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September 14, 2026
San Diego State Requires Every College to Run a DEI Council, Critics Cry Foul
By Jacob Smith | Published on September 14, 2026
San Diego State University’s 2026–27 University Senate Policy File requires each college, along with certain administrative bodies including the library system, to maintain a diversity council, according to the San Diego State University Office of Faculty and Staff Diversity. The councils are part of an institutional structure for coordinating and reviewing diversity, equity and inclusion work. The requirement has drawn criticism from a conservative watchdog group, which has also questioned SDSU’s use of federal funding.
The councils’ stated functions include advising on diversity, equity and inclusion matters, supporting shared governance and transparency, gathering input from members of their units and coordinating related initiatives, according to Campus Reform. The framework is presented as an administrative and governance mechanism, with unit-level plans addressing areas such as hiring, curriculum and institutional climate.
The College of Sciences’ diversity page, for example, describes an inclusion representative on every faculty search committee and goals involving curriculum, campus climate and climate-survey measures related to diversity, equity and inclusion, according to the SDSU College of Sciences. Campus Reform separately reported that the Mechanical Engineering Department’s plan calls for applicant DEI statements, review of job advertisements for inclusive language and increased recruitment of female faculty.
A Diversity Bureaucracy Years in the Making
SDSU’s current council requirement follows an earlier planning mandate. A February 2018 University Senate resolution required every academic and administrative unit to create a unit-specific diversity plan aligned with the university’s broader plan, according to the SDSU Faculty and Staff Diversity Office. The university president later required units without an approved plan by fall 2020 to stop making new faculty hires beginning January 1, 2021, making approval of a plan a condition of hiring for those units.
From unit plans to councils
The timeline places the current councils within a broader planning system: the 2018 resolution established unit-level diversity plans, the 2020 enforcement provision linked approved plans to faculty hiring, and the current policy file specifies councils as an ongoing structure for unit-level coordination and review. The available documents describe these as related parts of SDSU’s internal governance and planning framework, rather than as a single requirement adopted in 2026.
That infrastructure includes what the diversity office describes as Equity and Inclusion Councils. Faculty hiring itself was also addressed through the university’s “Building on Inclusive Excellence” policy, according to the diversity office’s records.
Departmental Paperwork and a 37-Page Library Plan
The structure also reaches the department and library levels. San Diego State’s Mechanical Engineering Department maintains its own DEI plan, according to the department’s DEI page. Campus Reform reported that the University Library’s plan runs 37 pages and includes a goal of standardizing DEI practices among hiring managers.
Campus Reform’s Critic Sounds the Alarm
Adam Guillette, identified by Campus Reform as the president of the conservative watchdog group cited in its report, criticized DEI as divisive and opposed SDSU’s required councils and planning documents. He also questioned the university’s diversity and urged scrutiny of its use of federal and private funding. Those statements are the watchdog group’s position; the supplied reporting does not indicate that Guillette was independently interviewed for this article.