Diversity programs’ expansion at the expense of academic programs is, by now, a familiar trend in American institutions of higher education. Nationally, the number of DEI administrators has increased while the campus divides over identity group politics deepen.
The recently-completed renovation of the Engineering Library in Carpenter Hall is a dramatic manifestation of DEI growth. The reading room on the main floor was shrunk in order to add a new “Diversity Program in Engineering (DPE) suite.” This means that space which was available to all Cornell students, regardless of race, is now being earmarked for use by minority students as a part of Cornell’s DEI initiative.
Design of the remodeled main floor with DPE suite toward the bottom of the drawing.
