UW: Women in STEM, Latina Youth Conferences “likely not allowed” under new DEI guidelines
Both conferences were set to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2025, but fall afoul of a right-wing crackdown on diversity programs. The annual Shepard Symposium could survive but is “under review.”
Federal and state-level attacks on the concept of “diversity, equity and inclusion” will likely bring celebrated conferences hosted by the University of Wyoming to an end, the institution announced Wednesday.
One conference is being reimagined and will continue under a new name; the other’s immediate future is uncertain.
The annual Women in STEM Conference would have celebrated its 25th year this semester. Last year, it invited 650 high schoolers to the UW campus for hands-on science workshops; the conference encouraged girls to consider careers in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — where women have historically been and still are underrepresented.
The Wyoming Latina Youth Conference also launched in 2000 with a similar aim of making girls feel welcome in STEM. The Latina Youth Conference simultaneously aimed to boost the minority population’s graduation rate while reducing teen pregnancy.
But these storied annual events will no longer be allowed in their current form. The Women in STEM Conference, which was never closed to boys, will be replaced by a “Youth in STEM” Conference scheduled for May. The Wyoming Latina Youth Conference could see its “basic intent” carry on in a “different format,” according to the university, but continuing to exist as it has “is not possible.”
The conferences are the latest casualties to a coordinated right-wing crackdown on anything that could be labeled a DEI initiative.
A new state law forbids UW from “engaging” in any activity matching the legislation’s own definition of diversity, equity and inclusion. The bill defines DEI as “any program, activity or policy that promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals or classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity or national origin.”
The state-level mandate comes in tandem with new federal guidance requiring universities to root out DEI by eliminating any “race-conscious” initiative, program or training.
“Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices,” that guidance alleges. “Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them — particularly during the last four years — under the banner of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (‘DEI’), smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.”
In a Wednesday email to campus, UW President Ed Seidel said the university had analyzed, and would continue to analyze, how to best comply with these new dictates.
He writes:
Due to the recent federal guidance, use of state or non-state dollars for centers, services, support groups, seminars and events that are exclusionary or preferential (in mission or in title) related to sex or race is likely not allowed. This includes gender-based programs such as Women in STEM activities, even if the activity is open to all.
Based on that same federal guidance, the use of state or non-state funding to continue summer institutes and programming that are exclusionary or preferential related to sex or race is likely not allowed, even if programming is open to all. This includes UW’s Latina Youth Conference.
“I was hopeful that we would be able to continue the Wyoming Latina Youth Conference with non-state funding,” Seidel writes. “I recently met with the event’s organizers, and there may be a way to sustain the basic intent of the event in a different format that meets federal and state requirements. But continuing as we have done with this event, as well as other activities mentioned above, is not possible.”
The Shepard Symposium on Social Justice, another annual event hosted at UW, could survive, Seidel notes in his email, but it is “under review.”
As the federal DEI crackdowns are challenged in court, Wyoming’s new law is set to take effect July 1, establishing its restrictions before the return of students in the fall.
UW analyzes federal, state rules
Seidel’s email to campus highlighted excerpts from a lengthier analysis of UW’s legal obligations.
Notably, the analysis defends the law against an accusation lobbied by the free speech organization PEN America that the new prohibitions will serve as “an educational gag order.”
The UW analysis states:
While one national organization has opined that the new law is a tool for censorship and suppression, we are proceeding with our interpretation that it isn’t about censorship in the classroom or dictating curriculum. Rather, it’s about making sure instruction takes place in the spirit of inquiry and not advocacy and scholarly investigation rather than conclusions.
The analysis notes new DEI-related restrictions on faculty conferences and partnerships, membership in professional organizations, and university recruitment materials.
It ends by highlighting UW’s stated commitment to institutional political neutrality and to the standard of “inquiry, but not advocacy or activism, in the classroom” as well as “academic freedom.”
“We fully support free expression,” the analysis states. “However, we need to do so in a way that does not infringe on the equal rights of others. We are continuing to ensure that we do not engage in preferential or exclusionary practices and instead that we provide equal rights and equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of sex or race. We will continue to enhance our student success and faculty excellence initiatives by meeting the needs of each student in a manner that reinforces success for all, not just some.”
