Penn and the other Ivy League institutions made a huge mistake in February 2025. Apparently, our leaders had not read Timothy Snyder’s essential book “On Tyranny.” Snyder’s first two lesson are “Do not obey in advance” and “Defend institutions.” When threatened with loss of Federal funds, Penn immediately went beyond what was requested to meet Trump’s demands. It scrubbed all references to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from web sites, department, staff titles, program description and outreach initiatives. Overnight the DEI office became the “Office of Academic Excellence and Engagement.” Penn officials apparently were intimidated by the unwarranted forced resignation of Pres. Liz McGill the previous year instigated by Penn Trustee Marc Rowan, a designer of Trump’s “Project 2025” plan to attack the nation’s elite institutions.
A group of alumni with experience in resisting the University in their student years immediately responded by buying a half page ad in the Daily Pennsylvanian that places a Spine on a flag and asks “What’s wrong with Diversity…Equity… Inclusion?
During Homecoming in November 2025, one of our Quaker Courage members asked the same question of the Chair of the Trustees, Ramanan Raghavendran. He responded that the university “certainly does not embrace the opposite of those principles – monolithic, inequitable and exclusionary.” That was a decent answer though lacking in specifics. We also learned the next day that Rowan is leaving the Trustee board.
