The Asian American Association at Indiana University often partners with the Asian Culture Center. (Courtesy of the Asian American Association)
With events ranging from Lunar New Year formals, volleyball tournaments and discussions about colorism, Indiana University’s Asian American Association keeps its members busy.
“We are a social club and a community-centered club, but we also want to advocate and educate our members as well,” said Frank Nguyen, the student organization’s secretary.
Nguyen said the association’s funding agreement with IU’s Asian Culture Center is the reason why it can host these events for hundreds of students.
“Everybody is able to benefit from the actions that we take from valuing diversity, equity, inclusion,” said Rain Lee, president of the Asian American Association.
But Lee said that agreement — and the future of culture centers on campus — feels less certain today. She said IU quietly shifted culture centers out of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office on campus and restructured them under the Student Life Office.
Read more: IU Bloomington’s Black enrollment stays flat for decades
Lee found out from her friends who work at the Asian Culture Center. The university hasn’t made any announcements to confirm the change, and spokespeople didn’t respond to requests for comment or additional information. Lee said she’s worried about that lack of transparency.
“Student organizations and DEI are the backbone of IU’s campus and in determining the culture here,” Lee said. “I can't even count the number of events and cultural nights that a number of student organizations throw, or the kind of volunteer work that they undertake. It's countless, and it's the reason why IU is able to have such a vibrant community.”
As Indiana universities react to anti-DEI policies from federal and state government, students and community members fear losing opportunities that level the playing field and build cultural connection in schools.
Conservative politicians advocate replacing DEI with merit-based initiatives. The Department of Education claims DEI promotes racial discrimination and violates the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision ending affirmative action.
The department threatened to withhold federal funding if schools don’t cut DEI programs, but federal judges blocked that plan, PBS reported.
Read more: Despite federal deadline, DEI programs appear to go on as usual at IU
Meanwhile, organizations such as the Monroe County NAACP grow concerned.
“How can you not appreciate and support diversity or a diverse student body, for example,” said Monroe County NAACP President Jim Sims. “How can you be against equity or fairness and to be included? How can you be against these things?”
The Indiana Department of Education said it intends to follow federal orders to cut DEI in schools.
Indiana Department of Education letter to schools by Indiana Public Media News on Scribd
State legislators passed a bill limiting DEI in public schools. After intense debate and public input, the bill carves out exceptions for college scholarships and grants based on personal characteristics such as race— as long as that money doesn’t come from state funds.
“A lot of my friends are here on DEI-based scholarships,” Nguyen said. “They're worried about, what if my funding gets taken away and I can't attend school anymore? What if I have to drop out? What if I have to work a full time job on top of school to try to afford it?”
The bill waits for Gov. Mike Braun’s signature. It passed months after he cut all state government DEI programs and replaced them with “merit, excellence and innovation.”
Read more: Med schools inspired Indiana's anti-DEI bill. Doctors, students say they value diversity
To Sims, DEI is a way to educate people based on lived experiences, and it’s particularly beneficial for people who experience racism.
“It's just an attempt, I think, to even the playing field that has been made uneven,” Sims said. “Let's face it, from the start of when this country was founded, and us being from enslaved people, it's been an uphill battle ever since.”
University and education leaders are already making changes.
The University of Notre Dame was one of 52 colleges investigated by the U.S. Department of Education for "racial preferences and stereotypes” over a PhD program that benefits Black, Native American and Latino students.
At IU, leaders have been silent on changes related to DEI crackdowns. Graduating this spring, Lee said she expects the university will make more unannounced changes in the summer, when students won’t be paying attention.
While some colleges are making smaller changes, Ivy Tech Community College and Ball State University have closed offices with concerns of losing funding or breaking the law.
“I think Indiana University and other public institutions of higher education — I'll even include Ivy Tech in this group — they are under immense pressure from the funding stream provided by the state of Indiana,” Sims said.
Listen: Noon Edition: Experts discuss anti-DEI bills in Indiana
Winnie Dong, a Bloomington high school sophomore, said she hasn’t seen many changes in her school. Dong said diversity, equity and inclusion are important to her and her loved ones.
Though she’s not set on her career yet, she worries about how new laws surrounding DEI could jeopardize her future.
“I'm hoping that people that see me in college admissions and stuff like that won't judge me because I'm a certain race, or that I look a certain way, or expect me to do certain things based on stereotypes,” Dong said. “And I feel like if I ever find that job, that I might be the one persecuted for it, that I might be attacked for wanting certain opportunities that maybe people like me don't get.”
Read more: Indiana lawmakers drop ethnic studies as feds warn schools to comply or lose funding
Ultimately, Dong said she doesn’t want people to think that people who benefit from DEI are some kind of “other” that can be “isolated and iced out.”
“We're humans — just like you and me,” Dong said. “We feel we might not have the same DNA, maybe, and we might not look all the same, but underneath all that skin, we're basically the same.”
That kind of human connection through cultural diversity is important for Nguyen, too.
Growing up in Peru, Indiana, he connected with people from other cultures but not so much with his own Vietnamese heritage. That separation from his own culture led him to self-hate, he said.
But after coming to IU and seeing its diversity, he said he found belonging, purpose, and love. It’s why he’s supportive of DEI in schools.
“I just think that it's really important to be exposed to your culture and other cultures, because that's a way that you can learn to love yourself and love others,” Nguyen said. “When you're being taught to hate, how can you love?”
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on X @aubreymwright.
