The Board of Trustees has issued an e-mail today at 11:48 a.m. announcing the discontinuation of the Division of Inclusive Excellence, as well as the Cultural and Identity Centers. This is because of Senate Bill 1, the Advance Ohio Education Act, which greatly limits multiple aspects of university life.
Consequences of Senate Bill 1
Perhaps the most controversial part of Senate Bill 1 is that DEI, or Diversity, Equity and Inequality, initiatives are to be shut down in public universities. While there are no specific definitions as to what qualifies as DEI in the bill, it has been interpreted to include the Cultural Identity Centers, as well as the Division of Inclusive Excellence.
This means the following centers are being discontinued: the Asian and Native American Center, the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center, the Latino Center, the LGBTQA Center and the Women's Center. The Disability and Neurodivergence Center control is being transferred to the Office of Disability Services.
Note that as of today, June 27, the links to the centers have been removed and now link to the standard wright.edu link.
The current space for the centers, located at 023 Student Union, will be given to help Student Involvement and Leadership expand.
All positions within the CIC have been eliminated. It is currently unknown if student positions are included in this mass termination; it is also unknown if those who previously held these positions are being let go from the university or transferred to a different position.
The Board of Trustees states that, "University administration and Human Resources are actively working with those impacted by these changes."
It is also unknown if gender-affirming housing initiatives will be removed as well. Housing is owned by a third-party housing company, Crawford Hoying, it is most likely that housing will not be affected at this time.
While many will be upset to hear about this news and WSU's actions, it is also important to note that Senate Bill 1 allows for the state to withhold funds from universities that do not comply. Changing the outcome of this bill calls for the action of the students and Ohio residents.
Current updates
The Wright State Guardian will continue to update this article as more information comes out.
