On Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, the Elizabethtown College Coalition for Anti-Racist Education (CARE) hosted a forum for students, faculty and staff to discuss the college’s response or, as some in the forum expressed, lack thereof to legislation targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
For privacy and respect of the nature of the forum, no names will be used for students or faculty that expressed personal concern.
In January 2025, President Donald Trump returned for his second term in office and signed a variety of executive orders upon his return. One executive order titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing” was signed into effect on Jan. 20, 2025, and aims to “terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions; all ‘equity action plans,’ ‘equity’ actions, initiatives, or programs, ‘equity-related’ grants or grants; and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees” (whitehouse.gov).
This order was later deemed unconstitutional, yet no DEI offices have been reinstated within the government and restrictions on grants, programs and initiatives have not been reinstated.
As a result of this, colleges and universities that receive federal funding have been changing the way they publicly interact with DEI initiatives. This can include renaming college departments, renaming faculty positions, removing DEI positions on leadership teams and much more. All of this impacts students, faculty, staff and alumni, which is what the campus community came to discuss.
Junior Psychology and Women and Gender Studies major and CARE member Lin Bangs led the forum first by inviting students and presenting touchstones to guide conversation. Bangs presented a few points before letting those present discuss their own concerns.
“The timing of this discussion is crucial, as the college is currently drafting a new strategic plan,” Bangs said. “This decision [to eliminate the equity-focused position on the senior leadership team] has since resulted in us having a senior leadership team that does not currently have any members of color.”
No SLT members were present at the forum, but did ask the facilitators to attend as to not impede on student voices.
During her presentation, Bangs also expressed that she has heard from many students of color feeling exploited by the college.
Many students at the forum echoed this sentiment. One student mentioned that they have a friend who graduated years ago still being used in the college’s marketing as “a public advertisement of diversity on campus.”
Another student mentioned having friends cut out of photos so when posted it only highlighted the student of color.
Other concerns were raised surrounding the Society of Women Engineers’ “introduce a girl to engineering” day. A student in the club said they were told by the college to not hold the event due to it being exclusive to female high school students.
Club leaders across campus spoke up about the college social media pages not reposting their content or “cherry-picking” what gets shown on the official Etown page. Members of My Bodies, a sexual wellness club, expressed being excluded from Etown’s social media during student awards where they were posted as a story (only viewable for 24 hours) rather than the carousel post (remains on the profile).
“It’s clear they don’t want to take a clear stance. You either post it or you don’t,” said My Bodies club member.
The Etown College Republicans also expressed a lack of response from college administration related to their events such as the 9/11 flag ceremony.
Many at the forum agreed that there has been a lack of communication from the SLT and the college surrounding DEI policies and changes to the college’s values which have been outlined in the 2030 Strategic Plan.
Those who could not make it to the forum but want their voice heard are encouraged to submit their thoughts via a Microsoft form (linked in the online article). Anyone seeking additional information can contact CARE by emailing care@etown.edu.
