Miami to disband diversity-focused centers following passage of state higher education bill
Miami will cease operations for multiple offices and centers ahead of the effective date of Senate Bill 1, a state law which targets diversity efforts at higher education institutions.
Miami University will discontinue operations of three university centers and offices this summer to comply with Ohio's recently passed Senate Bill 1 (SB1), the university confirmed in a statement published April 18.
SB1, signed into law by Governor Mike DeWine at the end of March, overhauls higher education in the state by banning diversity efforts and regulating how faculty can teach topics on "controversial beliefs," according to reporting by the Ohio Capital Journal.
The Office of Transformational and Inclusive Excellence (OTIE), the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion (CSDI) and the Miami Regionals Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will all cease operations ahead of the bill's effective date at the end of June.
Seth Bauguess, senior director for news and communications at Miami, confirmed to the Oxford Free Press that the university has communicated with all employees impacted by the changes, "and all have been offered opportunities in other parts of the university." In an email to the CSDI listserv, which includes students and faculty, the university stated that CSDI staff will move under the umbrella of the Center for Student Engagement, Activities and Leadership (C-SEAL), which will take over the CSDI offices in Armstrong Student Center. Under C-SEAL, "many of the programs [students] are used to seeing will continue," the email stated.
According to the OTIE website, the office's mission "is to empower each student, staff, and faculty member to promote and become engaged citizens." The office is headed by Cristina Alcalde, vice president for OTIE. Alcalde could not be reached for comment on Friday. The office maintains Miami's "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Leadership" Certificate and led the university to be recognized with a Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award each year from 2020 to 2023. The OTIE website also promotes Miami's status both a Purple Heart and Purple Star campus, designations that recognize the university's efforts to support military students.
OTIE was previously known as the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion before rebranding in fall 2023. At the time, Ohio lawmakers were debating Senate Bill 83, a precursor to SB1 introduced by Senator Jerry Cirino, the primary sponsor of both bills. SB83 wasn't ultimately adopted, and SB1 goes further in its language banning diversity programs.
CSDI is involved in programming and activities that help support "diverse student populations," according to its website. The center supports Miami's Open Door Clothes Closet, a free clothing closet for transgender students to find "new and affirming looks," and is set to host QT-Con, a convention featuring queer and trans research, later this month. Last spring, CSDI hired a new associate director for LGBTQ+ initiatives, according to reporting by The Miami Student.
While the university announcement states that the Miami Regionals Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will cease operations, that center has already been in a state of transition.
"In alignment with the Regionals vision to provide broad access to higher education, the office has been repositioned with a new focus to meet the needs of all of our students as the Center for Social and Economic Empowerment," Bauguess wrote to the Free Press. "That transition began during the fall semester and was finalized before the Governor signed SB1 into law."
