Opinion

The Diversity Equity and Inclusion program at St. Louis U. High is great. The more I’ve learned about the program the more I happen to like it because of the role it plays in our Jesuit identity. That being said, the name DEI doesn’t accurately represent the program due to its overwhelming political connotation, which has taken over the meaning SLUH has made for it. 

Though no fault of SLUH, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has become one of the many politically charged topics in today’s news. What do you think when someone mentions DEI in casual conversation? If your uncle brings it up at Thanksgiving a few bottles might be missing from the wine cabinet. Videos on DEI have millions of views on youtube, many of which are negative. Titles include: ‘DEI = didn’t earn it’ with 7.4 million views and ‘The DEI disaster’ with 2.3 million views. It’s easy to see how controversial DEI is. 

 The root of the criticism offered by many opponents of DEI are directed towards its hiring practices. The primary concern with DEI in the public sphere is that it prioritizes race, religion, and background over competency and merit. This critique was at the center of President Trump’s campaign against DEI last year. He used DEI as a scapegoat for a plane crash that happened at Reagan National Airport last January. He claimed that the pilots and air traffic controllers were “DEI hires” and that they weren’t qualified for the positions they held.  

However, this criticism, whether true or not, does not apply to SLUH’s program which can be thought of as more of an outreach program rather than a hiring process. SLUH doesn’t strive for diversity by accepting applicants based on race, but they reach out to low income areas to create a more diverse applicant pool. Because of this, SLUH’s DEI is opposite to lack of merit critiques because a greater number of applicants means SLUH can be more selective with who they chose to admit. Thus SLUH has more merit today than if they never had a DEI policy. 

However, what many people miss is that DEI is far more than just an outreach program. It involves providing resources which students need to succeed through SLUH’s work grant program and other forms of financial aid. DEI is integrated in all aspects of the school. Students from many different backgrounds are given places where they feel welcomed. Clubs like ACES, Black Student Union, and Asian Student Alliance are all a part of inclusion at SLUH. Moreover, every student and faculty member act as a part of DEI by creating a brotherhood where all students feel welcomed. This core value of Inclusion and belonging is an essential part of what DEI strives for, yet often gets overlooked. 

Despite the good nature of DEI at SLUH, the title has significant negative connotations, especially within the student body, which causes a lot of DEI’s positive impact to be overlooked in favor of bias towards its political meaning. 

With DEI getting such bad press today, why should SLUH carry that reputation when it could easily be named something else? DEI at SLUH was established in the 1990s, and originally called the Minority Action Program. It was one of the first programs of its kind and it was completely unique to SLUH. So why is our program named after a movement less than 10 years old which has no ties to our school whatsoever? It could just as easily be named after one of its founders to highlight its origin from within our community. The name ‘DEI’ has occupied a very small amount of time compared to the lifespan of the program itself, which was renamed in 2020 when it was expanded and implemented into advisories. It wouldn’t be radical or unprecedented to change its name when it’s only been around for such a short amount of time. 

The goal isn’t to change everyone’s mind, but giving DEI a new name would certainly work to remove much of the prejudice around it throughout the school, and it would give the program its own unique identity, separate from politics or non-SLUH organizations.  A new name for the program would bring much-needed enthusiasm towards it. It would redirect attention towards SLUH’s Jesuit ideals, from the bias that many in our community have, which would unify faculty and students alike in understanding what Inclusion and Equity really means at SLUH.