Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) is set to “scale back” its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), according to the university’s student newspaper Sidelines, which reported on Tuesday that an email explaining the changes was distributed by MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee.
The email reportedly confirmed that the university’s “scholarships and faculty procedures” will be changed to comport with both executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, who has pledged to purge federal support for DEI in within the nation’s higher education system, as well as the law passed by the Tennessee General Assembly which prohibits awarding scholarships based on race, color, ethnicity, or national origin.
“With legal challenges to a number of the Executive Orders and federal agency directives, we have chosen to suspend future awards until we have greater clarity,” McPhee (pictured above) reportedly said, with the outlet noting that all previously unawarded scholarships will be “suspended until further notice.”
Sidelines also reported that MTSU established new guidelines declaring that race, color, ethnicity, and national origin must not be considered during admissions or hiring decisions, and that academic mission statements, goals, or programming, “should not be explicitly focused” on DEI.
The university will reportedly remove DEI references from its websites and publications, as well as terminate any sponsorships of DEI programming, according to the outlet.
MTSU is not the only Tennessee university to take such steps; Vanderbilt University quietly removed the DEI page from its website in February. The web page was rebranded from “Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” to “Our Commitment to Belonging, Collaboration, and Growth.”
While the Trump administration warned schools later that month to ditch DEI, the efforts by Vanderbilt were insufficient to prevent the launch of a U.S. Department of Education investigation over the university’s alleged implementation of “race-exclusionary preferences, race-based scholarships, and/or race based segregation.”
Notably, MTSU became the subject of national controversy in 2023, after Sidelines pulled an article including the perspective of an Israeli citizen attending MTSU in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas.
The university was back in the news in April, when the Trump administration revoked the visas of multiple international students. The students were later given legal status to study at MTSU, but not student visas.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sidney McPhee” by Middle Tennessee State University. Background Photo “Middle Tennessee State University Campus” by Middle Tennessee State University.
good
Good news!! Now a new President who isn’t stuck on race would be nice.