Rider mulls DEI ‘balancing act’ as DOE deadline looms 

By Jake Tiger

As sweeping federal demands rattled institutions and diversity initiatives nationwide, Rider formed a group of staff, students and faculty members to scan the university’s offerings for potentially problematic terms and ideas that could lead to Rider losing millions in federal funding.

Since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, diversity, equity and inclusion, particularly in academic settings, has been nicked, cut and gashed by multiple federal actions, with a Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter from the Department of Education demanding all schools cease race-based programming and opportunities by Feb. 28.

According to Rider President Gregory Dell’Omo, the DEI study group, announced to the university via an email from his office on Feb. 20, will aim to help Rider navigate a volatile time in higher education, with the potential loss of federal funding being detrimental

“It has created a lot of confusion and angst among everybody at the university,” Dell’Omo said in a Feb. 25 interview with The Rider News. “It has a lot of ramifications.”

External Affairs Vice President Kristine Brown, who is spearheading the group, declined to share the names of its members to avoid the “risk of pressure from those outside of [Rider’s] community.”

‘It’s about humans’

Rider’s study group has 13 undisclosed members: two students, two faculty members and nine staff members. The staff representation includes high-ranking administrators like Brown and Chief Diversity Officer Heeyoung Kim, who told The Rider News she was a member of the group.

The group’s faculty members declined interviews with The Rider News.

Rider Student Government Association President Christina Natoli said two SGA representatives were selected as members of the study group, but she declined to disclose who they were.

Jasmine Johnson, director of Rider’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion, said she was not in the group and referred press inquiries to Kim.

For other critical groups formed by the university in recent years, like the current presidential search committee and 2023’s campus safety preparedness committee, the names of members were shared with the community over email. However, for its DEI study group, the university made a point to keep the identity of members private.

Brown said, “[We wanted] to just give people an opportunity to participate in something without outside influence or criticism. … We may all feel one way personally, but we know there are a lot of people who feel differently.”

A few initial members of the group met early last week to discuss who else should be included in the DEI examination, and after invites were sent out, a virtual meeting with all available members was planned for Feb. 27, according to Brown.

Brown said she attended four virtual webinars last week organized by academic organizations like the American Council on Education and National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and each webinar recommended universities form a study group to understand where and how they could be targeted.

In addition to faculty and students, Rider’s study group members include representation from “most divisions” of the university, according to Brown, including enrollment, marketing, admissions, student affairs and human resources.

Prior to the DOE’s Feb. 28 deadline, Dell’Omo said the group will try to review all of Rider’s offerings for anything with a “DEI connotation” that could make it a target for a federal-funding withdrawal: course names and descriptions, the titles of on-campus organizations and spaces, Rider’s awards and scholarship offerings, and more.

After that, Dell’Omo said, the hard part begins with assessing how changes would be implemented and communicated if funding does begin to be stripped away. Decisions would be made by Dell’Omo and his cabinet, not the study group.

“This is not a decision-making group,” Dell’Omo said. “They’re just gathering the information. However, if decisions are made … we don’t want these people to be labeled or be approached saying, ‘You contributed to this decision.’”

Rider, a private institution, receives federal funding and many of its students benefit from federal financial aid, like the Pell Grant program, Stafford Loans and the federal work-study program. Brown said Rider students receive an approximate total of $35 million to $36 million in federal loans and grants each year.

According to Dell’Omo, the loss of federal funding would jeopardize Rider, a tuition-dependent institution, and any of its students who depend on federal financial aid.

Brown said, “It’s not just about universities. It’s about people. It’s about students. It’s about humans.”

Dell’Omo did not say whether or not another universitywide communication would be sent out on or after the “Dear Colleague” letter’s Feb. 28 deadline, saying it was “to be decided” and “things are changing by the second.”

Dell’Omo said the university would evaluate whether or not it would join in on a lawsuit filed by a larger group or organization in higher education, like the American Association of University Professors or the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

“Everything we’re doing now was legal 30 days ago. … Now, we’re being told a lot of it may not be legal,” Dell’Omo said. “We’ll be watching those lawsuits very, very closely because we do feel there is a great need for clarification and understanding. There’s a lot of confusion.”

‘A vacuum of waiting’

Following Trump’s inauguration, the AAUP, a national organization of professors unions, released a statement urging its membership to resist actions from institutions that could be considered “anticipatory obedience,” complying with demands under legal challenge or proposed legislation before it is passed. Quinn Cunningham, president of Rider’s AAUP chapter, said the faculty union’s leadership was not involved in the study group and had not been given any details on it by the university.

