By Mackenzie Grizzard | Staff Writer, Lauren Holcomb | LTVN Broadcast Reporter
President Linda Livingstone met with state legislators on Monday in Austin to evaluate the future of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Baylor after a wave of state-wide bans swept the state of Texas in recent weeks.
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“You will see us continue to lean into supporting students and faculty from all kinds of backgrounds and experiences,” Livingstone said.
State legislators passed Senate Bill 17 last spring, a law prohibiting DEI offices and initiatives in public education, according to the Intercultural Development Research Association. Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order directing all Texas state agencies to eliminate all forms of DEI in public institutions of higher education.
Baylor as a private institution is not bound to these state mandates in the same way Texas public universities are. Despite this, many wonder if Baylor will remain committed to diversity or if they will follow suit with their public counterparts.
“We appreciate that our legislature in Texas values the independence of private institutions in this state and recognizes that the role of the state government in state institutions is different than the role of the government in private institutions like Baylor,” Livingstone said.
Baylor has received “a lot of support from legislators,” in recent weeks about how the university will function in terms of DEI, she said.
“We do pay a lot of attention to what [legislators] decide on behalf of public institutions and try to make sure we understand the spirit of that but continue to function the way we believe we should in support of our Christian mission as a university,” Livingstone said.
On a broader scale, the swift eradication of DEI programs continue as the Trump administration gives public schools and universities a two-week deadline to eliminate diversity initiatives or risk losing federal money.
While Baylor individually awards a number of merit-based scholarships to students, the university also receives a number of federal and state grants. The official memo from the Department of Education last week includes the elimination of scholarships of students from certain racial background, according to AP News.
With this mandate in mind, Livingstone affirms that need-based scholarships at Baylor are safe, and she doesn’t anticipate that changing.
“When it comes to scholarships, most of what students get from the federal government are grants based on need, so they are not tied in any way to the gender or ethnicity or the race of an individual,” Livingstone said.
In addition to federal and state scholarships, Baylor also receives a number of federal research grants through Grant.gov, which includes $400 billion in grants for schools around the nation.
“We do continue to watch carefully what happens in the research space and grants and contracts from the federal government as it relates to research that our faculty are doing,” Livingstone said.
According to Livingstone, Baylor has not seen a halt in federal funding and does not have any concerns that they will but will continue to monitor it closely.
“We want to be sure that we’re in compliance with federal law and that we are respectful of and follow what’s in the Dear Colleague letters,” Livingstone said.”We really want to make sure that everyone on our campus feels cared for, feels seen, feels engaged and feels like they are valued on our campus.”
The ‘Dear Colleague’ letter is from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and reaffirms the department’s stance against racial discrimination in public institutions that receive federal funding. This letter underscores the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard, which held that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The letter goes on to argue that DEI initiatives often function as “race-based discrimination” and are not only illegal, but will constitute a loss of funding for non-compliant institutions.
Livingstone said Baylor is not aware of any campus or educational programs that violate any laws and spends a lot of time “understanding what’s going on in the political climate.”
“We work very hard to ensure that our scholarship programs, our hiring practices [and] our admissions practices are consistent with federal law [and] Supreme Court cases” Livingstone said. “We will certainly continue to do that while continuing to lean into our support, care and concern for all the members of our community.”
Discussion about the future of DEI at Baylor will continue, according to Livingstone, who met this week and last with the university’s general counsel, student government and the deans of several academic departments.
“We will continue to be engaged with the community, with our students [and] our faculty and staff,” Livingstone said. “We’re going to certainly continue to find venues where people have questions and want to learn more and to be as educated as possible.”
As Baylor’s administration continues to deliberate, students begin to wonder what these uncertainties will mean for them.
For Houston junior Ashlyn Manley, DEI is more than just policy — it’s part of her life.
“I think it’s really sad that we’re taking steps backward in history, and our generation is going to have to fight the same fight that our grandparents did to get a seat at the table in a lot of these places,” Manley said.
Manley believes that everyone on Baylor’s campus can benefit from DEI programs, regardless if you’re a person of color.
“Me as a woman of color having an opportunity doesn’t take away from someone else’s opportunity,” Manley said. “[It] helps people across the board by bringing awareness to this things. It can literally help everyone.”
Dr. Blake Burleson, senior lecturer in the department of religion, echoes the sentiment that anti-DEI mandates will harm Texas and said his classes are always better with students from diverse backgrounds.
“The class is always better if I have not only the Christian majority of students, but if I have a Muslim student or Hindu student,” Burleson said. “That’s just one example of our commitment to diversity and inclusion that makes Baylor stronger.”
Baylor is now faced with a socio-political crossroad: uphold its commitment to diversity as a private university or blend in with the unavoidable fate of state education. With this in mind, Baylor will continue to lean into its core values as a Christian institution, Livingstone said.
“I think everything we do on campus is driven by that mission and by supporting the wide array of people and backgrounds they have on campus,” Livingstone said. “And we want to do that in a caring, loving and respectful way.”
