By SUSAN JONES
Many in the Pitt community were not surprised by the move to close the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, but expressed hope that the new Office of Institutional Engagement and Wellbeing would help further Pitt’s core mission of being a welcoming and engaged community.
“The decision to dissolve the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (OEDI) was disappointing, but not unexpected,” said Jen Goeckeler-Fried, Pitt Staff Union bargaining committee chair and Brodsky Lab manager in the Department of Biological Sciences.
“Pitt’s institutional leadership is reacting to directives from the federal government by enacting a plan that they feel will help protect Pitt from losing even more federal funds or from suffering attacks like Harvard and other universities have faced,” she said. “What’s ultimately more important than the title of an office is that the work that was done by the former OEDI continues. In the email we received on July 1, we were told that the new Office of Institutional Engagement and Wellbeing will ensure oversight and support in key areas that were previously overseen by OEDI and we certainly hope that this is the case.”
Kris Kanthak, University Senate president and political science professor, said the Department of Education’s “Dear Colleague” letter, which has prompted several schools to close or alter diversity programs, “seems to be written by people who haven’t really thought that hard about the issues they are trying to address. That makes it difficult for any institution to respond.”
The letter, issued in February, said schools at all levels must eliminate race-conscious policies and programming immediately or risk losing federal funding.
“I think it creates minefields for institutions that are even trying to comply. That can be frustrating,” Kanthak said. “But it also presents an opportunity for institutions and people to check in with their own core principles to better align what they are doing with what is defensible and what they feel is morally right.
“As far as I can tell so far, Pitt leadership seems to be taking this as a real opportunity to do that kind of a ‘gut check.’ I think that is appropriate, but we won’t know for sure until we see the effects.”
Staff Council said it “stands in support of staff who have thoughtfully raised concerns about the recent changes. While this is evolving, the commitment to serving and supporting all staff employees remains unchanged. We recognize and respect the sense of loss some may feel, and Staff Council remains committed to listening, engaging and moving forward together with transparency and care.”
The group said it also looks forward to its continued work through shared governance with Vice Chancellor Clyde Pickett, who will head the new office.
Kanthak said that “time will only tell what the effects will be. My sense is that the staff involved are some of the most collaborative around, and so we all have a role to play in determining what the effects will be.”
Shared governance, she said, will play “an absolutely vital role in helping to determine the future for the office. I think everyone expects for the Senate to be actively involved in acting in collaboration with the new office when possible, and providing oversight when necessary. Our Senate committees are ideally suited for this kind of work. These are the places where leadership can go to clear up confusion and to hear about where there might be potential pushback. I think there will be both, but I also think it will happen in the spirit of teamwork when that is possible.”
The co-chairs of the Senate’s Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee — Susan Graff and Bridget Keown — said they look forward to learning the details of the Office of Institutional Advancement and Belonging and expect to work closely with Pickett and his colleagues.
In her response, Kanthak quoted the “Dear Colleague” letter: “Although some programs may appear neutral on their face, a closer look reveals that they are, in fact, motivated by racial considerations.”
Structures that do this are “impermissible,” according to this letter, she said, “and I think that’s a powerful acknowledgement. Institutions and systems can have profoundly racist effects, even if race itself is not specifically mentioned. Anyone who sincerely holds that sentiment is someone with whom I can work. If those folks are not comfortable with the words I’ve been using to describe that concept, I’m willing to work with them to come up with different words. To me, that sentence ought to be at the center of this community’s response to the letter.”
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042. University Times writers Marty Levine and Shannon O. Wells also contributed to this story.
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