Georgia Tech has announced that the LGBTQIA+ Resource Center (LRC) and other groups for marginalized students will be dissolved amid attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives nationwide.
In a statement posted on Feb. 26, the Georgia Tech Pride Alliance announced that the LRC, Women’s Resource Center, and Black Culture, Innovation, and Technology would all be preemptively dissolved and moved under the Arts, Belonging, and Community Department.
The organization cited recent executive orders; the Dear Colleagues letter, a letter issued on Feb. 14 detailing the Department of Education’s new civil rights guidance targeting DEI practices; and SB120, a bill introduced in the state Senate effectively banning DEI initiatives.
“We’ve known this was a possibility for years,” the Georgia Tech Pride Alliance wrote on Instagram. “These centers are losing the ability to distinguish and market themselves as what they are – a resource for marginalized groups. Other DEI programs are already undergoing similar restructuring across campus, but it is unclear when those changes will be fully announced.”
The Arts, Belonging, and Community Department’s goal is to “promote and sustain a sense of belonging and community for all students across all identities” through arts, activities, intercultural dialogue, and events. According to the statement, this preemptive restructuring amid forthcoming attacks on DEI is an attempt to avoid scrutiny for these groups and maintain them, albeit in a more limited scope.
“[I]t’s been very difficult for me to feel any pride for being a [T]ech alum when stuff like this keeps happening,” one former student wrote in the Georgia Tech subreddit. “…I am not proud when I look at my diploma. I am not proud to call myself a Yellow Jacket.”
In January, President Donald Trump signed two Executive Orders seeking to eliminate DEI initiatives from government agencies, educational institutions, and the private sector. Since January 2023, when anti-DEI legislation first began circulating, 252 college campuses across 36 states have made changes to their DEI initiatives, according to the Chronicle for Education.
The University System of Georgia eliminated the use of diversity statements in hiring and ended all mandatory diversity trainings in July 2023.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.