ACU has a long history of racial discrimination that has led to attempts at reconciliation.

In 1999 and 2000, former ACU president Dr. Royce Money issued  apologies for ACU's prior history of discrimination in enrollment practices. About 20 years later (2019), ACU appointed Dr. Stephanie Hamm as its first Chief Diversity Officer. Then, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and other innocent Black Americans, ACU's current president Dr. Phil Schubert made the statement that Black lives do, in fact, matter. Most recently, in 2021, former Abilene mayor Anthony Williams was named ACU's first full-time Chief Diversity Officer (succeeding Dr. Hamm).

As it stands, ACU's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) exists and serves to promote a culture of "equity and inclusion by engaging in brave, Christ-centered conversation and collaboration."

In the last year, however, ACU's Board of Trustees has faced pressure to modify the office's name in order to make it more appealing to donors. These external voices are concerned that ACU is becoming too progressive in its attempts to promote a culture of diversity.

On Friday, September 15th (2023), the Board will formally discuss the future prospects of the Office of DEI (with specific regards to its name). If the Board ultimately decides to alter the name of the Office of DEI, the resulting name will certainly lack any mention of diversity, thus destroying the intent and progress of the current Office of DEI.

As Christians, we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. This belief, then, cannot and should not dissipate when we recall passages such as the following, from Revelation 7:

• 9 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb!”

It is clear that the Kingdom of God is and should be diverse. Because of this, altering the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's name would cause ACU's recent progress toward racial reconciliation to regress.

By adding your name to this petition, you call on ACU's Board of Trustees to stand up to any external (and/or internal) voices whose beliefs on this matter (1) would set ACU's current stance on diversity in a backward direction and (2) do not align with the Word of God.