It has been three years since the nation was shaken by the untimely murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, igniting a powerful movement to address racism in policing and other facets of society like education. In response, college and university leaders nationwide made significant commitments to improve campus racial climates.
They pledged millions to initiatives such as hiring diverse faculty, appointing Chief Diversity Officers, revising curricula to address issues of race and power, and implementing new systems to report and address bias and discrimination.
Today, these crucial efforts find themselves under siege, facing opposition from conservative politicians and think tank organizations who argue, albeit erroneously, that investments in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies and programs constitute a form of racial discrimination.
Data indicate that 40 anti-DEI bills have been introduced in 22 states, with seven already becoming law. Such divestments in DEI are not without consequences, as they threaten to exacerbate the very issues of campus racial climate that these initiatives aim to address.
At the University of Southern California’s (USC) Race and Equity Center, we collect survey data about undergraduate students’ educational experiences concerning race and other critical topics. The National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climates (NACCC) has been administered to more than 2 million students across over 200 institutions.
Between the Fall of 2019 and the Fall of 2022, a period marked by heightened racial tensions due to the #BlackLivesMatter protests, the COVID-19 pandemic, an insurrection at the nation’s capital, and a wave of regressive DEI policies, we surveyed more than 95,000 students of color from 63 two-year and 98 four-year institutions. What we learned may not surprise you.
Whether strongly or slightly, a majority (54%) of Black students in our sample …
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