Rider’s AAUP referred the union-wide statement on “anticipatory obedience” to its members on Feb. 18 after an email from College of Arts and Sciences Dean Kelly Bidle requested department chairs begin examining courses for terms that could violate the DOE’s letter. The union claimed the message encouraged professors to “preemptively remove potentially sensitive material,” but Bidle said that was not her intent.

“I never asked anyone to change anything,” Bidle said in a Feb. 21 interview with The Rider News. “I, also, respect academic freedom, and in a perfect world, this is nothing we’re even going to have to deal with, but the world we’re in right now, I don’t think anyone can predict what’s going to happen.”

Bidle concluded the email with a striking statement: “Don’t sacrifice your values, but don’t put an unnecessary target on your back.” She subsequently told The Rider News she wished she could have that line back.

“It’s a moment where I maybe should have taken a breath and edited,” Bidle said. “It was probably more personal for me. I probably just wouldn’t have said it.”

Bidle was unsure how many courses and programs could be impacted by the DOE’s proposed changes, but said concepts like DEI and belonging are important to the college and complementary to certain disciplines.

The CAS offers a multicultural studies minor, and as a whole, Rider has a number of courses whose concepts are intertwined with race. When asked what advice she would offer to the faculty and students in those classes, she said, “Continue doing what you’re doing. It’s history. We’re in a vacuum of waiting. Deeply reading that letter, where they’re going doesn’t necessarily seem to be the classroom. I hope it stays that way.”

“I think, as a whole, we are an anti-discriminatory group of people,” Bidle said. “I feel nothing but supportive of those ideals [diversity, equity and inclusion], personally but also professionally. … It’s disbelief at what we’re dealing with right now.”

Bidle said she was not a member of the study group but did recommend the two faculty members who were eventually appointed.

Norm Brodsky College of Business Dean Eugene Kutcher said he is not a member of the group but supported Bidle’s recommendations. College of Education and Human Services Dean Jeanine Dingus-Eason said she was not in the study group.

‘A balancing act’

The DOE’s letter expands the interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which deemed that factoring race into college admissions was unconstitutional. The decision ended race-based affirmative action, a process that sought to address disadvantages among groups that were historically oppressed or excluded from opportunities.

Trump also signed multiple executive orders in January demanding sweeping DEI cutbacks, including the termination of equity-related grants, the changing of how transgender athletes can participate in sports and the amending of federal policy to state that there are only two genders. Trump has also mentioned the possibility of cutting the DOE entirely.

Universities have already started purging their online presence of DEI-related terms and offerings. According to an article from The Daily Northwestern on Feb. 23, Northwestern University Libraries removed mentions of diversity from its website. According to The Daily Pennsylvanian on Feb. 14, the University of Pennsylvania stripped its main DEI website, removing references to diversity and equity. 

Rider, however, has not made any changes in response to federal actions thus far, Dell’Omo said, but the university is making a plan should the new regulations move forward.

“That idea of inclusiveness, equal opportunity, respect, belonging should be a part of any organization, and we’re going to try to uphold those values as best we can,” Dell’Omo said. “At the same time, we recognize that we are in a different environment right now given the lens in which the current administration is looking at DEI initiatives. … It’s a balancing act.”

The intent of DEI initiatives is to advance groups, like women and minorities, who have been historically discriminated against and barred from certain professional and academic opportunities. DEI practices also aid in ensuring leadership and decision-making bodies represent a diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives.

Dell’Omo said the Trump administration’s justification for its DEI cutbacks is “like a reverse discrimination argument” that states any preferential treatment of any kind or of any group is discriminatory regardless of past oppression and injustices.

In a January executive order targeting DEI, Trump called the hiring practices “corrosive” and vowed to restore “merit-based opportunity.”

Dell’Omo said, “We want this to be a university that reflects society and the diversity in our communities. … Diversity of ideas is always very, very good, whether you’re running a business, a government, a sports team or a university.”

He added, “I just want to make sure people feel a sense of belonging and inclusiveness and you’ll be given an opportunity to be as successful as possible at this university. We’ll do everything within our power, both legally and within our values, to make that happen. That’s what education is about. That’s what transforming lives is all about … giving people opportunities to grow regardless of your background.”