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Algerian Hart is no longer serving in the role of assistant to the president for inclusive engagement.
SBJ file
Algerian Hart is no longer serving in the role of assistant to the president for inclusive engagement.

Updated: MSU discontinues DEI programs

Posted online

Last edited 11:56 a.m., Jan. 30, 2025 [Editor's note: Additional information and reporting has been added to this article, originally published as a Breaking News story on Jan. 29.]

Citing increased scrutiny on state and national levels, Missouri State University has discontinued its diversity, equity and inclusion programs and closed its office of inclusive engagement.

University officials said in a Jan. 29 news release that the changes were effective immediately.

“As a university, we value diverse thought and actions and support all our students, faculty and staff,” MSU President Richard “Biff” Williams said in the release. “However, 38% of our budget comes from the state. For us to continue providing a quality education to our students, we must align with the requirements laid out by state leadership.”

Gabby Picard, communications director for Gov. Mike Kehoe’s office, said the newly inaugurated governor has been clear about his opposition to DEI programs at public universities in Missouri. She pointed to a July 2024 post on the social media platform X by Kehoe following the decision by the University of Missouri to dissolve its DEI initiatives.

“The premise of DEI undermines individual responsibility, and these types of programs work against the university’s efforts to prepare students to succeed in the workforce,” Kehoe said in the post. “In Missouri, we educate students, not indoctrinate them.”

Picard additionally said that Kehoe made mention of DEI programs in his inaugural State of the State address on Jan. 28.

“This administration will be built on merit, and we will not support DEI programs in state government,” Kehoe said in the address before the 103rd General Assembly in Jefferson City. “I will be taking action on this in the coming weeks.”

Further, media reports indicate lawmakers in Jefferson City have resurfaced legislation this session that would do away with state-funded DEI programs amid a national push by the Trump administration to curb such initiatives.

One such bill was filed in January by state Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho.

Baker’s House Bill 742 states, in part, that “no funds shall be expended by any state department for intradepartmental programs, staffing or other initiatives associated with ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ or ‘diversity, inclusion and belonging’” initiatives. A public hearing has been held in committee on the bill, but it was not scheduled on the House calendar as of press time.

MSU officials said in the release that in response to previous DEI elimination efforts at the state level, the university in 2023 took actions related to certain diversity initiatives, such as removing scholarship requirements that limited eligibility based on race, sex and other characteristics and discontinuing instances where individual departments required diversity statements from job applicants.

Employee impact
Algerian Hart, former assistant to the president for inclusive engagement, told Springfield Business Journal that he is no longer serving in the role that oversees the MSU office of inclusive engagement.

“I’m faculty. I’ll have the opportunity to go back to the classroom,” he said. “We’ll see what type of opportunities exist.”

Andrea Mostyn, director of strategic communication at MSU, said the office of inclusive engagement has four employees – two faculty members and two staff members.

“The two faculty members will return to faculty positions within their colleges. Algerian Hart is one of the two faculty members,” she said via email, noting there would be no layoffs at MSU as part of the decision. “The two staff members will move to other open positions in the university.”

Asked about the MSU DEI decision’s potential impact on students, Hart said it’s too soon to tell.

“It certainly won’t be positive, because there’s a need,” he said.

MSU has taken down the web page for its office of inclusive engagement. An archived version of the web page indicates the office was designed “to enhance the institutional culture of our campus and general community” through an emphasis in four areas: access, success and equity; learning and development; campus climate; and institutional leadership and commitment. MSU’s website additionally notes the establishment of the division for diversity and inclusion in 2011. Fall 2024 data from MSU indicates 15.9% of its undergraduate student population are in the category of underrepresented, a term referring to people who are minorities.

The release also noted the cancellation of the Collaborative Diversity Conference and Inclusive Excellence Awards Gala and the elimination of them as university events. Those events had been scheduled for March.

