Research shows most community college students aspire to earn a bachelor’s degree, but only about a third transfer to a university. The numbers are even more dismal for students who’ve been historically underrepresented. 

What kind of guidance these students receive can often be critical to whether or not they transfer and graduate. Just ask Marilyn Martinez.

Illustration: The Chronicle

Goddard College administrators did everything they could think of to increase revenue and lower costs. They rented out building after building on campus. Turned the dining hall into a for-profit restaurant. Announced the institution would go virtual full time, with no students on its campus.

It didn’t work. And for a multitude of reasons.

At the University of Tennessee, the campus diversity, equity, and inclusion program is now called the Division of Access and Engagement. The University of Oklahoma has rebranded its diversity office as the Division of Access and Opportunity.

In what appears to be an effort to placate opponents of diversity and equity programs, university officials are relaunching their DEI offices under different names, changing the titles of officials, and rewriting requirements to eliminate words like “diversity” and “equity.” In some cases, only the words have changed.