UC Berkeley

Since 2020, researchers have documented a concerted sociopolitical effort to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in higher education. These attacks have led to state legislatures dismantling DEI programs and infrastructure at several universities. In this case study of an intraorganizational DEI-centered Community of Practice (DCoP) at a private university in California, I investigated how the participation of eight of its senior higher education leaders informed and influenced their perspectives and practices in ways that advanced equity-focused organizational change efforts. I drew data from semistructured interviews of the eight participants along with document analysis of texts they generated or that were on the university websites. Expanding on current higher education literature on DEI, communities of practice (CoPs), and organizational change management (OCM), I found that senior higher education leaders use DCoPs for professional information sharing, guidance, support, and as a strategic lever for equity-focused organizational change. Unaccounted for in the current literature, I found that anti-DEI backlash is facilitating a movement of highly skilled leaders, not “DEI hires”, from targeted DEI roles to ubiquitous roles like finance and operations.