The State of DEI | October 2026 Premium Webinar

College administrators’ efforts to recruit and retain students and faculty of color are under fierce attack by activists and politicians who claim race-based initiatives are ineffective, illegal, and unfair.  

Join our race and politics reporter Jasper Smith and Senior Editor Daarel Burnette II for a discussion, based on years of coverage, of the forces behind the anti-DEI movement and its lasting, and sometimes counter-intuitive impact on student and faculty demographics, administrators’ evolving definition of merit, and minority serving institutions.    

In this 75-minute session, you will gain insight on: 

• The history of diversity efforts and its impact on minority enrollment, retention, and graduation rates.
• The legality, motivations, and fallout from state and federal DEI bans and censorship laws.
• Which of the hundreds of anti-DEI bills passed, how they impact college administrators, and what administrators can expect from next year’s legislative session.  
• How hundreds of colleges have responded to the anti-DEI movement.  
• How faculty and students at flagship, private, and minority-serving institutions have responded to the anti-DEI movement.  
• How some colleges have responded to President Trump’s DEI-related investigations.  
  

In addition to joining the session, registrants will receive Chronicle materials related to the topic and get access to a special followup Q&A.   

Please note that the program will be recorded and distributed to registrants upon its conclusion. If you won’t be able to join us live, you can still save your spot to access the recordings and resources at a later time.

Event access instructions will be sent separately, from Zoom and from workshops@cs.chronicle.com. Please add workshops@chronicle.com and workshops@cs.chronicle.com to your approved senders to ensure that communications arrive directly to your inbox.

Speakers

Jasper Smith, Staff Reporter, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Daarel Burnette II, Senior Editor, The Chronicle of Higher Education