Tulane students deliver DEI petition to university president with more than 400 signatures
New Orleans, LA – On May 2, about 20 Tulane University students gathered to deliver a petition to the university president’s office. This petition demanded the reinstatement of DEI programs and a commitment to keep ICE off campus.
When students approached the president’s office asking to hand him the letter, Will Ferbos, the vice president for university relations, came out to receive it.
Anthony Franklin, a senior at Tulane speaking for Students for a Democratic Society, told him, “We are disappointed Tulane is turning its back on the work of past generations who struggled for our rights. We want Tulane to join other universities like Harvard in standing up for their students!”
Members of the Tulane president’s office have agreed to meet with students about their demands.
Cameron MacLaren, a Tulane senior representing Students Organizing Against Racism, said, “Our administration knows we’re mad and they want to ignore us. Thus, it becomes even more critical that we make it impossible for them to look away.”
The group of concerned students authored the letter shortly after Tulane closed the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in March this year. Signed by eight student organizations and more than 400 students, employees, and alumni, the letter states, “Replacing the EDI office with an office of ’Academic Excellence and Opportunity’ undermines the decades of work that Tulane’s students and staff have done to address our university’s history of segregation and support for chattel slavery.”
After the EDI office closed, Tulane students spent weeks canvassing to raise awareness about the attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Tulane University has outraged students by also closing the Office of Gender and Sexual Diversity and canceling historic student events such as Black graduation and lavender graduation, which celebrate African American graduates and LGBTQ graduates.
Jaelin Su, a Tulane student who joined in delivering the letter, said, “The school’s reaction has been really disappointing, as they’ve chosen to criminalize student free speech instead of standing up for us.”