The June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students at MTSU has been dismantled following the removal of diversity, equity and inclusion policies at the university. Its webpage disappeared from MTSU’s website, and its social media pages are no longer active.
The center organized events such as a diaper drive, canned food drives, collected clothes for domestic assault survivors and spearheaded sexual assault awareness month.
When trying to access the center’s webpage, a 404 error code appears and the only social media that comes up on Instagram is an account that has not posted since 2015. Links for scholarships, Women’s History Month information and programs and services through the center also show the error code.
“Due to new Tennessee DEI laws, the June Anderson Center is no longer an entity on campus,” Maigan Wipfli, who was the center’s director, said in an email.
MTSU President Sidney McPhee’s office will send an email to students informing them of the change in the coming days, according to Wipfli.
Wipfli’s title changed to “director for first-year and nontraditional student engagement” on LinkedIn, but not on MTSU’s faculty directory.
The webpage for Intercultural and Diversity Affairs has been removed as well. Danielle Rochelle, who was the organization’s director, worked closely with the center.
However, Rochelle’s LinkedIn showed she no longer held that role as of June — a position she held for more than 10 years. It is not yet known the future of Rochelle’s role with MTSU.
MTLambda, a student organization for LGBTQ+ students, shared a petition on June 12 calling for MTSU to retain Wipfli and Rochelle. More than 370 people signed the petition. The Student Government Organization President, RJ Ware and President McPhee assured people that no one would be outright let go, following the petition.
Tennessee’s Dismantling DEI Departments Act ordered state-funded universities to stop supporting DEI programs, including “various affinity groups.”
Affinity groups are defined as groups that “ensure an inclusive environment where all are valued, included, and empowered to succeed,” by the New York State Library.
While there is nothing that officially states the JAC was an affinity group, its mission statement said that its role was to ensure success for students of all genders by providing resources, referrals, advocacy and outreach on issues focused on women and non-traditional students.
The Center for Student Involvement and Leadership webpage is still active, but the link for nontraditional student resources, which the JAC was involved in, has been suspended.
Scholarships that gave preference to women or non-white students have also been scrubbed from MTSU’s scholarship database, following the implementation of the new state law. It is not yet clear what the future holds for those scholarships.
An email sent to students on June 10 announced that MTSU would disband diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to comply with the Dismantling DEI Departments Act. It is not yet clear when dismantling efforts began, or what the future holds for efforts.
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