By MARTY LEVINE
What is the role of the University Senate’s Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee (EIADAC) in response to the anti-DEI efforts of the current federal administration, and how should faculty respond to second-hand news from fellow faculty, or seeming requirements of changes from school administrators?
Faculty at the meeting reported receiving unclear advice or instructions, from the apparently mandatory to mere suggestions.
Bridget Keown, committee co-chair and faculty member in Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies, has heard, she says, essentially: “Keep doing what you are doing and don’t raise any undue attention.”
Committee pro-temp member Ally Bove and School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) faculty member, reported that she was told that the annual DEI-focused seminar she organizes would have to change its name, but responded that “I am not going to change the name” unless she hears from someone “officially.”
Susan Graff, committee co-chair and faculty member in SHRS, said that she received from the Office of the Provost “the banned word list that the White House circulated to federal agencies,” because she is a grant recipient — but that her grant is not federal, and instead is entirely internal: a Pitt seed grant. Contacting the provost’s office, she added, “I asked specifically, do I need to remove these words” from any grant-related work. The response, she said, was: “No, we just wanted to make you aware. … We’re not going to tell you to do anything.”
At the same time, another faculty member, who actually has a federal grant, said she did not get such a notice.
Graff termed the situation “unsettling,” and feared that it may cause “over-compliance” — taking actions that were neither requested nor necessary, but which may do unneeded harm to current programs. “It’s our responsibility as EIADAC to gather information and to have a unified message to send to the University and to faculty” about this issue, she added.
Carl Lawson, associate vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion, Health Sciences, said he had a “particular concern” after hearing the above. “There is no requirement that people change their DEI titles” of events, nor their own employee titles. “When I hear the rumors, the pass-along conversations,” claiming that “we’re going to have to strip all the pronouns from our emails … no.”
“There have been a number of individuals who … have interpreted some of this messaging” from the federal government “that they must take this website down, they must change the name of this (office or event). ... That is not the case. ... Let me assure everyone ... what we are not doing is forcing anyone to change their name, change their focus (or) stop doing anything.”
Why not use University funds to replace federal research funds, if the courts finally allow the administration in Washington, D.C., to stop providing them, asked Kaushik Sreeram, of the University of Pittsburgh Postdoctoral Association.
Lawson said he’s been approached “by some very concerned faculty (with) inquiries about bridge support,” for research in the health sciences. “I wish I had a more positive response for you” but the administration is “still very much figuring out” how to deal with the situation.
In response, Graff said the University could use “a way for folks to report, in a centralized way, projects that have been defunded so the University can be made aware” of the full impact of federal moves.
“Seems very much needed,” Lawson said.
Bove reported that, should anyone receive a stop-work order on a federal grant, they have been told to forward it to the Office of Research.
But she expressed concern about “the longer term consequences of this. ... What are we going to do for folks in two to three years? ... My concern is for folks who do this type of work” and are required to have a certain level of research funding, presentations and published papers to gain promotions and tenure.
Recalling the time extensions for such accomplishments offered during COVID, when faculty working from home had sudden, unexpected family responsibilities in their laps, Bove remarked that “this feels different.” She feared that faculty “are going to work a whole lot more to achieve a lot less, because the type of work they do is being targeted" by new federal strictures.
“Has anyone heard of the University offering any type of support for faculty who are impacted by this,” analogous to student counseling services? “Maybe some group therapy, ... a therapy dog, ... anything that will say, hey, we know that you are suffering...”
Lawson and others in the meeting recommended that faculty take advantage of stress-related health care offerings from UPMC and its Life Solutions program — or simply get together regularly in informal support groups.
Sreeram, of the post-doc organization, reported that some post-docs here in the United States on visa have had their landlords threaten to “tell ICE” — the federal immigration office — about their supposed rental apartment problems based on current White House anti-immigrant moves.
“How do we clarify ... that hey, they can’t do such things?” Sreeram asked.
Graff suggested that the committee “could ask the University … to share out to post-docs (and other students) what are your rights … and what University resources there are” for anyone facing such a situation.
Marty Levine is a staff writer for the University Times. Reach him at martyl@pitt.edu or 412-758-4859.
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