Who Is Missing in Fights to Save DEIA on College Campuses? Parents.
Ways parents can join the fight to save crucial scholarships, programs, and departments on college campuses.
What is happening?
If you have been online at all in the past 3 months, you have seen several state schools shutter their DEI programs and departments, supposedly in adherence to the laws of their state legislatures and with pressure from their boards.
Many of these schools release crocodile tear-filled letters and press releases noting how sorry they are to cause such an uproar in the lives of their students and faculty. The folks who work in DEI departments and resources offices that provide services to students affected will be placed in other offices. They will continue to find ways to ensure they uphold the vision of an inclusive, diverse community they say. They are just doing their job 🙄.
First of all, this is a load of bull from every perspective, including legal, financial, and safety.
As we have seen with many of these schools who so easily comply, many of them implement these changes BEFORE these policies are even passed by their state legislatures. The most recent example of this has been the shuttering of Ohio State University’s DEI departments and faculty positions.
Ohio has not passed an anti-DEIA law yet. There is one working its way through their legislature.
It is NOT the law of the state, nor is it the law of the land.
So students will lose their scholarships, faculty and staff with lose their jobs, whole academic departments will be shuttered, and possible Black Student Unions as well as other student groups, and housing designed for creating safe places for Black and other marginalized/protected students will likely be ended.
For the possibility that a law MIGHT be passed.
What does this have to do with parents?
A LOT!
Parents help their children navigate choosing a college, usually keeping financial aid packages in mind.
Parents are usually the ones who help their children figure out if the schools they are going to will actually have the programs and academic departments that will help them get the degrees that they want.
Parents are the ones who are most concerned about their children’s safety and well-being on campus, especially if their child is moving away from home.
Parents are who will have to pick up any financial slack that comes from dropped scholarships, programs, and grants that were promised to their children.
Parents are one of the most important stakeholders in this fight around DEIA on college campuses.
And most of them don’t know it.
Parent Activism
Most of us have seen the PTA parent to activist pipeline in recent years in the wars over the direction of education in this country.
We’ve seen parents show up at school board meetings and demand justice or answers for one issue or another. When book bans started a few years back, we saw this movement promoted through conservative and right wing parenting groups, claiming to be concerned about their children. This outrage has been at the center of school zoning debates, anti “CRT” policies, and curriculum fights.
We have also seen groups like Moms Demand Action; Red, Wine, and Blue; Real Mama Bears; and Every Town for Gun Safety formulate to fight for pro-democracy, pro-safety, and pro-inclusion policies in their communities.
Many of us may even know that person who was politically apathetic who became super involved when they had a kid of school age.
We know the power that parents can play in shaping education in our communities.
Many of us assume this has to end when our children graduate high school and attend college.
However, a moment has come upon us that demands that that same passion and energy that many of us put into fighting for safe, quality education for our children in primary and secondary school, may be needed to fight for safe, quality education for our children in post-secondary as well.
Does this mean I need to join another PTA😩?!?!
I’m glad you asked 😅.
Not quite.
Your college students are adults and therefore should be leading the efforts on fighting for policies, academic changes, and culture changes on campus. There is a reason FERPA exists, which keeps your college students’ educational and academic records private, even from you their parent.
That being said, you can fight back against these efforts.
Your options look different based on where your children’s college or university is in the process of deciding what to do.
This is a very important thing to find out as quickly as possible.
If they have already decided to comply with these anti-diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies, your options will look different than if they are still taking public opinion or weighing their options.
So what can I do?
No matter what stage the college/university is at, the first thing you want to do is form a parent group with like-minded parents. I would highly suggest looking into alumni associations for help in finding parents and suggestions on how to organize a group.
Having a group of parents who are on the same page to protect their children (hopefully all children) from these draconian policies allows you to have a support system for navigating your emotions, fears, and anger. They are also good for organizing many of the steps I will lay out below.
