Virginia Tech’s board of visitors voted Tuesday to comply with a presidential executive order by scrubbing initiatives at the university that support diversity, equity and inclusion.
Tech’s board is the latest in Virginia to affirm compliance with President Donald Trump’s orders. It did so while a group of students and supporters of campus diversity efforts protested the move outside, expressing concerns that dissolving Tech’s DEI office would lead to more discrimination on campus, not less.
The board voted 12-2 on a resolution pledging to examine Virginia Tech’s “policies, practices and actions” to ensure that the state university in Blacksburg adheres to civil rights laws barring discrimination. The resolution includes dissolving the university’s Office of Inclusive Strategy and Excellence.
The resolution was prompted by a January executive order from President Donald Trump calling for an end to discrimination in schools. DEI initiatives, he claims, have contributed to racism, particularly against white and Asian students.
Edward Baine, rector of the board, voted against the resolution. After the vote he urged the university administration to focus on providing services students need to be successful, and he urged that “we treat colleagues at Virginia Tech with the utmost respect” during the compliance review process.
Board member Anna James was also opposed, calling the resolution “a step backward.” She’s been on the board for eight years, and said she was proud of the work the board had done to improve the inclusive and welcoming environment on campus.
Only three of the 13 appointed board members, including James, were nominated by Democratic governors, with the rest appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Baine originally was appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam, but was reappointed by Youngkin.
The 14th seat on the board goes to the president of the board of directors for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Donald Horsley was appointed to that board by Northam.
Federal funding at stake for universities
Virginia Tech added an inclusivity element, known as InclusiveVT, to its strategic plan a decade ago in an attempt to boost the university’s reputation and the size of its applicant pool. Today, about 40% of each entering class at Virginia Tech comes from underrepresented or underserved backgrounds, according to university data, including first-generation and veteran students.
President Tim Sands began his remarks to the board by acknowledging the “tumultuous time” for higher education across the nation. Though the university is committed to free speech and academic freedom, Sands said, “We’re also committed to uphold the law when it comes to discrimination based on protected identities. Determination of those laws has shifted in recent years and months, but must shift accordingly, as with every new administration in Washington.”
Sands must update the board regarding compliance with its resolution within 30 days.
He said he would also hold a town hall and listening session in the first week of April. “I know that many university employees and students want to know what will change and what will not change.”
The university has hired a consultant “to guide the review of programs, events and functions that may be retained in their current form, revised or discontinued,” Nancy Dye, chair of the academic, research and student affairs committee that brought the resolution to the full board, said ahead of the vote.
Beyond the Office for Inclusive Strategy and Excellence, the university’s resolution did not specify other specific departments or initiatives that would be shuttered or renamed.
Under the Trump administration’s interpretation of civil rights law, educational institutions that retain elements of DEI risk losing federal funding.
Tech is already grappling with the implications of Trump’s federal government reduction efforts, particularly the cancellation of research grants that many colleges and universities depend on. In fiscal 2024, Virginia Tech’s federally sponsored research expenditures totaled more than $308 million; it’s unclear at this point how much of that has been affected by cuts in Washington.
The order for educational institutions to eliminate departments, curricula and events that the White House deems discriminatory puts even more pressure on the university.
Without compliance, federal financial aid for Virginia Tech students could be at risk.
About 16% of undergraduate students at Tech receive federal Pell Grants, which are reserved for college students with the greatest financial need. For 2023-2024, that aid totaled more than $27 million.
The board of visitors also voted to increase tuition for the coming academic year by 2.9%, approved the design for a new business school facility, and discontinued planning for a Student Life Village that would have added 1,700 student beds to the Blacksburg campus.
But all that was overshadowed by the debate over DEI at the university.
Protest calls for unity, support for marginalized students
A few hundred people gathered at Burruss Hall, the university’s main administration building, and marched to the Inn at Virginia Tech ahead of the Tuesday afternoon board meeting. They remained there throughout the 45-minute public portion of the meeting, chanting and listening to speakers from the crowd while campus police looked on.
An online petition circulated before the march began expressed concern that removing identity based communities on campus would negatively impact students seeking to make connections with people with similar experiences. “Removing the chance for students to expand their world and delve into self-discovery harms not only the individual, but the whole of the community.”
Tech hosts cultural centers promising “safe, inclusive” environments for Black, Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Indigenous communities, along with one for LGBTQ+ people.
“I’m here on a scholarship for first-generation students, so I find these kinds of programs are super important to ensure that these voices are visible and heard,” said Kaitlyn Guzman, a senior from Leesburg studying political science and Spanish.
She used a large marker to make a sign that said “Protect InclusiveVT” before the march began. Guzman said she found community when she came to Tech by getting involved in Latin Link, the school’s largest Hispanic culture social club. The group has always been inclusive, she said.
“It’s not just about diversifying,” she said. “It’s about giving people opportunities. Taking that away just says, ‘You don’t matter as much.’”
Virginia colleges responding to pressure
Virginia Tech is the latest in a string of state institutions to declare compliance with Trump’s efforts to abolish DEI.
At Radford University’s board of visitors meeting last week, President Bret Danilowicz said the administration had reviewed Trump’s executive orders and related guidance, and “we believe we are already broadly in compliance with the stated expectations.” The university continues, he added, to audit its websites and other materials to ensure the university is in compliance.
Danilowicz said Radford’s federal funding comes primarily via Pell Grants awarded to about 44% of students. Radford has a tuition promise program guaranteeing that eligible students from low-income households can attend without needing to take out student loans. That gift aid to students comes from a combination of federal, state and institutional funding.
Also last week, Virginia’s community college system’s board said that it will conform to Trump’s orders across its 23 colleges.
At a meeting of the state’s higher education council last week, Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera stressed the importance of “every single institution of higher education” in Virginia complying with the law regarding DEI. “This is a case where consistency matters.”
She noted that many of Trump’s executive orders relating to education were pending further guidance, but in this case, the ask is simple. “The law says we will not treat anyone differently based on their race, and that’s what it’s looking at,” she said. “It’s not saying throw everything out. It’s saying no more racial preference for anybody.”
Still, proponents of inclusivity efforts at Tech say the school has been too quick to comply with Trump’s executive orders, including those that were temporarily paused over the past few weeks as legal action attempted to block them.
“We feel a pronounced downstream chilling effect in our speech; in our faculty meetings, while rethinking language to be used in syllabi, and in general on campus as a consequence of instances of preemptive compliance,” the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors wrote to Sands in March.