Utah anti-DEI law doesn’t require cultural centers to close. But higher ed. commissioner says it’ll be inevitable.

Utah’s commissioner for higher education insists he did not tell public colleges in the state that they had to shutter their cultural centers to abide by the new anti-DEI law — but, he says, he did advise them that it would likely be “an inevitability” down the road.

And so some schools are choosing to take that path now rather than wait, said Geoff Landward, who oversees all of the state’s universities and technical colleges.

“It’s not required by law. And I’m not directing them to do it as a requirement,” he told The Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday. “But it’s what I’m advising them to do either now or to start transitioning toward as the model for the future.”

As such, two Utah schools have drawn attention as they’ve announced they will close all of their cultural centers. The University of Utah — the state’s flagship institution — is shutting down its Women’s Resource Center, LGBT Resource Center, Black Cultural Center and Center for Student Equity and Belonging. Weber State University is taking “a little more aggressive” approach and closing seven centers, including those for Latino, Indigenous and undocumented students.

Other universities, such as Utah State University with its Latinx Center, are pushing to retain some and not take as expansive of action until the time that might be required, if that comes.

Even after passing HB261, Landward said, the state’s Republican-majority Legislature remains “focused” on higher education and blocking any programs that might give preferential treatment to students based on their identity. Utah’s push has come at the same time as a conservative movement to defund diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the country.

And while national publications like The Atlantic have called Utah’s measure “promising” for being less sweeping than other states, Landward anticipates it’s not the last word lawmakers here will have on DEI.

“I just don’t think we’re out of the woods,” Landward added. “There are still concerns. … It’s an inevitability that we’re going to have to confront the issue of these centers again anyway.”

He believes shutting down all centers now is a smart, preemptive move “given the political climate.”

The lawmakers here who sponsored HB261, though, said they would not force schools to close existing cultural centers and the text of the law aligns with that. Instead, the measure requires that for centers to remain open, they have to be accessible to students from all backgrounds. That means if a white student wants to go to a Black cultural center, for instance, they would need to be allowed in and attend the same events.

Additionally, schools have been instructed to create new generalized “student success and support” centers that help all those enrolled — not based on specific identities. And administrations are supposed to eliminate the words “diversity, equity and inclusion” from all office and staff titles. The deadline is July 1.

Landward created a 12-page guidance document that he released to the 16 schools within the Utah System of Higher Education to help them navigate what changes need to be made to comply with the law.

The Tribune received a copy of that through a public records request.

The document also doesn’t include any written directions to schools instructing that they must close cultural centers.

It says that schools should adjust their centers to “conform with the requirements of HB261″ and ensure they are not providing academic supports or resources at cultural centers. Counseling, advising and tutoring should be shifted to the generic “student success and support” centers for everyone.

The centers, instead, “may continue to operate … focused on cultural education, celebration, engagement and awareness to provide opportunities for all students to learn from one another,” the guidance notes.

All centers, even existing ones, will have to go through a new review process by the Utah Board of Higher Education to check compliance.

“I still think it’s difficult to square cultural centers that are tied to one specific population with the intent of the law,” Landward said. “But it’s still doable, and the guidance says you can do that.”

It’s up to each school’s administration, he said, how to move forward. And, so far, schools have announced slightly different paths.

USU, for instance, is closing its Inclusion Center. But it is choosing to move forward with its plans to open a Native American Cultural Center. Landward said as “long as that meets the elements of the guidance, it won’t be an issue.”

Utah Tech University and Southern Utah University, meanwhile, are both poised to disband their LGBTQ+ student centers.

The commissioner said he has talked to school presidents about creating one large multicultural center to replace the losses. That would encompass the identities from the previous individual cultural centers, without prioritizing any one specific population.

“You create an umbrella cultural center,” he said. “This preserves our ability to educate and celebrate different cultures, but in a way that doesn’t expose us to more criticism. … without having to answer the question: ‘Why does this one group get a center and another group doesn’t?’”

USU and the University of Utah have both announced plans to do that. The U. will have a new Community and Cultural Engagement Center. Utah State will call its the Center for the Study of Community.

Additionally, the guidance says that universities should reassign staff who had worked in centers that will be shuttered — rather than eliminate positions. “USHE does not interpret this requirement to mean that institutions are required to terminate employees who have job titles that include the words diversity, equity and inclusion,” the document states.

So far, the schools say that’s what they are doing. Vice presidents for equity are becoming general advisers to the president. Women’s resource center staff are shifting to general scholarship support roles.