Gatebreaking in STEM: How Professional Societies Resist DEI Retrenchment through Organizational Strategy and Field-Level Coordination

• In Event: Institutions in Flux: Navigating Institutional Change and Political Tension in Higher Education

Abstract

This study explores how STEM professional societies respond to anti-DEI policy pressures by adopting strategies that protect and reimagine equity work. Using liberated gatekeeping and racialized organizations as guiding frameworks, we examine how these societies navigate political constraints while sustaining justice-oriented commitments. Data from surveys, Padlet reflections, public artifacts, and inquiry sessions were thematically analyzed through a critical qualitative lens. Findings reveal three main strategies: reframing risk, structural subversion, and networked solidarity. These responses suggest professional societies can act as field-level agents of transformation within postsecondary STEM education. The study contributes new insight into organizational resilience, racial equity strategy, and the shifting role of disciplinary institutions in hostile policy environments.

Authors

• Rochelle Williams, University of Southern California

• Kendrick B. Davis, University of Southern California