AAUP-SC Statement in Support of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

April 2025 • Download as pdf

​

We affirm that diversity, equity, and inclusion are legitimate and compelling aims of higher education institutions and strongly urge that the administrations and boards of South Carolina’s public and private colleges and universities avoid engaging in anticipatory obedience to proposed state and national legislation and to the flurry of vague and expansive orders from the federal government’s executive branch.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are inseparable from other values of American higher education. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC), the body for accrediting higher education institutions in the southern states, joins us in supporting “the leadership role of its institutions in promoting and sustaining diversity, equity and inclusion in all arenas of higher education.” The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) similarly asserts its “commitment to the principles of justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion."

These programs have many benefits:

• improve access and belonging for active-duty military members, veterans, and their families,

• increase opportunities for South Carolinians whose parents didn’t go to college,

• provide people with disabilities access to classrooms and learning materials,

• provide club meeting space and support for diverse student groups to share experiences and create community,

• align the business community with colleges and universities to train students for a global workforce,

• attract and retain students from varied backgrounds. (In a Niche survey of 21,866 students graduating high school in 2022, “diversity was the top thing that students want in a campus community.” Over ¾ of respondents said that diverse student bodies and faculty were “appealing” or a “must-have.” If students do not find the environment they are looking for in South Carolina, many will go elsewhere.)

• attract and retain faculty and staff from varied backgrounds,

• assist colleges and universities to comply with institutional accreditation and program accreditations (including accredited programs such nursing, business, biochemistry and molecular biology, chemistry, psychology and counseling), and 

• assure colleges and universities comply with NCAA by-laws, which require Division I member schools to conduct a review of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies every four years.

 

South Carolina colleges and universities are proud to welcome students from across South Carolina and around the world to communities where we can live, learn, and enjoy each other's company. Diversity is, therefore, a fundamental value for South Carolina colleges and universities. Our institutional mission statements express that commitment to diversity as a foundation for the educational excellence that we offer all citizens of South Carolina and our strategic plans establish
initiatives to create inclusive and equitable campus cultures.

 
Diversity, equity and inclusion are not new. Inclusion is a founding American principle at the heart of a “more perfect Union” such that “the general Welfare” is promoted. Equity echoes America’s declaration that all people “are created equal.”

 

We therefore restate our call for the boards and administrators of South Carolina’s public and private colleges and universities to advocate for the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Where some of our higher education institutions have already declared their anticipatory obedience to unvetted legislative proposals and untested legal theories, we call upon them to immediately change course.

Respectfully,
The South Carolina Conference of the American Association of University Professors
Representing faculty of South Carolina’s higher education institutions, public and private

Adopted by the South Carolina Conference of the AAUP at the Spring Meeting, April 12, 2025.