It is easier to set up letter campaigns, practice questions, make focused phone calls,…etc when you are organized vs trying to do these things on your own, hoping others are doing the same.
These groups can be in person or virtual. I would highly suggest you make them hybrid to make them accessible for families who live away from the main campus, to allow for multi-campus organizing, to be able to include families with disabilities or financial obstacles to travel, and also to accommodate various work schedules. Make sure they are recorded and made available for members who can’t be there at the time of the meeting.
Be mindful of the times these meetings are held. One of the issues that can happen with K-12 parent organizing is that meetings will take place in the middle of the day when either folks who are stay-at-home parents, work-from-home parents, or folks with very generous PTO/flexible schedules at work can attend. As you are fighting for inclusion on your children’s campuses, make sure you are being as inclusive as possible in your process, including scheduling.
Steps to Consider
If your school has already started efforts, lawsuits are the best option. Many of these policies have already been overturned or delayed in the courts. This is definitely an option you want to use if you have to.
Hopefully you won’t have to.
If your children’s college/university is still considering what to do, you need to start organizing with students, faculty, alumni, and PARENTS now.
Families of students affected by diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) pay just as much tuition and fees for their students going there as other families.
Step 1 - Formulate Parent Boards
Take some of the skills you use in PTAs for K-12 to form boards and community.
Step 2 - Figure out what plans and approaches you want to implement at your children’s college/university.
Approaches may differ based on the political environment of your school, state, and community. Realize that some environments are more hostile than others. This does not mean you shouldn’t organize, but adjust your methods.
I will be writing an article in the near future that will outline what those different approaches can look like in different environments.
Step 3 - Show up at community events/meetings about the issue.
Pay attention to school communications about interest meetings, town halls, public opinion panels, and board meetings open to the students or public. You may even want to assign 1-4 people who are solely responsible for paying attention to any media or information about this conversation coming out of the university/college.
Ask questions.
This may seem minor or obvious, but this is where a lot of the real power comes in interacting with the colleges/universities. Your questions help them know where the concerns are and what they need to be addressing with their own boards and legal teams.
Set up meetings with provost, student affairs, trustee boards. Ask what their plans are to protect students’ physical, mental, emotional, and social safety.
Ask about their plans to fight as appeals/lawsuits make their way through the courts (in other words do they plan to simply comply or delay while plans work through the courts?) This is a big one, that I definitely will be writing an article about specifically in the coming days.
Ask directly, for the public record, how this will affect scholarships, faculty positions, organizations on campus, and property on campus. This is key, because this is the part that will most affect your children and your pockets.
Ask if your school has given statements in the legislative process or amicus briefs in lawsuits filed. This gives you insight into how serious they are about being in the fight with you. If they haven’t done these things, this also puts them on high alert that they should consider doing so.
Step 4 - You can speak directly to your political leaders and community
This is extremely important if you are in a state where this legislation hasn’t passed yet. Doubly so if you are in an area where elected officials believe everyone is on board with these policies.
You can speak up at legislative sessions, board meetings, and community meetings. Your parent organization can file amicus briefs in lawsuits. You can give official statements when these issues go through committee and open sessions, letting your voice and position be known. Your organization can write and publish open letters in the local, school, and national newspapers/outlets.
Step 5 - Be prepared to join or assist in lawsuits.
It may even (under certain circumstances and we will discuss what those are) be wise to let the college/university know that this is an option you are considering.
You can fight these efforts and should!
Don’t Give Up The Fight, Get Into It!
You are the person/people who have been fighting for your children’s safety and well-being ever since becoming their parents. While college is a time when your children become adults and have to start making decisions for themselves, fights that you know they can’t fight alone, they still need you for.
This is one of those fights!
Don’t give up the fight, get into it!
You can make a difference in this fight. Your efforts may not just help create a safer campus for your children and their friends, but for students for decades to come.
See you next time where we will be discussing how to formulate a collegiate Parent Board.
