At the end of January, Indiana University School of Medicine quietly canceled its annual LGBTQ+ Health Care Conference, an event dedicated to “informing healthcare providers on the unique needs of LGBTQ patients” that it has held since 2017. Although it came a week after President Trump issued executive orders attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion and deleting the word “gender” in all federal policies and documents, no reason has been given for the cancelation; the conference webpage simply states that the “Conference has been canceled.”
Since the beginning of President Trump’s second term (less than a month ago), there has been a disturbing – and accelerating – trend of cancelations on college campuses, with all manner of events being called off, seemingly because they are related to race, LGBTQ+ identities or “DEI” — as conceived by its critics. “DEI” has taken on a broad but ill-defined meaning: everything that has to do with race, gender, disability, and national origin are being swept into a villainized category that can’t be discussed, celebrated, analyzed or made visible in any way.
The LGBTQ+ Health Care Conference is one of at least five such cancelations in recent weeks that signal an erosion of programming that stems out of diversity and inclusion initiatives or offices, which the Trump administration has made no secret of seeking to abolish.
Unfortunately, this is the new reality on many campuses as administrators are feeling pressure to comply with Trump’s vague and arguably unconstitutional executive orders. That each of these cancelations is different highlights one of the major issues here – these executive orders, while seemingly specific about “DEI” are so vague that university leaders, in order to not court trouble or lose funding, are preemptively canceling programs and eliminating projects in a rush to do what they think is being demanded. By doing so, they are capitulating up front to government efforts to broadly chill disfavored speech and undermine institutional autonomy.
In just the last three weeks, the Center for Minority Serving Institutions at Rutgers University in New Jersey, canceled a virtual conference, HBCUs and Registered Apprenticeship Mini-Conference; saying, “Unfortunately, due to President Trump’s Executive Orders … we have been asked to cease all work under the auspices of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility HUB at Jobs for the Future, which the U.S. Department of Labor funds.”
At the University of Akron, Ohio, the 28-year-old forum “Rethinking Race” was canceled in order “to abide by law, regulations and guidance at both the federal and state levels.”
And Michigan State University postponed a webinar discussion, “The Future of DEI Policy at MSU,” with an organizer explaining that the postponement was so that they could review the slate of executive orders related to higher education and DEI. Understandable. A week later, however, the university also abruptly canceled its annual Lunar New Year celebration a day before it was to take place. An email about the cancelation noted, “This decision comes in response to concerns shared by members of our community regarding the current issuance of Executive Orders related to immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion.” The email continued, “These actions have prompted feelings of uncertainty and hesitation about gathering for events that highlight cultural traditions and communities.” MSU has since said the cancelation was an “overreaction”.
As PEN America has asserted, once a university has agreed to host an event, the decision by administrators to override that choice should be made only in the rarest of circumstances. This is true both because of the decentralized nature of the university (one of its strengths), in which various units (schools, departments, student clubs), operate semi-autonomously, and because of the chilling message it sends to students, faculty, and others when events are canceled that had been appropriately planned.
Ultimately, these cancelations come at the expense of students and chip away at the kinds of events that are essential to campus life, where ideas are discussed or debated, expertise is shared, and students can network professionally or gather in cultural celebration. These cancelations stifle the academic and cultural environments that are necessary for students to thrive. Universities should strongly resist overcompliance; if campus leaders capitulate in advance, they will hollow out the space for ideas, intellectual exchange and learning that is the hallmark of higher education. Instead college and university leaders must be ready to defend their events and programs and the principles that underlie diversity, equity, inclusion and access to ensure that they protect all students’ opportunity to participate freely and equally in campus life.
