, a university spokesperson, said in a statement.
..... "Rutgers' compliance review has necessarily led to changes to ensure that admissions practices, scholarships, partnerships, programs and offices are open to all," she said.
..... The "new Office of Civil Right and Equal Opportunity at Rutgers will also help oversee" compliance, complaints, and practices to support operating :as an institution where opportunity and social mobility abound for all, shes said.
..... Tara D. Kelley, an archivist on Rutgers' new Brunswick campus, was preparing for a scheduled meeting of the OASIA Leadership and Development Program, a six-month career training geared to women faculty, when she learned that it was being discontinued in January [2026] - with two months of training already completed.
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A forwarded email sent by a director of Faculty Mentoring & Outreach landed in her inbox the day before the January [2026] training.
..... It came from Keena Arbuthnot, a former associate of Rutgers President William Tate IV when he ran Louisiana State University and now Rutgers' executive vice president for academic affairs.
..... "Aligned with President Tate's announcement on November 24, 2025, regarding the closure of the Office of University Equity and Inclusion, the Office of University Academic Affairs has made the decision to discontinue certain programs offered by the unit at this time, including the program in which you are currently enrolled."
..... The OASIA training program is geared to women, "but it accepted male colleagues too," said Kelly, the archivist. Kelley was training with clinicians and faculty. The 12-year-old program "had an identity,: said Kelly. It had alumni, swag and a graduation ceremony.
..... A link to the OASIS program from the university's website now redirects to a page from its older address to a page that says "Opportunity For All."
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The Faculty diversity collaborative, another program that closed, also redirects from its original web address to a new one.
..... Tate, who took office as Rutgers' 22nd president in 2025, had dropped DEI language at Louisiana State University under a state governor friendly to President Donald Trump.
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Tate was pubic about closing Rutgers' Office of University equity and Inclusion, which has been cerated in 2020 under his predecessor, Jonathan Holloway. Tate replaced it with the Office of Civil Right and Equal Opportunity under Arbuthnot's direction.
..... It was needed to advance the university's mission" without distraction or distortion," he said at the time.
..... Union leaders and librarians say that the changes were not thought through and were not done in a transparent way.
..... "Most concerning is how uneven and unclear this is," said Carlos Decena, a union leader for full-time faculty who teaches about women's and gender studies. It was "unilateral decision-making."
..... "We all have an investment in DEI challenges," Decena said. "Social justice values are not just for communities of color."
..... "The changes are inconsistent and sloppy and reflect poorly on the university - how can we accept broken links and missing pages?" said librarian Katie Anderson, who represents the libraries at the university Senate, a body consistent of students and faculty.
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"T Here has yet to be any formal acknowledgment of why DEI language has been removed and staff,, students, faculty, alumni and the public are owed a clear reasoning," Anderson said.
..... External DEI events appear to be continuing as planned. Rutgers will host the Association of Research Libraries; 2026 DEI Institute, according to the library website.
..... "I think everyone right now is struggling with what's being asked of us from the university, as opposed to what our values are personally and what our values are as an institution," said Melissa De Fino, a librarian on the New Brunswick campus.
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The libraries were notified on February 3 [2026 via email that their DEI Committee would be eliminated.
..... Instead of scrapping committees, the university could have worked on changing them, Anderson said.
..... "If the recent changes are a result of this initiative, I would have thought then that instead of being asked to sunset committees and change working and remove websites the institutions would have been to change the names to better align with eh office of civil rights and equal opportunity," said Anderson.
..... DEI language was also scrubbed from the libraries; websites, "specifically from our mission statement and goals," said De Fino.
..... Scrubbing these words is to "make sum people invisible," and is "not something we can just do," said De Fino. "People have to be aware of that."
..... "We also want to make sure people know that whatever our university is doing, the library is still a safe space. The library is about belonging." That "includes our Online spaces."
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DEI policies have faced criticism for interfering with and even imposing an ideological slant to merti-based hiring and admissions. The second Trump administration, acting on an early executer order from President Donald Trump, has adopted anti-DEI polices that have impacted low-income and LGBTOIA+ communities, many of which were struck down in court.
..... Rutgers scientists were among thousands of others impacted when the Trump administration withdrew grants for research if they used words like "diversity."
..... Moves to shutter DEI initiatives and language are happening across Rutgers. Union members reported "a range' of changes, said Decena. "In some cases. some members were reporting that archives were being eliminated," he said.
..... Faculty said the university has avoided maintaining an explicit paper trail, with these efforts coming down the pipe verbally from deans and department heads.
..... A dean who told his faculty about removing DEI reference at a February 11 [2026] meeting in the School of Communication and Information Sciences appeared "reluctant," and "pressed to do so," said associate professor Britt Paris.
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At Rutgers, this "is not just a rhetorical slide. It's a material theft. We're taking money away and taking programmatic offerings away," said Paris.