Rider DEI unchanged after DOE deadline

By Jake Tiger

Despite a federal letter giving schools a Feb. 28 deadline and threatening to pull funding, Rider has not announced any amendments to its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, as recent legal challenges are likely to give institutions a moment of reprieve.

Following the Department of Education’s Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter, ordering all schools cease race-conscious programming, Rider organized a private, 13-member study group to comb through the university’s DEI offerings, searching for anything that federal onlookers could use to justify a withdrawal of federal funding.

Rider is a tuition-dependent institution, and many of its students rely on federal financial aid, like the Pell Grant program, Stafford Loans and the federal work-study program. 

Rider President Gregory Dell’Omo said in an interview on Feb. 25 that a loss of federal funding would be detrimental to the university, which is simultaneously fending off an multi-million-dollar operating deficit, nationwide dips in college enrollment and the pandemic’s lingering financial ripples.

On March 3, Rider Communications Director Rachel Stengel declined interview requests from The Rider News and instead offered a statement on behalf of the study group: “At this time, the study group is continuing its review of University programs and policies. We will continue to assure our compliance with applicable law as we study related developments in the courts and the administration. Rider stands against all forms of discrimination. We strive to be a welcoming and safe space for all.”

Vice President of External Affairs Kristine Brown, the chair of the study group, said she was unavailable for an interview and referred press inquiries to Stengel.

Dell’Omo’s office has not sent out additional universitywide updates since announcing the study group’s formation on Feb. 20.

The American Federation of Teachers and American Sociological Association filed a lawsuit against the DOE on Feb. 25, challenging its anti-DEI demands and its interpretation of a 2023 landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that ended race-based affirmative action in higher education.

The DOE’s letter asserts that if race-based admissions are unconstitutional, then all race-based programming and opportunities within education must be unconstitutional.

In a statement released by the American Federation of Teachers immediately following the suit, the organization’s president, Randi Weingarten, called the DOE letter vague, unconstitutional and “a grave attack on students, our profession and knowledge itself.”

Chief Diversity Officer Heeyoung Kim, who is a member of the study group, declined to answer questions about the study group but agreed to speak with The Rider News about the general state of DEI in higher education.

Kim said she attended a virtual meeting organized by the American Council of Education that focused on understanding the “Dear Colleague” letter and its implications. The meeting, attended by about 5,000 people, showed just how many educators are “not sure what to do,” she said.

After President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders and the DOE’s “Dear Colleague” letter, higher education institutions across the country have already dialed back or disassembled their DEI initiatives. 

While Rider’s DEI initiatives remained intact after the deadline, Rowan University, located about an hour from Rider in South Jersey, renamed its Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Division of Inclusive Excellence, Community and Belonging. Shortly after, in a Feb. 27 statement from the university’s president, titled, “Ensuring we are inclusive to all,” Rowan announced it completely closed the renamed division in response to the “Dear Colleague” letter.

Kim had “many sleepless nights last year” seeing states propose and pass bans on DEI initiatives. Twelve states currently have DEI bans, including Texas, Florida and North Carolina, and anti-DEI bills have been introduced in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota and more, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. An anti-DEI bill has not been passed or introduced in New Jersey.

The bill in Pennsylvania, introduced on Jan. 22, would ban higher-education institutions in the state from having mandatory diversity training or requiring students to take diversity-related courses to graduate. 

Rider’s CDO reiterated that the university is “not going to give up” on DEI, as it has heavily invested in its diversity initiatives in recent years, from the creation of Kim’s position to the founding of Rider’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion.

Rider Trustee Joe McDougall, who is chair of the active presidential search committee, said to The Rider News in November 2024 that diversity was being valued during the hunt for Rider’s next president, mentioning the high diversity among candidates placed by Storbeck Search, the firm spearheading the process.

McDougall also said he planned to give the committee DEI training to ensure the hiring is “done the right way.”

Kim said, “Our mission has not been changed. … Whatever action we do, I do believe that we’re going to serve our mission, and at the same time, whatever guidelines come out, we have to comply.”