by James A. Bacon

The Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment (CNRE) is eliminating the position of Director of Inclusion and Diversity and laying off the director herself. The action follows the shutting down of Tech’s central DEI office and the discharge of some of its employees.

“The University is asking units to either eliminate the position, or to restructure the position in such a manner that it involves genuine restructuring – not just relabeling or renaming,” wrote Dean Paul Winistorfer to the college’s faculty, staff and graduate students earlier today. “Recent federal actions are placing focused scrutiny on all universities in this realm and Virginia Tech is being diligent to ensure these former DEI positions are not simply renamed or relabeled.”

Clearly, Winistorfer eliminated the position reluctantly, describing the decision as a “difficult” one. But he was not willing to restructure the position into a new role that the college has not strategically planned for or identified as a high priority, he wrote. Also, given Trump administration cutbacks to allocations to university overhead in research contracts, the dean said, Tech is facing “significant fiscal impacts.”

Winstorfer’s candid letter provides one of the closest looks we’ve seen yet of how Virginia’s public universities are handling Trump’s DEI mandate. Last week George Mason University’s former director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion briefed the Board of Visitors on GMU’s changes, which involved some retitling and renaming and some real cuts. At the University of Virginia, President Jim Ryan has submitted a report to the governing board but refused to release it to the public on legal grounds that have not stopped either Tech or GMU from communicating openly with their constituencies.

Winistorfer said he took his action following “thorough discussion” with the provost, university deans, CNRE associate deans and department heads.

Each college faces different circumstances, the dean wrote.

Other colleges have current vacancies in different units within their college and have chosen to afford the incumbent the opportunity to change their role and responsibilities in those colleges, completely changing the duties not formerly affiliated with responsibilities in DEI. We have no such vacancy or planned need for a role and responsibility not filled.

The dean’s communication also detailed actions taken at the central university level. Some personnel in the Virginia Tech Office of Inclusion and Diversity have been relocated to the Office of Faculty Affairs. Unspecified other positions have been eliminated.

He reminded readers that creating a welcoming and supportive environment “where all individuals are welcome, respected, and can flourish” is not the responsibility of a single individual but the entire college community. He thanked the college’s exiting director Maryam Kamran for her efforts over the past four years in building a culture of inclusiveness and efforts to diversify faculty, staff, and student body. Kamran departs Tech in early August.

When Kamran was hired in 2021, she was tasked with engaging in “outreach in local communities”: fostering relationships between state and federal agencies, local communities and fishermen, and the broader public.

“In the U.S., diverse cultural perspectives are underrepresented and often not included in the environmental and sustainability field,” stated an article in Tech’s Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability. Sociologists offer a variety of explanations for the lack of diversity in conservation ranks. For instance, “people of color tend to live in urban settings with less exposure to the outdoors and may consider outdoor recreation a white man’s domain,” said Kristy Drutman, the Filipino and Jewish founder of the Green Jobs Board, an online listing of environmental jobs with companies promoting diversity”

Winistorfer saw a connection between the ecological diversity of nature and the demographic diversity of the College. “For a program that values ecological diversity and understands the strength, resilience, and beauty of diversity in the natural world, we have an opportunity to take the lead in embracing diversity and inclusion. We know from our work in natural resources that diversity is a strength that brings resilience to natural systems. And it is beautiful.”

The College website quoted Kamran as setting a goal of 20% representation of underrepresented minority graduate and minority professional students by 2024.