Image: News_DEI_1- Office of Sustainability Sign via Olivia Schlinkman
In a Jan. 17 memo, the West Chester University (WCU) Division of Access, Compliance and Engagement (ACE) announced a nomenclatural shift, officially renaming the former Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance (EQOC).
The memo, delivered by Dr. Tracey Robinson, Vice President of ACE, stated the change was motivated by an interest to “better align with national language and reflect [the office’s] focus on equity and regulatory compliance.”
The email was delivered three days before the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump and his near immediate executive actions to disengage DEI efforts across the federal government. Trump’s three anti-DEI executive orders — all implemented in his first 48 hours of office — refer to such diversity programs as illegal or immoral “discrimination.”
State of DEI at WCU
According to Robinson, ACE’s name-change was not one of “preemptive compliance,” meaning it was not a step towards removing DEI services and initiatives in any way.
“The goal was to safeguard our work and it was to ensure that there is some opportunity to describe and categorize the work that we do,” Robinson said. “Was it an offensive move? Yes, it was, it was to have some choice before it was no longer a choice.”
Robinson said the intention was to ensure the office would still be standing “no matter how heavy the storm.”
Robinson says that all of the former Office of DEI’s services remain intact and that there is no intent to adjust any programs or their names. Similarly, student and faculty diversity training remains implemented.
The renaming had been in the works for a few months prior to the Jan. 17 memo, with the office starting to seriously consider a name change in August 2024. According to Robinson, the decision was arrived at by members of ACE alone, which includes the Center for Women and Gender Equity and the Dowdy Multicultural Center. There was no top-down decision implemented by university administration.
The new title of “Equal Opportunity and Compliance” aligns with nationally-used terms; “compliance” refers to an institution’s legal duty to comply with and enforce laws that protect against discrimination based on race, gender, ability or other protected identities.
“[The Office of EQOC] goes beyond compliance, too,” Robinson said. “Our ‘Innovation in Diversity and Inclusion’ grant programs and other kinds of things… also broaden access, broaden engagement, broaden development.”
Continued, Legal Operation
Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI have also been used to reaffirm the 2023 Supreme Court case overturning affirmative action — specifically, Executive Order 14173, signed on Jan. 21.
Section Five of the order states that a 120-day period will pass before the Departments of Justice and Education deliver “guidance” to higher education institutions on how to comply with the Trump administration’s anti-affirmative action standards and “restore merit-based opportunity.”
Robinson says that such practices are already in place at WCU.
“Everyone who attends and works at West Chester is here because of merit,” Robinson said. “We do work diligently to recruit a diverse applicant pool, but no one is hired based off of their race or gender.”
Robinson emphasizes that the Office of EQOC continuing DEI work under a new name is completely lawful. Executive actions targeting DEI currently do so at a federal agency level; WCU is a public university, meaning it is out of the order’s scope.
Notably, executive orders are not laws nor are they held in higher regard than actual legislation. According to the ACLU, executive orders have the power to instruct governmental agencies to implement an existing law in a certain way, but cannot act as legislation creators themselves.
An executive order is not an end-all be-all declaration, either — it can be invalidated by being deemed unconstitutional by a court or nullified by contradictory congressional legislation.
The constitutionality of Trump’s DEI orders is up for debate as recent lawsuits have been brought against the orders. According to Inside Higher Ed, the orders have been charged as overly vague, since they do not even formally define “DEI.” In implementing such an order, this vagueness could prove problematic by allowing leniency in what is considered a “punishable” equity initiative, thus allowing for more to be prohibited than perhaps should be.
The Guardian reports that suits have also been argued that the actions are outside of a president’s executive authority and infringe on academic freedom under the first amendment.
“We are still here”
According to the Council on Social Work Education, since 2023, 86 anti-DEI bills have been proposed in state legislatures — including in Pennsylvania — and 14 total have made their way through both legislative chambers and signed into law.
But amidst the nationwide challenges, Robinson expresses hope that members of the West Chester community keep faith in the Office of EQOC’s efforts.
“A lot of segments of our community at West Chester feel very vulnerable,” Robinson said. “For anyone who does feel vulnerable, I want them to be reaffirmed that we are still here, that we are still standing and that we stand with them. We stand with all of WCU.”
Via the Office of EQOC’s website, individuals are able to anonymously report incidents to EQOC staff. In response to reports, Robinson says the office provides resources and means of indirect and direct support.