It’s been just over a year since the University of North Carolina System repealed its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy, impacting 17 schools in the state, and the marginalized students and faculty within them.
Appalachian State University student J is one of them. He’s transgender and has safety and privacy concerns about sharing his full name.
J came to App State in 2023. He says he wasn’t out through middle and high school, but going to college gave him the freedom to socially transition.
“I came here, and it was pretty much no problem getting my preferred name on everything. You know, it's on my student ID and all that," J said. "The only thing my legal name’s on is, I think, my transcripts. But yeah, so I came here as a dude, which was nice.”
J joined the university’s boxing club. At first, he was nervous, with all the talk about transgender athletes in sports. But for the most part, the team welcomed him, and treated him with respect.
“I'm boxing other dudes," J said. "The only thing slowing me down on that team are my low iron and my terrible cardio strength.”
J also built up a nice friend group. He started doing drag shows. He got a boyfriend.
After witnessing homophobia and hate for years in school, J was starting to get a taste of freedom and acceptance in college.
“I can finally have more of a chance to be myself and find like-minded people without, you know, feeling like somebody's breathing down my neck," J said. "And for the most part, college has been that for me. A lot of my friends are gay and/or trans, so it's like I finally have somewhere that I fit in, and I don't feel like I've got to hide any part of myself with.”
But in the spring of last year, things took a turn.
On May 23, 2024, the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted to repeal its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy.
With only two “no” votes, the board replaced it with a policy called “Equality within the University of North Carolina,” which emphasizes equality of viewpoints, freedom of speech and maintaining “institutional neutrality.”
They followed in the footsteps of Texas and Florida, only in this case, it wasn’t a change required by law — it was the university system’s decision.
Board of Governors' Gene Davis was one of the members in support of the repeal. But before the vote, he took a few minutes to tell the UNC community that this wasn’t going to change how the system supported them.
“Please rest assured that all of the constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina are fully committed to all, and I do mean all in the broadest sense, feeling included and welcome and supported and as though they belong," Davis said.
But for marginalized faculty and students like J, that’s not how it played out.
Compliance Plans
At UNC-Greensboro, mandatory bias trainings were eliminated, along with the university’s racial equity website and advisory committee.
Winston-Salem State University canceled its annual Advocacy Day, and instead encouraged students to focus on personal growth over political or social positions.
App State, like others, shuttered its DEI office and eliminated positions within it.
Staff at both the Women’s Center and LGBTQ+ Center were required to undergo institutional neutrality training. And identity-based student groups lost building space and funding for programming.
Some of the events J was looking forward to participating in one day were suddenly losing university support.
“Queer Prom, Lavender Graduation, Pride Week," J said. "All that kind of just either censored or like shoved aside, or cut.”
Officials also renamed offices, positions and events, scrubbing any mention of race, culture or queerness from their titles.
Pride Week became SpringFest. The Intercultural Student Affairs Office became the Center for Student Success and Community.
If words like “pride” and “culture” aren’t allowed, what does that mean for the marginalized people those words represent? J started to worry about that.
“What if somebody comes busting into one of the drag shows, hooting and hollering, like, what if I'm not allowed to box anymore?" J wondered. "Another thing I was worried about was like, what if people start getting empowered to, you know, act worse?”
Staff Eliminations
Jax Lastinger, who uses they/them pronouns, handled reports related to complaints of bias or discrimination for faculty and students. They were one of six people whose positions were eliminated to comply with the new policy.
They had been hired on as the Director of DEI Educational Development & Campus Climate Strategy a year before the position was removed.
Lastinger also organized DEI trainings for faculty and staff, which they say were in high demand. But even from the start, Lastinger says the growing political tension around DEI made this job a challenge.
“Everything had to be really meticulously worded and double checked and thought through in terms of how we were presenting the work that was happening in the office," Lastinger said. "And so everything that I did was very thoroughly vetted.”
And then, they were instructed to be even more careful. Lastinger says the university distributed a list of words that they were told not to use publicly — words like privilege, anti-racism, gender, LGBTQ and microaggression.
“I'm suddenly finding myself in a job where I've been told that I'm not allowed to use the word microaggressions, when I teach an hour-long workshop about microaggressions," Lastinger said. "And I was like, 'Why am I doing this work?' Like, I don't understand why I'm here."
They were already thinking about leaving the position. And then, a couple of months before the policy repeal and the dissolution of the school’s DEI office, Lastinger was abruptly fired. And they say they weren’t given a reason why.
They ended up moving out of the state and haven’t returned to the field of higher education or DEI.
Not because they say it’s not worth it. But because doing the work, within these new parameters, was nearly impossible. And toeing the line to avoid scrutiny didn’t ultimately help.
“I knew if I didn't, I would lose my job. Thing is, I lost my job anyway," Lastinger said. "I think we have to start taking a different approach. Because this approach of trying to preemptively please conservative forces, like, it's not working. It's not going to work.”
Lastinger says they hope to move into community organizing.
Uncertain Future
As for J, he still has another semester to go before graduation. But what awaits him after that worries him even more than what’s happened already.
“It's a lot to try to calculate in my brain as a college kid," J said. "Like I would much rather be worrying about my finals, and saving up for a trip to Charlotte or something.”
Instead, he’s concerned about finding employment, and being discriminated against for being trans. He felt like he was getting so close to a bright future. And now his path isn’t as clear.
Especially when for J, North Carolina is home.
“You know, I've been running through these mountains my entire life. I don't want to leave North Carolina. First off, it's expensive to move. Second off, this is my home," J said. "And third off, like, if I were to move, how long would I have to stay away from my home? Do I have to choose between living a normal life and my home?”
This year, the state legislature passed two bills aimed at eliminating DEI education initiatives. It also passed legislation calling for the official recognition of only two sexes in North Carolina.
Gov. Josh Stein vetoed all three of them. But those could be overturned. And at the national level, the hits to DEI keep coming.
Universities all over the country are losing programs, positions, courses and funding.
And as a result, the marginalized faculty, staff and students in those schools risk losing a sense of belonging, which they may have only just begun to find.
*Correction: This story has been updated to reflect Jax Lastinger's status as a former staff member and clarify Lastinger's role at the university. The story also now indicates the renaming of offices rather than buildings.