As colleges in many Republican-governed states lose their diversity, equity and inclusion programs – DEI – FRCC Vice President, Dr. Rebecca Woulfe, said she stands with the school’s approach, which includes its Equity and Inclusion Council.
She discussed the topic in a wide-ranging press conference with Front Page staff.
States including Florida, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Idaho, and Utah have recently enacted laws restricting DEI practices in schools.
DEI programs seek to include and support marginalized communities on campus, with “equity” meaning extra steps taken to overcome disadvantages.
Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, who signed multiple anti-DEI bills into law in 2023, calls DEI “an attempt to impose orthodoxy,” and said restricting such programs will “elevate merit and achievement above identification with certain groups.”
In defending DEI programs like FRCC’s, Dr. Woulfe said it is unfair to treat all students the same, because they don’t come with “equal resources or equal backgrounds.”
She used a swimming analogy. Some students come from wealthy families, she said. They have swimming pools in their backyards, and instructors to teach them how to swim. Others have no access to swimming at all. Still, she said, in going to school they are tossed into a comparable situation: “Sink or swim.”
She said individuals who come from less-privileged backgrounds need extra support: tutoring, writing centers, mental-health counseling, free-food pantries.
As for inclusion in FRCC’s hiring practices, Dr. Woulfe said she measures success through looking at the numbers.
If the percentage of the Hispanic population around campus doesn’t align with the percentage of the faculty and staff inside the school, then it’s “a place to do better,” she said.
“A garden of just one kind of flower isn’t as beautiful as a garden that has a variety,” she said. “The same is true in getting work done and coming up with ideas and innovation.”
DEI opponents argue such programs don’t have enough success for the funding put into them.
Said Florida’s governor, “You don’t just get to take taxpayer dollars and do whatever the heck you want to do.”
At FRCC, Dr. Woulfe said, “We’ve had successes.”
She said that the “gaps are closing” in diversity among genders and ethnicities.
She attributed instructor training as a reason. For instance, she said, in the classroom men can be called on more often than women – even if no one in the class is aware of it.
“Just bringing that kind of bias to the forefront” can help to make a more inclusive environment, she said.
Asked about bans on DEI and the future of the school’s equity and inclusion council, she said Colorado has had a supportive Democratic governor in Jared Polis. He’s safeguarded the approach at the state level.
With Republicans winning the presidency and majorities in U.S. House, and Senate Nov. 5, she said, “There might be a more national push” to ban DEI.
Still, even in such an event, she said, “We are already down this road.”
With the benefits she cites, “Eyes are open now.”
