On Feb. 25. 2025, Drury University students received an email from the Office of the President regarding the removal of webpages containing any mentions of diversity, equity, or inclusion from the Drury University website.  

Many students were made aware of this removal by an email originating from a student, circulated by students. The link to the webpage was redirecting users to the home page of the Drury University website.  

As word of the change spread President Frederick emailed the student body. The email explains that on “February 14, the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education issued” a letter that informed colleges that they must “modify or eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs” from all aspects of the university by Feb. 28 or the institutions would risk losing federal funding.  

According to the Office of the President, federal funding is one of the main ways students pay for their education at Drury. The letter issued by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) said there would be further instructions to come and as of Mar. 4 there are no further instructions for institutions regarding the removal of DEI.  

According to the U.S. Department of Education there has been an investigation launched by the OCR into the Washington State School District because they are said the be “allowing male athletes to compete in girls’ interscholastic athletics.”  

The Office of the President said that the removal of the links to DEI programs were removed due to a mistake indirectly caused by President Frederick himself. He said that there was a miscommunication, and the blame lies with him. The links were later restored to the website. 

Per my last article interviewing President Frederick as well as the email received on Feb. 25, President Frederick maintains that Drury will not “preemptively make changes in order to comply with federal or state law, executive orders, or federal guidance.” He does note that Drury “will comply with the law if and when it becomes clear that we must.”  

President Frederick goes on to say that the guidance from the ED is “ethically wrong, out-of-step with effective student success and support systems, and short-sighted…” Drury will comply should federal or state legislation be passed. He then ended the email saying additional information will be communicated on Feb. 28, 2025.  

On Friday Feb. 28 at 10:26 pm, students received an email from President Frederick following up his prior email. President Frederick said that “students received a combined $17.1 million dollars in state and federal aid” just in the year 2024 so the threat of losing funding is very serious.  

President Frederick said that no discrimination was “inherent in any aspect of Drury University” and that students or faculty are not excluded on the basis of “race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion or other protected classes.”

He says that the functions of Drury are “designed to benefit the entire university community…” President Frederick said that there seems to be no apparent reason to change anything on our campus including “campus building signs, commencement ceremonies, modify courses or curriculum, or take other related actions.”  

He does note that there could possibly be “minor word usage changes in certain titles, documents, or scholarship agreements…” to comply. But it’s possible that as more unfolds in the legislature that Drury will have to do more to comply.  

What this means for students is that it appears that we will see minimal changes to daily student life. Of course, no change to DEI is optimal but if our only change is what things are labeled, considering schools are actually being investigated, then Drury is definitely not receiving the worst of it.