Changes also are expected at MSU’s Mary Jean Price Walls Multicultural Resource Center, which works to support inclusive policies at the university.

“The Multicultural Resource Center will not continue to operate as it has been,” Mostyn said. “The staff is working to change the scope to one focused more on broader student resources and support.”

Opposition, support
Following MSU’s announcement, the Springfield chapter of the NAACP issued a statement condemning the move by the public university.

“This decision is a step backward for the institution and a betrayal of the values of inclusivity and equity that our community holds dear,” the statement, signed by Springfield NAACP President Kai Sutton, reads. “Missouri State University’s decision to eliminate DEI programs sends a concerning message to students, faculty and staff of color that their voices, experiences and perspectives are not valued or prioritized.”

The statement further calls on MSU to reconsider the decision impacting its DEI programs.

According to a report by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Republican politicians in early 2023 began calls in earnest for colleges to do away with DEI programs, citing free speech issues, misuse of public money and violations of antidiscrimination laws. College administrators have argued that DEI efforts are a tool in the toolbox to repair decades of exclusionary policies and practices that have impacted minority communities, according to the report.

Missouri’s senators also have come out against such programs. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, said on Fox News in late January that DEI initiatives divide Americans along race and ethnic differences and called on the ban of such practices. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Missouri, in 2024 called on the Biden administration to account for its use of federal funding for DEI programs, saying “DEI programs are an affront to everything we believe in as Americans.”

Wes Pratt, who served as MSU’s chief diversity officer 2016-22, said a lack of understanding of DEI initiatives stoked by political disinformation campaigns is a source of disappointment for him considering the MSU programs placed an emphasis “on promoting and valuing the inclusion of variety” and increasing “access for all of our students.”

“Diversity is everybody, and that’s what people don’t understand because it’s been politicized to polarize and divide our citizens,” Pratt said. “That’s where it’s disappointing.”

Implications elsewhere
An increased focus on the elimination of DEI programs at the state level could impact public entities beyond MSU, but other local institutions that receive funding from the state did not report immediate impacts.

At the city of Springfield, Taj Suleyman serves as the director of the Office of Belonging and Intercultural Development and Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator, said Cora Scott, the municipality’s director of public information and civic engagement. Suleyman was originally hired in 2021 as the city’s first director of diversity, equity and inclusion, but that title changed in 2024 along with the name of the department that previously was the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. At an April 2024 Springfield City Council meeting, Suleyman said the office would continue to offer diversity-related training and workshops while providing equitable opportunities and advocating for inclusive policies and practices.

Scott said that work would continue at the city.

“The city of Springfield has always had a focus on ensuring a healthy working environment that makes all employees feel welcome and included. We will continue that work,” Scott said via email.

At Ozarks Technical Community College, the other public college in the city alongside MSU, there are currently no DEI programs operating, said Donna Barton, the school’s director of communications.

However, that wasn’t the case in recent years. In 2023, Daniel Ogunyemi exited for an out-of-state job after serving as college director for global engagement and opportunity and the school’s first director of diversity, equity and inclusion before that. The role was changed in 2023 after a realignment expanded the duties of the job to include international student services, according to past reporting.

Barton said Ogunyemi was originally hired when Ozarks Tech received funding to create the DEI role through a federal grant program facilitated through the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.

“As with all positions, they evolve over time, and his focus shifted to shaping the college’s approach to global engagement when it came to our small population of international students,” Barton said via email. “When he left, we reassessed the position and made the decision to streamline the responsibilities into broader institutional structures such as the student success model.”

Comments

1 comment on this story |
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redgarterbrason@gmail.com

I am so glad this disgusting DEI program is OVER! It is about time. What a waste of tax payer money.

Wednesday, January 29

Comments

1 comment on this story |
Please log in to add your comment
redgarterbrason@gmail.com

I am so glad this disgusting DEI program is OVER! It is about time. What a waste of tax payer money.

Wednesday, January 29
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