On July 1, 2024, based on legislative action that eliminated state funding, the University of Wyoming closed its Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The office fostered student success, supported staff and faculty excellence, and honored Wyoming heritage. The office further described its mission as caring about every member of the University community, by working to impart a sense of belonging and mattering. The spirit of this mission is indeed appropriate for the University of Wyoming, the flagship university of the Equality State. The University of Wyoming is committed to engaging its community to provide support for their academic and professional endeavors. This is a commitment to provide access for all to opportunities for success. We all do better when we do it with support from our peers and environment.
This commitment is not new and has been reiterated many times in recent months as the University began complying with the directives of the legislature and governor. In addressing the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees in May 2024, "President Seidel stated the importance of diversity of thought, discipline, political view, geography and background, further stating that every dimension of diversity is critical, and should be valued at any university because it enriches community, supports finding solutions to complex problems (something a university must strive to do), and fuels innovation," (BoT Minutes, May 2024).
From its report to the President in April 2024, the DEI Review Working Group stated the following, "In addition to the University’s core missions of teaching, research, outreach, and service, the Working Group would reaffirm the University’s principal values of being open and welcoming to all, to supporting and treating everyone fairly and respectfully, to political neutrality as an institution, to merit-based hiring and grading, to inquiry versus advocacy in the classroom, to academic freedom in teaching and research, to freedom of expression and creating a space for all voices, to equitable access and equal opportunity, and to consider the needs of every student."
Each and every one of us can contribute to realizing the ideals embodied by these statements. We can support and lift each other up individually and collectively as the university works to transition over the coming academic year. During this transition, the many functions of the DEI office that were legally mandated and/or required by funding entities will be carried out. Over the coming year, existing university programs, activities, and functions will be evaluated. Some of these programs, activities, and functions will need to be modified, and some may be discontinued. Guidance for this can be found in the Board of Trustees action on Equal Oportunity and Prohibited Efforts as well as accompanying FAQs. These changes were announced in A Message from the President on August 19, 2024.