The Quad: DEI Confusion and a ‘Cult-like’ Church

Another week, another snow storm, another Friday Trump administration announcement about DEI and funding sending higher ed into excitement and confusion. That seems like every Quad intro I write, but I promise I won’t recycle them like a professor reading the same lecture notes for 20 years. (Did you all take a Hegel class like that, too?)

Let me risk being too earnest and say that we know all these policy changes mean a lot of stress for those of you on campus, especially now that the impacts are becoming clear. N.C. State has announced a hiring freeze. A teacher prep program affiliated with Salem College, Wake Forest University, and Winston-Salem State University lost much of its funding. 

There are a lot of details to be worked out in a short amount of time with a lot at stake. Let us know what’s happening: highered@theassemblync.com. In the meantime, class is in session.

This week in The Quad: A “cult-like” church has been aggressively recruiting students at North Carolina State University. Erin digs into what we (don’t) know about the letter from the U.S. Department of Education that called on colleges to eliminate all race-conscious practices. Two former students claim St. Andrews University knowingly admitting a registered sex offender who later assaulted three people.

–Matt Hartman

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Campus Ministry

Preachers and missionaries are a familiar sight on college campuses, but a church that’s taken root at N.C. State is different.

Restored Church Raleigh starts its recruiting pitch with Bible studies. But the former members who spoke with reporter Emily Vespa say things grow worrisome from there. Church officials told them not to listen to their families. One student said they asked him to move in with other “disciples” and told him to date only church members. Students said members have to attend near-daily meetings and donate to the church weekly.

“They start using scripture, talking about how if you feel like anyone is trying to discourage your walk with Jesus, then you should cut them off,” one student told Vespa. “They were kind of trying to use that to seclude me from everything, so the only thing I had was them—the church.”

Vespa also obtained internal emails showing that N.C. State staff wrestled with how to respond to the church while maintaining an open campus and avoiding lawsuits for curtailing freedom of speech—like one the university faced in 2016 from a different Christian group.

–Matt Hartman

How an Aggressive Church is Making Waves at N.C. State

Thanks for reading The Quad, a higher education newsletter written by The Assembly’s Matt Hartman and Erin Gretzinger. Reach us with tips or ideas at highered@theassemblync.com.

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‘Dear Colleague’: Ban All DEI

On Valentine’s Day, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights released a “Dear Colleague” letter that certainly didn’t read like a love letter to schools nationwide.

Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote that “repugnant race-based preferences” had “emanated throughout every facet of academia,” adding that such practices have been carried out “under the banner of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’” in recent years.

Consequently, the letter called on all educational institutions to eliminate all race-conscious practices by February 28 or risk losing federal funding.

While Trainor said the letter “does not have the force and effect of law,” he emphasized that this is the department’s interpretation of Title VI under the Civil Rights Act and the Constitution’s equal protection clause, as well as the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that banned race-conscious admissions.

“The test is simple: If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race, the educational institution violates the law,” he wrote. Trainor said that the test applies to hiring practices, financial aid, scholarships, student housing, graduation ceremonies, and “all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

The “Dear Colleague” letter is the latest in a flurry of DEI-related directives since Trump took office. At the beginning of February, the UNC System issued a memo that suspended all general-education and major-specific requirements related to DEI in response to one of Trump’s executive orders.

UNC System spokesperson Andy Wallace told The Assembly on Wednesday that all general counsels had received the letter and were reviewing it. “We believe the requirements are largely consistent with the UNC System’s equality policy,” Wallace wrote. The Board of Governors implemented the equality policy last spring after it repealed its previous DEI policies. 

As the OCR’s deadline approaches, it remains unclear how many schools in North Carolina will respond.

North Carolina Community College System spokesperson Nathan Hardin said the system is “evaluating our statewide policies to determine compliance” with the letter. Davidson College told The Assembly that it is still assessing the impact of “cascading policy announcements,” while noting its “long-established policies” on employment, admission, and student programs are “designed to prevent illegal discrimination.” The North Carolina Council on Independent Colleges and Universities and several private higher-ed institutions did not respond to requests for comment on the letter.

–Erin Gretzinger

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Lawsuit in Laurinburg

Reporter Pam Kelley has a story about two former St. Andrews University students who allege the school knowingly admitted the convicted sex offender who later sexually assaulted them.

Mison Mickle pleaded guilty last year to crimes related to sexual assaults of three former St. Andrews students. A recent lawsuit alleges that St. Andrews recruited Mickle as a wrestler despite knowing he was a registered sex offender who had been dishonorably discharged from the Army after being convicted by court martial of sex offenses.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer told Kelley, ”It’s just impossible to understand what the school was thinking.” St. Andrews President Tarun Malik didn’t respond to her requests for comment. 

Kelley wrote in 2023 for The Assembly about the struggle St. Andrews faces to survive. As she noted then, the school has used athletic teams as a way of boosting enrollment. It currently has 780 students, according to U.S. News & World Report. Its athletics website lists 384 student athletes.

–Matt Hartman

Two Former Students Sue St. Andrews University Over Sex Offender on Campus

Reach our team with tips or ideas at highered@theassemblync.com.

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