As an Asian who didn't get into as good of a program as my academic performance in high school would suggest, and later having found out that colleges have been systematically discriminating against people like me for decades, yeah maybe that's why it hits a nerve. For myself and countless others.

When I was applying to college, there was a policy at the time that if your grades were meritorious, you would be automatically accepted to the local state university (a world-prestigious system).

I like to believe I benefitted from this program because while my grades were excellent, my test scores well-above average, and my extracurriculars strong and personal, I was in a chaotic home situation where my desires about what I wanted to do with my life were undermined by my (undereducated and lower class) parents. Consequently, my admissions essay made no sense with my declared major and I'm pretty sure that barred me from the really good schools.

I did not have the life skills to "pull myself" up from my bootstraps and forge my own path. If that program did not exist, I could've very well ended up living under my parents' roof while struggling to "figure it out" in community college while working retail jobs. Instead I ended up living under my parents' roof while hard-committing to the advice of teachers to get "any" degree in four years from this world-class prestigious university while working retail jobs. Miraculously, I ended up studying exactly what I wanted to study and it still complements my day-to-day life.

If I'd gone with that first route, there's a high possibility that my chaotic home life would've thwarted my ability to actually earn a degree, or I would've been pushed into making greater and greater compromises about what and where to study. People who unilaterally complain about DEI programs have little appreciation for how much a home life (and wider context) can undermine and disturb a young person's potential. That program I likely benefitted from was dismantled years ago. Was it wrong for me to go to that university? Did I take the spot of someone who had "worked harder" for it?

It's time to get a real job. DEI programs and their supporters are inherently racist. These programs embed discrimination within organizations under the misguided belief that this combats racism. This is precisely why the bill prohibits programs that discriminate based on an individual's race. We don't need a committee of misguided individuals making decisions based on race.

How can this happen in the 21st century in such a diverse and varied world? I share your vision and your fight for the world to improve.

Division of campus and community engagement or DCCE

This is the department that was dismantled

From the editorial; Reframe the narrative about DEI in higher education

I want the public especially conservatives to know that DEI is critical for academic success.

From an insider’s perspective, I can tell you that our programs effectively counteracted these insidious obstacles and kept students on track. Sadly, you won’t get to read the countless student success stories and “Where Are They Now?” alumni profiles since our sites have been taken down, but I can tell you that the DCCE turned lives around and inspired students to pursue graduate school in fields like medicine, STEM and law—all critical jobs that benefit our society

If you subscribe to the “Didn’t Earn It” belief, please know that DEI programs are not taking anything away from other students. How could a College-to-Career program for low-income students eliminate opportunities for more affluent students who have their pick of many similar programs across the university? —————————————-

She is trying to redefine DEI as a lower class program which is a lie