ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
Under the Trump administration, diversity, equity and inclusion programs on college campuses are under attack.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We ended DEI in America.
NADWORNY: That's President Trump at this year's State of the Union speech. His administration has targeted programs that single out a specific race - like a scholarship program for Black students or an office designed to celebrate multiculturalism - as the subject of civil rights investigations. And earlier this month, the Treasury Department proposed a new rule that would strip private schools and colleges of their tax-exempt status if they provide help to students based on their race. Many initiatives are being cut or folded into broader campus offerings to avoid racial discrimination charges.
HAYDEN O'NEAL: I was pretty sad just at the fact that our university would comply with those federal guidelines.
NADWORNY: Hayden O'Neal, now a senior at the University of Michigan, was part of a scholarship program that was abruptly shut down last year.
O'NEAL: It definitely feels disheartening. I don't feel as comfortable as I thought I would at a school like this.
NADWORNY: I heard similar uncertainty from other students across the country. But when I visited Sacramento State, rather than shying away from specifically serving previously underrepresented communities, they're highlighting their recently established Black Honors College. Luke Wood is the president of Sacramento State, and he joins me now. Welcome to the program.
LUKE WOOD: Thank you for having me.
NADWORNY: Given this moment - I mean, the Supreme Court's decision in 2023 getting rid of affirmative action, the administration's focus on DEI, the threat to tax-exempt status for universities - I mean, help me understand (laughter).
WOOD: Yeah.
NADWORNY: What are you doing?
WOOD: We're meeting our students where they're at and providing them with the environment that we think they need to be successful. I mean, we have a large population of Black students, and historically, the campus struggled to create an environment of success for them. So we created an intervention that was designed to meet their needs while also serving any student who was interested in being part of it.
And I think that we've been able to kind of strike that very clean balance between being in alignment with federal law, being in alignment with state law and still doing the right thing. I think that more institutions could be easily doing the same. So I don't think there's any reason to back away as long as you're in alignment with what the federal and state mandates are.
NADWORNY: I just want to make sure I understand correctly what you were just saying, which is, the Black Honors College is open to any student. Therefore, it's not discriminatory.
WOOD: Yeah, it's nondiscriminatory because you can be a white student and be in the Black Honors College. You can be a Asian student and be in the Black Honors College. You can be Latino and be in the Black Honors College. So it's overwhelmingly serving Black students right now, but it's open to everyone, and we have non-Black students who apply who want to have an elite, specialized experience.
It's - the curriculum focuses on Black history, life and culture. So the study of Black peoples or the Pan-African diaspora is core to everything that they do in the Black Honors College. So imagine taking your math class, your history class, your science class, your sociology class, but all of them are taught from a Black studies perspective. That's what it means to be part of the Black Honors College.
NADWORNY: Do you feel like threats from the administration or even the administration's focus on DEI - that it makes schools kind of change their policy or change their focus or change their priorities without actually having to change official policy or without having a lawsuit or without having an investigation?
WOOD: Well, I think that there's a range because yes, there is this example - right? - where, yes, we're going to basically make it clear that we don't want you to do anything that is prioritizing particularly people of color. But then there's the other side of it, which is you have had grant programs that - monies have been reduced, research programs where we've lost resources. And so there has been a direct impact, as well.
That being said, I think that the more direct and tangible impact is this kind of indirect, passive environment that it creates, where there is definitely a sense of fear that they're not a priority, that they're targeted. And that's why we see ourselves as kind of a light in the darkness.
NADWORNY: A light in the darkness - I visited campus back in the spring, and I spoke to a number of students that are in the Black Honors College. I wanted to play one student for you - Chibuike Michael Ezeh.
WOOD: Yes.
NADWORNY: Let's take a listen.
CHIBUIKE MICHAEL EZEH: People who look like me, people who I could feel more comfortable around - in high school, I'd be in a bunch of honors classes and be the only one who looked the way I looked in high school. And as little as that may seem, that does make a big mental change.
NADWORNY: So he talked to me a lot about how in high school, he was, in many of his classes, the only Black student. And he got to the Black Honors College at Sac State, and he was like, I'm going to be, like, a totally different person. And he came out of his shell. Has the Black Honors College significantly increased enrollment, increased retention?
WOOD: Yes, so it's significantly increased our enrollment. If you look at the greatest change over the last three years since I've been at Sacramento State, it's been our Black student growth by far.
NADWORNY: Can you still make sure that the campus is a welcoming place for, say, politically conservative students or students of different backgrounds?
WOOD: Yes, absolutely. In fact, we can't believe in diversity and then basically pick the groups that we support. I support everything on campus. So if there is an event that is taking place and students invite me and I can work it into my schedule, I'm going to go and support. So that includes everything from our Black fraternities and sororities to Turning Point.
I don't look at them as conservative or liberal, I look at them as students. And our job is not to tell them what to think. Our job is to teach them how to train themselves to think and to provide them with an experience that allows them to see different perspectives.
NADWORNY: Your former chief diversity officer has sued you and the California State System Board of Trustees, alleging discrimination. I wonder if you can square with me the contrast between the work you're trying to do - like, building a more diverse campus - and then that lawsuit.
WOOD: Yeah, I mean, what I would just say is that, we do our best to provide an environment where everyone can be successful. In this case, obviously, there was a different outcome. But my focus is not on anything else other than, how do we create an environment that our students need? And so that's ultimately what I have to do when I'm building a team. And that's not saying anything specific about this person 'cause I'm not going to comment on a particular case.
NADWORNY: Luke Wood is the president of Sacramento State. Thank you so much for chatting with me today.
WOOD: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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