Among celebrations of university accomplishments at the Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting on Monday, an atmosphere of doubt settled into the ballroom at the Marshall Student Center (MSC).

How will faculty, students and staff be impacted by USF’s compliance to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ extensive change in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in state universities?

Related: DEI’s future at USF the question on everyone’s mind

Steve Lang, president of USF’s chapter of United Faculty of Florida (UFF), said although the claps and praises for basketball’s uptick in attendance and recent wins are “fun and exciting,” he is concerned with recent DEI cuts. 

Related: No. 25 USF men’s basketball secures regular-season conference title in win over Charlotte

Lang said the recent NAACP president’s call that “strongly encouraged” Black athletes to avoid attending Florida universities will impact diversity in USF athletics and academics. The NAACP stated that Florida is unsafe for Black Americans. 

“It is not just USF, it is Florida as a whole that is really facing this hurricane,” Lang said. “And they don’t really seem prepared for what might happen.”

Hurricane season came early as Trustee Oscar Horton said the DEI ban is being “blown out of proportion” due to the negative narrative going around in other states regarding changes in higher education. 

“My family lives in Arkansas, and when hurricanes come in May, they all think we got wiped away… This issue has a little bit of the same taste,” Horton said. “There is a lot of misunderstanding around this topic.”

Trustee Jenifer Schneider, faculty senate president elected into the position, also offered her concerns with recent DEI cuts before the meeting came to a close. Schneider said this is clearly something that is affecting students and faculty beyond the athletics department. 

“The impact of those decisions [cutting DEI] are not just internal or happening in external entities,” she said. “The way that we recruit and retain all of our students and also all of our faculty.”

She said that students have been stating the issues they are concerned with and “paying attention” to very clearly. 

On Tuesday, 11 members of the Tampa Bay Students for Democratic Society (SDS) held a protest in front of the MSC. The group wants to “protect” DEI efforts on campus. 

“Racist, sexist, anti-gay,” the small crowd chanted in front of the metal bulls. “Ron DeSantis go away.”

Through a petition and campaign, SDS members said their demand is that USF academic programs such as the Africana Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality (WGS) departments are protected and expanded. 

SDS member Icarus Jaspard said they fear WGS department could be at risk of losing funding and shutting down over the university’s compliance with Senate BIll (SB) 266. The bill makes changes to courses that involve lectures on gender, sexuality and critical race theory.

“USF shame on you, different diversity like you should,” was chanted while SDS members held a banner against the heavy wind blowing the sign forward.

Members of the union, Lang said at the BOT meeting, are still concerned with the limitations of the changes in class, curriculums and diversity efforts. 

Related: Florida bill increases regulation on faculty, sparks concern from USF professors 

Board Chairman Will Weatherford assured that the university is still committed to diversity efforts despite the lack of a DEI office.

“All we can control is what we can control,” he said. “If you look to our student body and our student body president from Brazil [Cesar Esmeraldi], we even had a student athlete from England…We are one of the most diverse places that I can think of.”

President and Trustee Rhea Law said she has been telling people in and outside of the university the same thing: “We have a northstar.”

“We have our mission and our values and that has not changed,” Law said. “We do not have an Office of diversity, equity and inclusion but we are absolutely supportive of access and opportunity for everyone.”

SDS member Joseph Charry said the group does not agree with the trustees’ statement of continuously having DEI efforts, even without an office.