Higher Education

Oklahoma colleges claim to have no DEI, despite evidence

August 26, 2024

Ray Carter

In December 2023, Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order seeking to downsize or eliminate “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) offices and bureaucracy at Oklahoma colleges and prevent colleges from engaging in illegal discrimination.

For the most part, Oklahoma colleges responded by claiming they had no DEI staff or programs—despite having previously publicly used the DEI label repeatedly.

Under Stitt’s order, agencies and state colleges cannot use taxpayer funds or property to “grant or support diversity, equity, and inclusion positions, departments, activities, procedures, or programs to the extent they grant preferential treatment based on one person’s particular race, color, sex, ethnicity, or national origin over another’s.”

Among other things, the order also prohibited agencies and universities from mandating DEI training, requiring job applicants to submit DEI statements, or mandating that people “disclose their pronouns.”

All state entities, including Oklahoma’s colleges and universities, were required to provide a certificate of compliance and a report on all actions taken in response to the executive order. The reports had to be filed with the state by May 31, 2024.

In those reports, Oklahoma universities were required to describe all DEI positions, departments, activities, procedures, and programs then in existence and “what functions, if any, were restructured and/or eliminated” in response to Stitt’s executive order.

A review of those reports shows officials at most Oklahoma colleges simply denied that their schools had any DEI programs or staff.

Sean Burrage, vice president of executive affairs at the University of Oklahoma, reported that OU was compliant with the executive order and “has no such positions or programs to report” that would be classified as DEI under Stitt’s order.

However, numerous OU emails, obtained through open-records requests, indicate that OU officials believed the order would require a number of at-least cosmetic changes to divisions and/or programs at OU and reassured those in DEI-style positions that they would be retained.

On Dec. 13, 2023, Belinda Hyppolite, OU’s vice president of diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, emailed numerous school officials after Stitt issued his executive order, stating, “No one is losing their jobs …”

Notably, Hyppolite’s LinkedIn profile currently indicates her job title has since been changed to vice president of access and opportunity, as does a “university leadership” page on the OU website.

In a Dec. 14, 2023, email, Pamela Allen, a chair in Dermatology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, indicated the OU Health Science Centers’ DEI office’s “name may shift and work under a different capacity.”

None of those changes were noted by Burrage in his statement.

Similarly, Oklahoma State University President Kayse Shrum wrote that OSU “has no such positions or programs to report” that qualified as DEI under Stitt’s order.

But in April 2021, OSU touted its  recently formed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force, which was composed of  “more than 40 OSU students, faculty, staff and alumni.”

That announcement included a “new campus statement” that read, “At Oklahoma State University, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) matter.” In the statement, OSU officials pledged “to support and reinforce diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts as they are significant to our campus culture and mission, improving the quality of life for all.”

In September 2022, OSU officials announced that the school had received a 2022 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award. The release included a statement from Jason F. Kirksey, OSU chief diversity officer and vice president of the Division of Institutional Diversity.

The OSU website today maintains a page labeled, “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Directory,” which lists “groups, councils, committees, associations, task forces, etc. related to diversity, equity, and inclusion across OSU.”

However, the link for the “Division of Institutional Diversity” now takes citizens to a page labeled, “Division of Access and Community Impact” programs, which includes a note saying the page is “currently under construction.”

None of those positions, nor any changes in job titles or division goals, was noted in Shrum’s statement.

More DEI at Wildlife Conservation Commission than at OU and OSU?

The reports submitted by the state’s two largest universities would have citizens believe those two schools embraced DEI less than even the Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The document submitted to state officials by Wade Free, interim director of the Wildlife Conservation Commission, acknowledged making some changes at his agency following Stitt’s executive order.

Free said the Wildlife Conservation Commission had restructured one position to eliminate DEI duties, discontinued a DEI program, and ended the agency’s participation in a group that was focused solely on race-based issues.

Similarly, Elizabeth Cooper, chief administrative officer of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, wrote that her agency had changed the name of its “CEO Council on Diversity and Inclusion” to the “Power of Peers” council and revised the group’s responsibilities to comply with Stitt’s order. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority also eliminated its “Diversity Champion” and “DEI Advocate” awards.

OU & OSU are not alone in denying DEI at state colleges

But OU and OSU officials were not alone among state college officials denying the existence of DEI at their schools. DEI denial was the predominant response from college officials across the state.

Numerous statements submitted by college officials denied that their schools had any DEI positions or programs impacted by Stitt’s executive order, including statements from Larry Rice, president of Rogers State University; Tim Faltyn, president of Murray State College; Diane Watkins, president of Northern Oklahoma College; John McArthur, president of Cameron University; Jena Marr, president of Redlands Community College; Ruth Ray Jackson, interim president of Langston University; Rodney S. Hanley, president of Northeastern State University; Wendell L. Godwin, president of East Central University; Kayla K. Hale, president of the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma; Jay Falkner, president of Carl Albert State College; Janet Wansick, president of Eastern Oklahoma State College; Diana Lovell, president of Southwestern Oklahoma State University; Robyn Armstrong, CEO of the University Center at Ponca City; Lana Reynolds, president of Seminole State College; and Chad Wiginton, president of Western Oklahoma State College.

Similar statements denying the existence of DEI positions or programs were also filed by Allison Garrett, chancellor of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, and Debra L. Lyon, general counsel for the Regional University System of Oklahoma.

Not all colleges deny existence of DEI

However, not all college officials claimed DEI did not exist in any form on their campus subject to Stit’s executive order.

An unsigned summary document submitted by the University of Central Oklahoma said that college had identified four positions, one department and six activities impacted by the order that were no longer necessary. UCO officials announced they were ceasing operation of the UCO Office of Diversity and Inclusion/Student Hub, eliminated the positions of assistant vice president of inclusive community and inclusion strategist, reassigned two other individuals, terminated the council on diversity, redefined eligibility requirements for awards that were found to be non-compliant with the executive order, rescinded faculty release time associated with an equity advocate position and similar positions, and eliminated “all requirements for applicants to provide any form of diversity, equity, and inclusion statement.”

Leigh B. Goodson, president of Tulsa Community College, wrote that school officials had reviewed all positions and departments and “made modifications where necessary” to comply with Stitt’s executive order.

“The College assessed the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion and made changes to the Office’s focus to support first-generation college students, students from low-income families, and underserved populations in line with the Executive Order,” Goodson wrote.

And some schools noted that DEI-style activity continued under an exemption Stitt provided when accreditation groups imposed certain requirements.

Bo Hannaford, president of Northwestern Oklahoma State University, wrote that his school had no DEI staff or departments, but noted that Northwestern “has a volunteer diversity committee and any speaker/training that is provided is not mandatory and is paid with an endowment through our foundation.”

Hannaford also wrote that four programs at the university—in education, nursing, business, and social work—are accredited by national groups and “follow standards in each which is allowed as an exception.”

Thomas W. Newsom, president of Southeastern Oklahoma State University, noted, “Specific to the Executive Order university programs cannot be limited or prohibited from complying with the accreditation requirements by an accrediting or licensing agency to support these populations. It has been determined that Southeastern Oklahoma State University does have such programs that support these populations that are unacceptable within the language of the Executive Order.”

The populations referenced by Newsom included first-generation college students, students from low-income families, students from underserved populations, and students with “unique abilities.”

Newsom also stated, “It was also determined that any Diversity, Equity and Inclusion functions that may indirectly exist are necessary for compliance, accreditation, or student and employee support services intended to support success broadly.”

[For more stories about higher education in Oklahoma, visit AimHigherOK.com.]