Mixing DEI's advisory role with a disciplinary role is like trying to sail a boat with a hole in it — it just doesn't work. The mission of DEI should focus on building community rather than segregating and policing it.
Universities already have well-established systems in place to handle discrimination and misconduct, making the placement of DEI in a compliance role both redundant and a mismatch with the core competencies of most DEI professionals — primarily education, support, and community-building.
Just as it would be inappropriate to deploy a communications officer to lead a tank battalion, it is similarly ineffective to assign DEI personnel to roles far removed from their expertise.
DEI's role should be to empower and support, not to serve as campus speech police. As someone deeply involved in DEI in higher education and as a military spouse, I see this parallel clearly. DEI's role should be to empower and support, not to serve as campus speech police.
Attorney. Chief Diversity Officer. Author of Humanity at Work (#1 Amazon Bestseller). Member of Heterodox Academy and Advisory Board of Class Action. Member of Chief. Speaker on civic discourse, viewpoint diversity, and the future of inclusion. Follow on X →
Views expressed are her own and do not represent any employer or institution.