BLACKSBURG — By a show of hands, Virginia Tech’s governing board approved a resolution Tuesday to dissolve the university inclusion office.
Chants from hundreds of students outside The Inn at Virginia Tech could not penetrate the walls of Latham Ballroom where the university board of visitors met on Tuesday afternoon.
The student and faculty led protest and march in support of diversity, equity and inclusion began on the steps of Burruss Hall before proceeding through campus to the Inn at Virginia Tech where the Board of Visitors was meeting.
“Hey hey, ho ho,” students chanted as they marched across campus. “The BOV has got to go.”
In the face of federal pressure to purge emphases on diversity, equity and inclusion from publicly funded institutions, the Virginia Tech board voted 12-2 in favor of a resolution to ensure that all programs, policies, practices and actions comply with the law.
Members of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors vote on a resolution regarding the Presidential Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on Tuesday. The vote dissolved the university’s inclusion office.
The university resolution is a response to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump, as well as an ensuing letter penned by the new administration to “clarify and affirm the nondiscrimination obligations of institutions receiving federal funds.”
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Rector Ed Baine was one of at least two board members who voted in opposition.
“Given that it is an executive order, the university and the board have an obligation to comply with the law,” Baine said. “I voted no, because there are a couple underlying items within the EO that I just don’t agree with.”
Baine said as the university continues through the process of ensuring legal compliance, his focus is on continuing to provide all students with services for success, and treating colleagues at Virginia Tech with the utmost respect and civility.
“Those are and should be the expectations,” Baine said. “There shouldn’t be any disagreement about that.”
Virginia Tech President Tim Sands, left, and Board of Visitors Rector Edward Baine during a discussion about the Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion vote Tuesday.
Board member Anna James said she voted no because she is proud of the diversity and inclusion work that has been done in her eight years on the board. A faculty representative said the faculty senate is opposed.
Nancy Dye, who chairs the academic, research and student affairs committee that brought the resolution, said the resolution is about complying with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Nothing in the resolution contradicts the the board adopted in 2005, Dye said. Those principles affirm the value of human diversity and reject prejudice and discrimination.
The resolution calls for dissolving the university’s Office for Inclusive Strategy and Excellence. It also says the university “highly values diversity.”
President Tim Sands said, “this is a tumultuous time for higher education, and Virginia Tech is not immune from any of the scrutiny.”
“We are also committed to uphold the law when it comes to discrimination based on protected identities,” Sands said. “Interpretations of those laws has shifted in recent months. We must shift accordingly.”
Sands said he will report back to the board of visitors, and will conduct a listening session with the university community in the first week of April.
“We are reviewing our programs, several hundred of them, that touch on one or more of our protected classes,” Sands said. “As soon as we have clarity, we will share that with the community.”
An accompanying document also says Virginia Tech will not require training, education or coursework, or the signing of any code of conduct asserting that a particular protected class, “or individuals who identify as such, are inherently or systemically superior or inferior, oppressive or oppressed, or privileged or unprivileged.”
Outside The Inn, hundreds of students chanted. A bolstered security presence greeted visitors outside the public meeting room. A team checked bags and scanned driver’s licenses before letting people inside. Campus police were present in numbers inside and outside The Inn.
“BOV you are cowards,” students shouted. “Students have all the power.”
Tristan Reeves, a senior, said this won’t be the last time students unite to fight administrative oversteps.
“What we’re seeing with the dissolution of these offices and DEI programs at Virginia Tech is just another expansion of the Trump administration’s overstep of their executive power,” Reeves said. “To destroy higher education, to ensure that students from marginalized and underrepresented identifies do not have a say.”
Tuition and fees increased
Also Tuesday, the board voted to raise tuition, student fees and room & board. Tuition has increased each year since 2021, increasing by 14% over the past five years, university officials said previously.
Furthermore, the university board voted Tuesday to rescind plans to create a student life village at the center of campus. The village had been planned since 2022 as a replacement to Slusher Hall, and a way to alleviate campus crowding amid growing enrollment.
That resolution passed by a vote of 10 to 3, with Baine, Anna James and Tish Long voting no, according to a university spokesperson. Board member Jeanne Stosser, a Blacksburg developer, abstained from voting.
The rescinding resolution is not about restricting housing on campus, but rather about the board being diligent in considering and reconsidering potential housing solutions, Sands said.
He said a new agreement with surrounding localities, called the Partnership for Progress, will be signed by the end of the academic year, providing a shared roadmap for future planning and development efforts.
“I welcome that debate and the creative solutions that will result,” Sands said.
