Defusing microaggressions and enhancing inclusion: How UUP is fostering DEI initiatives on SUNY campuses

Somehow, diversity, equity and inclusion is under attack. Pushed by a small but very vocal group of right-wing conservatives, attacks on DEI have escalated over recent months as they have been embraced by powerful Republican politicians. And more than a few have been directed at public higher education. In Texas, the Republican-led Legislature voted in late May to ban offices, programs and initiatives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion at Texas public colleges and universities. Gov. Greg Abbott, a loud DEI detractor, signed it in June. Also in May, Florida governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping anti-DEI bill that bars Florida public colleges and universities from spending dollars on DEI programs and bans general education courses with curriculums that teach “identity politics” or critical race theory. Public higher education isn’t the only DEI and so-called “woke culture” battleground. DeSantis has said that if elected president, he will rescind all DEI initiatives in place in the military on his first day in office. In stark contrast, President Biden signed a 2021 Executive Order that advanced DEI in the federal government. Companies and corporations are also feeling pressure for DEI initiatives—which is surprising since corporate America has invested in DEI programs to minimize social inequity and better reflect the values of employees and consumers. Companies like Mastercard, Verizon and Citibank are all on Forbes’ April list of America’s best employers for diversity. Still, Bud Light, Kohl’s, Target and even Chik-Fil-A have become targets of the right over those companies’ DEI policies. On this episode of The Voice podcast, we’ll talk about DEI and an initiative UUP launched in 2022 to expand DEI efforts on SUNY campuses and create a DEI infrastructure within our union. Our guests are UUP statewide Vice President for Professionals Carolyn Kube and Tiffany Richards , a DEI stragetist with Tangible Development, a DEI consulting firm based in Latham, Albany County. UUP has been working with Tangible on DEI endeavors since 2022, part of a $50,000 AFL-CIO Workforce Development Institute grant.