Promoting Equity When We're Prohibited from Saying It: Pushing Back Against the Attack on DEI

Session Submission Type: Invited Session (90 minute)

Description

What can we, as educators, do to counter the government-sponsored attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion? This thematic session brings together a group of action-oriented junior and senior scholars who use their positions in their field to promote inclusion, particularly during the Trump administration. Invited panelists will discuss strategies to promote DEI and novel ways of resistance during these unprecedented political times. These include, but are not limited to, organizing an equity-focused conference, funding inclusion-centered projects as institute directors, speaking up during faculty meetings, writing public opinion pieces, and conducting research on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The group of scholars in the thematic session has a demonstrated record of going beyond merely paying lip service to DEI. Attendants will leave with ideas on how to strategize ways of resistance from their different academic positions. This thematic session will also reflect on topics discussed during the 2025 DEI Thematic session.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Session

Presider

• Rohini Jalan, McGill University

Panelists

• Tsedale Mekete Melaku, CUNY-Baruch College

• McKenzie Preston, New York University

• Christopher Ian Rider, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

• Dan Wang, Columbia University

Session Organizer

• Sandra Portocarrero, London School of Economics