By Janae Neely, Education reporter 

Universities and higher education are left with uncertainty after President Trump’s executive order, calling for the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion in all spaces of the federal government. The executive order conveniently dropped less than two weeks before Black History Month. 

Why it matters: President Trump has yet to clearly define what is viewed as DEI programs which leaves heritage months like Black History Month hanging in question of whether that violates the executive order. 

• Virginia Tech has several organizations dedicated to diversity and inclusion. One is the Student Opportunity & Achievement Resources Program, more commonly known as SOAR. This support program is “dedicated to welcoming and retaining underrepresented minority students at Virginia Tech and promoting their success through campus collaborations.” 

The big picture: The Virginia Tech campus has been left in a state of confusion as the state of its DEI programs has been threatened. Zora Dancy a student intern with SOAR noted that diversity, equity, and inclusion span much broader than people realize. 

• “A lot of people are realizing that DEI isn’t just about race. It’s about people with disabilities, it’s about veterans, and a lot of aspects of this presidency that we’ve seen in the last few weeks, you’ve seen a lot of people say “Oh well I didn’t know’ yeah because you didn’t do your research, you’re just going based off of what you think and what you hear.” Dancy said. 

• When speaking about the misconceptions regarding DEI, Dancy noted, “…DEI is more than just a ‘Black vs. White’ issue. There’s so many layers to the people who are affected by DEI.” 

• “This idea that DEI is somehow saying that it’s not allowed or open to white people is really interesting to me because a lot of these spaces did have to start and be developed because Black people and other people of color were not welcomed into white spaces,” Dancy concluded. 

The push for answers: Virginia Tech President Tim Sands, officially addressed Trump’s executive orders at his State of the University Address this past week. 

• “I would like to acknowledge the challenges that many of you are facing as we interpret and respond to a flurry of executive orders that impact higher education.” Sands continued, “We will follow the law, but we’ll do so once we fully understand the directives and the applications to Virginia Tech. 

• Sands concluded his statement, “We do not yet have many of those answers, but we are collecting information and providing guidance where we can.

Zoom in: Mark Owczarski, Interim Vice President of Communications and Marketing provided insight on the future of inclusion at Virginia Tech and the institution’s stance. 

• “We believe that in order to do our very best teaching, research, and engagement which is our three missions, it’s why we exist, we need to be able to attract the very best talent. Everybody and anybody who wishes to engage, regardless of who or what they are and what they believe in…” Owczarski stated when asked about the state of DEI at Virginia Tech. 

• The university’s biggest challenge is that a clear definition of what is classified as DEI has yet to be stated by the Trump administration, “It’s interesting because, the fundamental response is ‘Okay, so we have these orders, what are we doing?’ and really at this point we’re at the stage, we’re trying to understand what they mean.”

What we’re watching for: The town of Blacksburg is going to hold upcoming meetings to further address the executive orders made by President Trump once more details are released. 

• “I think when you start to take away Black people and people of color when you start to take them out of whatever space, they’re gonna realize how necessary they were in that space. Any person of color, especially Black people, have to work twice as hard, three times as hard to get to where you wanna go. So you put in all that work and make it to that position, you get your degree, and then they’re pulling you out of these spaces, obviously, it’s frustrating but just wait and see because they will quickly realize how much you are needed.” said Dancy.