As a Jesuit institution, Loyola’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion must remain its highest priority. After months without a person fulfilling the role of vice president of equity and inclusion, Loyola has said that they are changing the role by splitting the responsibilities of it in order to better serve the students. The role is being split into the VP of equity and inclusion and Director of Multicultural Studies in order to reduce the workload and stress of the position.
Although the splitting of this role to better benefit students is a great thing, the vacancy comes at a time when DEI in higher education is increasingly necessary as conservatives nationwide enact a crusade against equitable and inclusive education. Here in Louisiana, with the recent election of Jeff Landry as governor, there is no doubt that he will follow in the footsteps of other fascist Republican governors such as Ron DeSantis in fighting “wokeness” in education.
Whenever right-wing politicians embark on this endeavor, they intend to destroy the integrity of the education system and implant their own falsified narratives. As Janky Jeff’s inauguration in January nears closer, it seems that Louisiana’s executive branch will be no exception and that he will do whatever it takes to destroy equity and inclusion in schools.
This is especially dangerous at Loyola because diversity, equity, and inclusion are foundational to the Jesuit values and mission. We need to remain committed to fighting against this conservative rhetoric which seeks to uproot our Jesuit mission.
Students will continue to protest as long as Loyola continues to fail at taking a hardline stance in favor of creating equity and inclusivity at all levels of this institution.
The school needs to understand that fulfilling this position should be one of its highest priorities – especially with the school’s recent track record of failing to commit to its own set of values, which are supposedly at the heart of everything the school does.
As the school continues its search for someone to fulfill both the role of VP of equity and inclusion and the role of director of multicultural students, they must understand that whoever fulfills both roles must be cognizant of the administration’s recent missteps. They must understand that equity and inclusion in fulfillment of our Jesuit mission means working to serve the students, not just the board of trustees.
