www.thecentersquare.com – By Tate Miller | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-02-18 07:18:00
(The Center Square) – Vanderbilt University Medical Center will no longer be using diversity, equity and inclusion terms, while a Vanderbilt DEI student center changed its name – all in line with a trend of schools evaluating President Donald Trump’s DEI executive order.
“All [Vanderbilt University Medical Center] academic department and center websites were instructed to remove any references to diversity, equity and inclusion and associated phrases from their websites per email correspondence to VUMC affiliates,” Vanderbilt student paper The Hustler reported.
This news follows Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order entitled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” that called for “the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
The Hustler reported that “though VUMC is an independent non-profit, it has a contractual relationship with several government entities, therefore requiring it to comply with federal regulatory guidelines to maintain these subcontracts.”
VUMC declined to comment when reached, while Vanderbilt media relations did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The notice sent to VUMC and obtained by The Hustler read: “Underpinning our work at VUMC is a commitment to fostering a welcoming environment, and that commitment remains steadfast. However, as our regulatory requirements change, so must our programs.”
DEI “references” no longer in use include “DEI, DEIA, health equity, health disparity, health inequity, social drivers of health, social determinants of health, social justice, racial justice/equity, equal access to health care, unconscious bias, microaggression, climate change and environmental justice,” The Hustler reported.
In addition to VUMC doing away with DEI, Vanderbilt University’s Student Center for Social Justice and Identity (SCSJI) has been renamed the Student Center for Belonging and Communities (SCBC), The Hustler reported.
The SCSJI’s vision was to “create a community where liberation, inclusion, and social justice are not just ideals but the very fabric of our environment,” according to an internet archive of the website.
The SCBC no longer shares that vision, but does still share the vision “to develop the next generation of transnational leaders one student at a time,” by “utilizing globally recognized curriculums, art-based pedagogies, and critical thinking to facilitate transformative educational experiences,” according to the SCBC webpage.
When asked twice for comment, Student Affairs at Vanderbilt did not respond.
Across the U.S., schools that train medical professionals are reviewing and evaluating Trump’s DEI-terminating executive order, as The Center Square previously reported.
SUMMARY: Christopher Hensley appeared in court for a preliminary hearing after allegedly throwing a rock that critically injured Knox County Deputy Dalton Swanger in June. Swanger was responding to a possible shooting call when struck in the head, leaving him hospitalized for two weeks. Witnesses, including Swanger’s partner Deputy Matt Kirchner and Hensley’s girlfriend Connie Harris, testified about the incident and related domestic violence. Hensley faces charges including attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault on a first responder, domestic assault, and drug possession. The judge dismissed the weapon charge, as the gun found was a BB gun, and bound the case over to a grand jury for indictment.
On August 14, 2025, Terry Saine, chair of Fayette County’s Commission on Religion and Race (CORR), led a protest march in Somerville against alleged racist and discriminatory practices by the county government and school board. Participants began at the historic Tent City site, symbolizing past racial injustices, and marched to the Fayette County Justice Complex. The protest, organized by CORR and Fayette County Teachers for Justice, called for demands including the resignation of school officials, teacher reinstatements, fair governance training, and redistricting. Protesters also announced a boycott of Fayette County businesses. The demonstration highlighted ongoing tensions over school staffing, district funding, and the dissolution of a decades-old federal desegregation order.
Organizers and West Tennessee residents marched to the Fayette County Justice Complex on Aug. 14 in protest of what they say is an ongoing pattern of “racist and discriminatory practices” in the county’s government and school board.
Several protestors gathered at the former site of Tent City — where Black residents lived in tents after white landowners evicted them from sharecropper housing for registering to vote in the 1960s — and walked together to the justice center, where the Fayette County Public Schools board held its August meeting.
The Commission on Religion and Race of Fayette County (CORR) and Fayette County Teachers for Justice organized the march in response to “actions they believe continue a legacy of systemic racism, echoing the injustices of the Tent City era,” according to a CORR news release.
About a dozen people participated in the march and several more joined them on the steps of the justice building before the meeting began.
