ATLANTA — As the Georgia NAACP weighs a protest at Emory University over its president’s announcement that it would dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a group of Black alums has banded together in support of the elite college’s first Black leader, who made the proclamation.
The Sept. 3 announcement from newly installed interim President Leah Ward Sears that the venerable Atlanta institution, renowned for its civic engagement and social accountability, would disband its DEI initiatives generated a range of emotions from those connected to the school and community.
Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP, told NBC News that as a 2000 graduate, he expected more from his alma mater.
“One of the reasons I went to Emory was because of its DEI programs and the community over there that was very welcoming,” he said. “So, it was definitely a shock to learn it was one of the first schools in Georgia to follow the unconstitutional mandate of the current president.”
Sears, the first Black president of the school, sent out a letter saying that Emory was conforming with President Donald Trump’s executive order to end DEI programs at colleges and universities.
The letter came three days after she took over for Gregory Fenves, who transitioned from president to chancellor. Sears wrote, in part: “Federal laws and mandates have been implemented that require higher education institutions to alter fundamentally or even close offices and programs focused on DEI. The standards are clear, and we must act accordingly,” she wrote in the message shared with the Emory community.
Last week, Griggs sent Sears an email requesting a meeting to discuss the school’s decision. His missive included a Sept. 30 deadline for a response from Sears. If he does not get the meeting, Griggs said he will lead the nation’s oldest Black civil rights organization in “protests” at the school where he learned about civic responsibility.
“Litigation is also on the table — whatever it takes in the birthplace of civil rights to make sure Emory is on the right side of history,” he said.
Although Emory’s dissolution of its DEI programs was mandated by Trump’s executive order, the announcement stung students, former faculty and alumni who spoke with NBC News. Emory has unique dynamics: It is a leading academic institution in a progressive, Black-dominant city in a conservative state in the Deep South.
Founded in 1836, it is considered part of the “Ivy League of the South” — a collection of colleges with exceptional reputations in academics that espouse progressive and inclusive values. Its location in Atlanta, “the cradle of the civil rights movement,” as former Emory African American studies professor Nathan McCall called it, adds to its allure.
With that rich and conflicting history, some, like Griggs, would rather Emory put up resistance against the Trump administration, which claims DEI represents “illegal discrimination and preferences.”
Sears, who was also the first Black female justice to serve on the Georgia Supreme Court, said in her letter that she had benefited from DEI programs through her education.
Griggs, a lawyer, said: “I have immense respect for Judge Sears. Still, it’s concerning that on the third day of her tenure, she would be the one to pen this letter.”
Meanwhile, an influential group of Black Emory alumni is planning a different course of action. Theron Jones, an Atlanta dentist who graduated from Emory in 1994, said he and his fellow alums see more value in backing the first Black president and supporting the students on campus.
“We, as Black alums, must stand in the gap where the university cannot.”
Theron Jones, 1994 graduate
“She’s only been there a week,” he said. “There’s no need to make demands on her; her hands are tied by law. She’s the first Black president at Emory and we’re going to make demands on her? In Atlanta, where all the work was done in the ‘50s and ‘60s to get us to a place where Emory could have a Black president? I don’t think so.”
Rather, Jones said former Emory students must intensify their support of Sears and the school. Five years ago, Jones teamed up with fellow alums Cheryl Turner, Jonathan Butler and Danny Shoy to lead a $100,000 fundraising effort, allowing them to create an endowment and launch a scholarship program for Black students in the name of Rudolph Byrd, a beloved professor in African American studies, and provide support for Black students on campus in various ways throughout the school year.
Now, the Emory Black Student Union space is in jeopardy, as is the Office of Multicultural Affairs and a free tutoring program that was vital to students, Jones said.
“We, as Black alums, must stand in the gap where the university cannot,” Jones said.
Still, not fighting back bothers McCall, who taught at Emory for 19 years and whose autobiography, “Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America,” became a New York Times bestseller.
“They surrendered before there was even a fight,” McCall said. “It really reeks of a kind of embarrassing cowardice that Emory and these other schools don’t band together and fight this.”
Critics of the end to DEI point to Emory’s $11.3 billion endowment as coffers for a legal battle, but these funds are typically earmarked for specific uses, which may not include litigation. These rules make it tough for some universities to defy Trump’s orders, since he has threatened noncompliers with revoking their accreditation and pulling federal funding.
Some elite universities, including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, Trump’s alma mater, were initially targeted by the federal government and followed the administration’s orders, which included cutting certain DEI programs. Other colleges have followed suit, including the University of Florida, the University of Texas and the University of Michigan, among many others. Harvard University, however, has taken Trump to court in resisting the order.
At least 50 other colleges have been targeted by the administration over their DEI policies. Emory was on the list, but that should not have precluded it from challenging the order, McCall said.
“It’s one thing to come under Trump’s direct attacks,” he said. “But it’s quite another when you anticipate an attack and bend the knee in hopes that the attack won’t come. It’s not just about the administrations in these schools. It’s also about the kind of message that you send to the students who attend those schools.”
For Adeyemi Oni, a senior from Nigeria who moved to the United States from England and plays on the soccer team at Emory, the message that comes with not fighting does not resonate.
“It’s a big problem,” Oni said. “I think it’s going to affect incoming students and international students in particular. Do they want to go somewhere that has gotten rid of programs that help marginalized communities? If I was just picking a school, it would give me pause. I would feel better if they resisted and fought back, especially being in Atlanta.”
Freshman Marquis Sinclair from Brooklyn, New York, was on campus for only two weeks when the news broke. It was not well received.
“I mean, it’s bad,” he said. “I’m trying to process it, see what happens. But if this happened last year, I don’t know if I’d be here.”
Asked if he feels differently about the school now, Sinclair, a finance and accounting major, said: “Yeah, in a way. But I’m here now. I’m still feeling my way around. But, of course, I feel like I really need to pay attention to what’s going on around me, what getting rid of DEI is saying to me, to the students.”
The university denied permission for an interview with Sears and Dionica Bell, the director of the Emory Black Student Union, which hosts Black History Month events, lecture series and other activities to build community on campus for Black students, who make up 8.1% of the undergraduate population. A university spokesperson said in an email that the school stands by Sears’ announcement letter.
“The focus needs to be on how Emory, as an institution, and how we as alumni continue to support the values that we all agree on,” said Turner, an attorney who helped lead the fundraising effort in 2020. “Anything else is a distraction.”
