Universities globally need to ask searching questions about their work on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and their sometimes exclusionary use of language, a conference has heard, as experts debate how best to respond to the US administration¡¯s rollback of DEI policies and growing attacks on higher education.

Bruce Watson, pro vice-chancellor of inclusion at UNSW Sydney, said that some of the work universities have been undertaking on DEI around the world ¡°has been exclusionary¡±.

He suggested that ¡°young men in particular¡±, who face ¡°a whole lot of problems for other reasons¡±, have been among those left out, and called on institutions to ¡°think about our cohorts as a whole and progress for all and through that thinking¡­draw everyone along¡±.

Speaking from the audience during a panel discussion on developing DEI policies to attract diverse students at the Global Sustainable Development Congress in Istanbul, Watson said: ¡°I think with some of the language of EDI we have brought the backlash on ourselves in many ways.

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¡°I think that, as we move into a post-Trumpian period in this space, there¡¯s a new form of university inclusion and the language around that, [which] doesn¡¯t exclude people¡­It has to be thought of holistically as a societal component.¡±

He was responding to a debate about how universities outside the US should respond to the and diversity.

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Speaking on the panel, Peter Ptashko, CEO and founder of Cambio Consultancy, which works with universities and organisations on social enterprise, said that ¡°language evolves anyway¡± and ¡°maybe there is an opportunity to be agile with language¡± around DEI, as well as other concepts, such as sustainability.

Sustainability too often became ¡°about the legacy of the organisation and the leader, and not enough about the beneficiaries and the people [universities] are trying to support¡±, he added.

¡°So it comes from that same sort of thinking about what¡¯s the wider goal here?¡± he said.

However, he warned that there were also universities in ¡°Trump red states¡± that would ¡°like to change the agenda altogether¡± away from DEI. ¡°It¡¯s a really interesting mixed picture,¡± he said.

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Hanna Snellman, vice-rector at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Helsinki, whose responsibilities include international affairs and DEI, said her initial response to the US¡¯ recent policies was to attempt to poach US-based academics ¨C a move that is gathering pace in several European nations.

However, she said that universities also had to bear in mind their many partners in the US and that ¡°it¡¯s good if good people stay in the US also. It¡¯s a balance.¡±

Universities also had to remain alert to other countries rolling back their policies on DEI, she suggested.

From a practical perspective, she said that the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Helsinki was still encouraging academics to apply for research funding from the US, but the rector had told scholars not to censor their language ¨C even if that risks their applications being rejected.

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ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com