Protesters marched from the former site of Tent City, where Black residents were forced to move when evicted by white landowners for registering to vote in the 1960s, to Fayette County’s justice center where a school board meeting was held on Aug. 14, 2025. (Photo: Cassandra Stephenson)
Some carried signs from CORR calling for a boycott of spending in Fayette County starting on Aug. 15 at noon. The boycott urges residents to “withhold spending at all Fayette County businesses including big box stores, corner stores, gas stations, restaurants and hardware stores. Housing, utilities, insurance, medicine and vehicle payments are exempt, according to the group.
Other signs listed demands, including the resignations of School Board Chair Warner Speakman and Eddie Keel, who previously served as the district’s interim superintendent and chief of staff and was recently named deputy superintendent. Demands also include the “reinstatement of all demoted or terminated teachers to their original positions without retaliation,” training for the Fayette County mayor on “fair governance and equal treatment of citizens” and “redrawing of district maps to restore the original configuration and ensure equitable representation.”
The Fayette County Commission redrew its district maps in late June to include three majority-Black, single member districts after being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The lawsuits were dropped following the maps’ adoption, and the new maps will be used in 2026 elections.
Potential staff reductions were a point of contention between community members and the board during the district’s budgeting process this summer, which concluded under Keel’s leadership as interim superintendent.
Joseph Jordan, a pastor at Springhill CME Church in Somerville, said he joined the march to support teachers who were demoted or fired after the last school year, including the daughter of one of his congregation members. Some members at his church work for the district and have children there, he said.
“If we keep being quiet, nothing’s going to happen,” Jordan said. “We’re showing action that we want things to change. Our children deserve things to change.”
The demonstration came amid calls for more transparency from the school board regarding its position on dissolving the consent order that has held the district accountable to federal oversight for integrating schools since 1965.
Board members have stated that the order is no longer necessary and is sapping money from the district’s already anemic budget.
Tennessee uses a student-based funding formula to determine how much money to allocate to districts.
Fayette County Public Schools has seen a decrease in enrollment for almost all years since 1989, according to Superintendent Don McPherson. Last year, about 2,600 students enrolled in a district school. This year, it’s around 2,250. McPherson said he intends to deliver a report to the board on where students opted to go instead of remaining in the district.
Protesters gathered outside of the Fayette County Justice Complex ahead of a Fayette County Public Schools board meeting on Aug. 14, 2025 in protest of “racist and discriminatory practices.” (Photo: Cassandra Stephenson/Tennessee Lookout)
Speakman announced the board’s monthly meeting would be held at the justice center in August “due to published information” after Tennessee Lookout published a letter penned by Fayette County Public Schools board member David Reeves to U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, asking the congressman to urge the Department of Justice to help end the consent order.
During the public comment period at the Aug. 14 school board meeting, community member Charles Watkins called on the board to host an information session on the consent order and its pros or cons.
“You owe it to the community to at least have a serious forum over and above the public meetings and hearings that is supposed to be there … where a professional from the school board who understands truly the desegregation order will actually sit down and have a conversation with someone from the community … about what it is, the history of it … and why you believe it somehow impedes progress of the Fayette County school system,” Watkins said.
Informational meetings for parents required under the consent order are scheduled for Sept. 18 and Sept. 22 at 7 p.m.
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Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning
This content highlights protests against alleged systemic racism and discriminatory practices in Fayette County, Tennessee, focusing on calls for racial justice, equity in education, and government accountability. It emphasizes the perspectives of activists, community members, and organizations advocating for civil rights and social change, which aligns with left-leaning political values. The article presents these issues sympathetically without offering counterpoints from the local government or school board, reinforcing a progressive viewpoint on racial and social justice matters.
SUMMARY: Ta-Tanisha Thomas is a prominent travel entrepreneur and certified advisor specializing in inclusive and family travel. After over 20 years in healthcare, she founded Officially Crowned LLC, which includes Officially Crowned Travel, Nashville Flying Dress, Flying Dress Getaways, and Royal Journey Apparel. Recognized as one of Nashville’s top Black travel agents, her Nashville Flying Dress venture was named a “Must Try” experience and a top finalist for the 2024 Best of Music City Community Choice Award. A military spouse and mother of three, Thomas balances her leadership with family life in Nashville, where her son attends Tennessee State University.
