Diversity Facilitators change name, now Community Facilitators

By Hongtao Hu     4/15/25 9:59pm

Amid sweeping national crackdowns on diversity, equity and inclusion, Diversity Facilitators will now be called ‘Community Facilitators.’ 

DFs — now CFs — are students who work on campus during Orientation Week and throughout the year, tasked with facilitating “an equitable experience at Rice.” The Office of Access and Institutional Excellence communicated this change to head facilitators on March 5, said Alina Zhong, a head CF.

Editor’s Note: Alina Zhong is an advertising representative for the Thresher.

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Instead of using terms like “diversity, equity and inclusion,” Zhong said CFs were encouraged to use phrases like “personal identities” or “social issues.”

“On an official level, at the university level, facing the public, [we were told that] we are not using these words,” said Zhong, a Wiess College sophomore. 

Alexander Byrd, the vice provost for the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence, wrote that these changes came with the renaming of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence.

“As part of this shift, we also reevaluated program names,” Byrd wrote in an email to the Thresher. “The new name, Community Facilitators, reflects their role in supporting all students in finding community, contributing to and enriching the larger campus community, and reaching their full potential at Rice.”

President Donald Trump, in his continuing attacks on higher education and diversity initiatives, has recently threatened to pull federal money from elite institutions that do not comply with federal orders, notably at Columbia University.

Over 40 schools, including Rice, are currently under investigation by the Department of Education for “racially discriminatory” admissions practices due to their involvement with The PhD Project.

Despite reaffirming its commitment to diversity in a campuswide email sent on Feb. 21, Rice has continued to remove the word “diversity” from related initiatives. Critical Dialogues on Diversity, a mandatory five-week seminar introduced in 2021, has been renamed to “Dialogues on Community Workshop” in its course description for the upcoming semester.  

Byrd wrote that MCC funding was not a consideration in these changes.

“The name change is part of an ongoing review process, and an effort to align program titles with the nature of the important work being done,” Byrd wrote in an email to the Thresher.

The effect these changes will have on O-Week remains unclear.

“Orientation Week activities are reviewed regularly with an eye toward improving the workshops offered to O-Week advisors and enriching opportunities for discussion and dialogue,” Byrd wrote. 

Karen Martinez Fernandez, a head CF, said that adjustments to O-Week initiatives would occur in the future. 

“We’re having to change a lot of the things we put down in writing (presentations/workshops) and whatnot, especially since Rice is one of the top schools being investigated for allegedly not stopping DEI initiatives,” wrote Fernandez, a Jones College junior, in a message to the Thresher.

While CF Bennett Reddig said he has worries about the future, he is committed to DEI at Rice.

“There’s some worries or fear that there could be retribution if certain words are said,” said Reddig, a McMurtry College sophomore. “I think that pushing [DEI] aside in favor of funding or to avoid controversy is not a wise decision, because the needs of students matter.”

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