Purdue is SILENTLY DISSOLVING major academic programs and firing program leaders. Following a SINGLE STATEMENT months after programs began disappearing. While we understand compliance with state law, Purdue has taken NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

We are calling for announcements of each program cut, and explanations for why these programs must disappear to comply with law. We are calling for REDIRECTION TO RESOURCES instead of dead links. We are calling for NOTIFICATION TO STUDENTS who will be impacted, and EXPLANATIONS to terminated staff members.

Background:

Following Governor Braun’s Executive Order 25-14, Purdue announced the “sunsetting” of its diversity programs. This is because the Order demands Indiana 

“shall not utilize state funds, property, or resources to:

a. Support diversity, equity, and inclusion positions, departments, activities, procedures or programs if they grant preferential treatment based upon one person's particular race, color, ethnicity, or national origin, over that of another person.”

IN SHORT- Purdue is a land grant public school using state resources. Purdue cannot use said state resources to give preferential treatment to any group. Rather than fight this or adjust program language to suit new guidelines, Purdue slashed the Emerging Leaders Scholars (ELS) and the Multicultural Science Program (MSP).

This is not the first cut. The Gender Inclusive and Asian American learning communities were silently dissolved earlier this year, with all Internet references being scrubbed. ELS and MSP are just two in a series of attacks on support for queer and POC students.

ELS and MSP are open to students of all backgrounds, and were cut for predominantly supporting vulnerable groups like POC and first generation students. No group is disadvantaged when ELS and MSP students are taught how to improve their resume or how to be effective leaders in diverse environments.

MSP is a diversity initiative in the same way the Women in Science Program (WISP) is a diversity initiative. However the “sunsets” in diversity programs thus far have been arbitrarily based, loosely citing Gov. Braun’s executive order, while especially targeting programs that support POC and queer students. Purdue is not simply following the law, it is unnecessarily cutting programming beneficial to historically disadvantaged students, picking and choosing which programs to terminate that don’t even appear in the executive order (such as gender inclusive programs). As a university that honors integrity and respect, it is incredibly disturbing to see the Board of Trustees cut influential programs and dismantle faculty’s livelihoods as if playing darts in the dark.