Recent federal instruction has threatened the $320 million in funding that Tulane University receives yearly, according to an email sent by President Michael Fitts on March 13. To protect this funding, the name of the “Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” has since been changed to the “Office of Academic Excellence and Opportunity.” This was enforced to protect university funding and questions the future of diversity initiatives.
Further, according to a New York Times article, agencies of the Trump administration have released a list of words and language that are to be discouraged and ideally avoided in educational spaces. This change attacks freedom of speech at universities across the country. Due to this, the names of Tulane departments and courses that include the list of words could be changed. Professors and administrators will need to be creative to navigate the discouraged words and language and find ways to rephrase the focus of classes and educational avenues.
According to Mykel Green, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, navigating discouraged language can be compared to historical periods when the rights of certain identity groups were suppressed.
“During the Civil Rights Movements, you [would] have to figure out how to operate in the Jim Crow era and how to survive,” Green said. “You do it and hope and work towards a better day. But you still have to do the mission. We still have to continue the mission.”
The mission Green is referring to is preserving education surrounding identity-based groups. University compliance with the government orders has occurred to protect the funding that benefits health-related research, student grants and education opportunities. Professors and administrators will have to reframe and put new labels on educational content that complies with government standards. This may lead to the renaming of classes and departments to protect the education’s content.
As of now, Green has not yet been told to change the name of his lab, The Regenerative Engineering and Equity Lab. “Equity” is considered a discouraged language, which led Green to review the list in case the title has to be changed.
“I looked at the list and I saw that ‘accessibility’ wasn’t on there,” Green said. “So, if I change it from ‘equity’ to ‘accessibility,’ it still gets the message across that I’m trying to make my technology more accessible to people.”
According to Green, the Office of the Provost claimed that grants to Tulane scientists will be flagged for review if the discouraged words used. Scientists would have to explain to the administration why their research is relevant and should receive funding. Researchers will now have to battle to continue their work that prioritizes specific identities.
Green’s previously mentioned lab focuses on “developing new biotechnologies to help underserved patient populations.” He specifically studies sickle cell disease — a red blood cell disorder largely affiliated with the Black population. Green is studying sickle cell disease with the goal of designing new therapies to help with stem cell transportation. He is working to make gene editing therapies more efficient. The scientific design and research cannot be changed, as they revolve around an identity group. Ultimately, if authorities negatively call upon this study for its focus on an identity group, it can affect the progression of scientific research and healthcare for all.
“I’m testing sickle cell disease. That is a specific patient population. You can’t deny that. It just happens to be Black people. If you deny me that, that’s a whole other thing,” Green said.
The Trump administration’s restriction on identity-based words in educational spaces puts studies like this at risk. Green’s lab is an example of scientific research that focuses on a specific identity group. In his research, he must focus on the Black community since they are majorly affected by sickle cell disease.
Green previously worked at the University of Texas at Austin. He described an experience when the university had stopped funding programs related to the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers in accordance with state legislature.
“That was what the state ordered,” Green said. “That has a side effect of making it difficult for students to build communities and support each other. I really hope that doesn’t happen at Tulane and that we continue supporting our students. At the same time, if that’s what is decided, I also know that students and faculty are resilient.”