Systemic disparities
The Women in STEM Conference is a project of the Wyoming NASA Space Grant Consortium, which is entirely federally funded through NASA. The Youth in STEM Conference taking its place will look nearly identical and draw its own funding from the same source.
“We are still holding it,” said Megan Candelaria, the consortium’s assistant director and the organizer of the conference. “It’s with the same design, to engage and inspire the future of the STEM workforce in Wyoming … The idea has always been to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders.”
Candelaria said the conference invites hundreds of 7th-12th graders to Laramie for a single day in late May, when the UW campus is less populated. Each student takes part in three science activities, drawing from a wide range of workshops based on a diverse range of disciplines. From planetarium shows to fetal pig dissections, the conference uses hand-on experiences to spark an interest in science as a career worth pursuing.
Women, alongside other historically marginalized groups, are underrepresented in most STEM fields.
While specific disciplines vary — women are overrepresented in healthcare, for example — women make up just one-third of the global scientific community and are especially underrepresented in engineering and computer science.
Several factors — from pervasive stereotypes to unconscious biases — dissuade girls from getting on the path to a STEM degree or career at the same rate boys do. Those who study the disparity recommend encouraging girls specifically to see themselves in STEM.
Promotional material for last year’s conference celebrated this mission. And an archived version of the original webpage for this year’s event showed the same:
By presenting positive role models in the science, mathematics, and engineering fields, we hope to encourage all students (especially young women and minorities) to pursue higher education and careers in math, science, and engineering. Making connections with people who are accomplished in mathematics, science, engineering, or related occupations is one of the best ways to promote student aspirations and achievements.
The official webpage for this year’s Youth in STEM Conference is more vague:
Many young people in junior high and high school start to lose interest in science and engineering careers. The goal of the Youth in STEM Conferences held at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, and at Central Wyoming College in Riverton, is to directly address this problem.
The youth conference is scheduled for May 20.
The University of Wyoming, remade
When the Wyoming Legislature passed its first DEI bill in 2024, banning the use of state funds on a DEI office or DEI activities, Gov. Mark Gordon scaled back the scope of the legislation, using a line-item veto to scratch off the prohibition against DEI activities.
Yet UW took the legislation and Gordon’s own veto letter as a directive to evaluate its operations and make changes. Chief among these was axing the DEI Office, which UW was not actually required to do by the letter of the law. Around this time, the university’s celebrated diversity VP left Wyoming.
And the Black 14 — former UW Cowboys infamously booted from the 1969 football team for asking to protest the racist policies of Brigham Young University — pulled out of a summer institute bearing their name.
That summer camp put high school students in touch with members of the Black 14, who taught them about leadership and standing up for one’s convictions; the institute itself was part of a larger effort to heal the wounds of America’s, Wyoming’s and UW’s racist history by forging a new future while being honest about the past.
In the letter announcing their withdrawal from the program, the Black 14 wrote they could no longer be affiliated with an institution that is no longer allowed to address the sins of its past.
“The recent decision by the Wyoming Government to revoke funding for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives not only erodes the legacy of the Black 14 and the efforts of the University of Wyoming but also sets a concerning precedent for DEI initiatives nationwide,” the players wrote. “DEI initiatives are crucial for creating a safe and welcoming environment for all students. It is imperative that universities prioritize these initiatives to ensure that every student feels valued and supported.”
UW also reworked its Multicultural Affairs Office. Separately, it has stopped displaying rainbow and transgender pride colors during Pride Month (UW officials deny that decision is connected to the retreat from DEI.)
Earlier this month, UW’s College of Business cut ties with the Ph.D. Project, a program that helped underrepresented students pursue doctoral degrees and which saw UW named during a nationwide U.S. Department of Education hunt for “exclusionary” DEI programs.
UW crawls into the same deep hole with the Freeloader Caucus to hide with the other white males who must be coddled and protected since they can't compete with the rest of the world.
The level of complicity is a complete and uter betrayal of the US people and the constitution. There will be more "requirements" down the road. At what point will you draw the line and say "No"? We've already capitulated the First, Fourth, and Sixth ammendment ! Are the Fourteenth, Sixteenth and the Nineteenth next? When he says that ONLY White Men who own land can vote are we going to applaud 👏? 🤬😡