The future of a state-funded program to increase the diversity of faculty at colleges and universities in Illinois is in doubt as the Trump administration continues to pressure higher education to abandon DEI values.
The effort is called the Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois program, or DFI. Illinois has funded tuition and $10,000 stipends for between 100 and 115 graduate students from nontraditional or underrepresented backgrounds in each of the last four years. The program dates to 2004 when state lawmakers created it.
Illinois State University has had between four and 11 DFI fellows in each of the last four years. Stacey Wiggins got a Ph.D. in social work from ISU with DFI help and is now part of the faculty. Would she have been able to complete a master’s degree and earn a doctorate without it?
"Oh, no! [laughs] Now, miracles happen, and I am a believer that maybe another resource may have come, but I am grateful for this one," said Wiggins.
Wiggins said the award really helped reduce her stress, and offered mentoring and support navigating the then-unfamiliar environment of higher ed.
Angelica Taylor got her undergraduate degree from ISU and taught preschool in Bloomington-Normal for several years. She's now in an education Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign [UIUC] with the help of a DFI fellowship.
This spring, she said she and about 15 others at UIUC she knows received an email saying the state wouldn't be renewing their awards.
"I cried. I just cried," said Taylor.
She said her department has been supportive and has offered information about other potential financial help. DFI, though, had professional development and networking elements attached, focused on research, and did not require a teaching load. Without those things, she said it may be tougher to get through.
"I had many feelings of just being kind of hurt through the dismantling of it," said Taylor.
The situation leaves her uncertain how she will complete the last year of her program.
Taylor said department administrators at UIUC tell her they are in the dark about what has happened, as are other institutions.
ISU President Aondover Tarhule likewise said there's not much coming out of the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
"We have not had anything directly officially from the federal government or the state government. And so, we continue with the fellows that we have and hope that they will continue to be supported," said Tarhule.
An ISU spokesperson said the university has institutional representatives that support its students with the application process, and those people have not received communication about the status of the program.
A spokesperson for the Illinois Board of Higher Education said in a statement that "Illinois’ scholarship program aimed at diversifying higher education faculty is not suspended, all of the funds have already been distributed to students for this fiscal year."
“As the Board of Higher Education explained to the DOJ [Department of Justice], there are no activities scheduled to take place over the next few months on Illinois’ scholarship program. Illinois agreed to conduct an evaluation of the program and will consult with the General Assembly since this program is enshrined in Illinois law," said the IBHE.
The board has not yet addressed a WGLT request for more detail on the dialogue between the DOJ and IBHE.
Angelica Taylor wondered if DFI is not suspended, why are awards for the academic year that starts in the fall not being announced on the usual timeline — instead of students getting cancellation notices?
"Perhaps there really was a reason. I would really love to know my own self what the reason would have been,” said Taylor.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education sent a "Dear Colleagues" letter to most K-12 and higher education institutions in the country attacking Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. It promised enforcement under the Civil Rights Act against institutions that are “smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.”
A challenge in federal court filed in late April has held up enforcement.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a recent online guidance session to help educators respond to the federal administration assault on DEI that it is reasonable to take a pause to assess programs. But...
"It's important to not just surrender to this notion of just being risk averse in your balancing of what is worthy of fighting for," said Raoul.
Raoul also encouraged education institutions at all levels not to capitulate and run from the language of DEI or accessibility just because there is an administration and extremists that seek to have them do so.
Program benefits
Tarhule said students from underrepresented backgrounds make up 34% of the student body, but less than 20% of the faculty. He said students and parents, alums, and some donors all say ISU needs to make the faculty look more like the students. He said that "takes a really long time" and the DFI program helps ISU grow its own faculty.
"So, if it were cut off then we would be producing fewer and fewer people in those areas which means we would be less able to hire people in those areas because they don't exist," said Tarhule.
Supporters of DFI said the program does more than just change the faces of the professoriate.
Stacey Wiggins said it helps address falling enrollment challenges facing higher education because the focus is, in part, on nontraditional students — a growing proportion of the entering student body.
"So if you don't look out for this group, where is higher ed going to go? Because we already know there is going to be a dip. There's going to be a decline for the traditional age," said Wiggins.
She said there is momentum for this kind of student coming to higher ed, and they need to be met with resources and welcome.
At UIUC, Angelica Taylor agreed DFI has a large return on investment for all of Illinois.
"Programs like this allow for the best and the brightest to give back to the state we love so much," she said, adding she hopes more eventually comes out so the DFI students can find a way to advocate for themselves.
"It is an act of resilience right now," said Taylor, noting the U of I is telling her it is working toward a solution.
She said she will remain anxious until she hears more.
