Colleges that embraced diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (DEI) in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police are now fearing litigation and quietly eliminating their DEI programs. North Carolina is one of the latest to do so. At least 20 states have Republican proposals aimed at limiting DEI programs at public universities. State schools in Wisconsin and Alabama are preemptively banning DEI after threats by lawmakers to withhold money and raises. Even colleges in left-leaning states are no longer asking applicants to provide diversity statements for new faculty positions.

So how is DEI defined and what’s lost when it goes away? How has a “DEI bureaucracy” gone out of control? Will colleges increasingly eliminate scholarships designed for historically marginalized students?

Special guest host and GBH Investigative Reporter Phillip Martin joins this week’s podcast to talk about what’s behind the changes.

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Credits:

Hosts: Kirk Carapezza & Jon Marcus

Supervising Editor: Megan Woolhouse

Editor: Jeff Keating

Executive Producer: Ellen London 

Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary Mott

Theme Song and original music: Left-Roman

Artwork: Matt Welch 

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Consulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins

"College Uncovered" is a production of GBH News and The Hechinger Report.