The 2025 US presidential inauguration and deluge of executive orders that have followed are having their intended effect on morale in higher education: many of us feel disconnected, disillusioned and unsafe. So many aspects of our lives, careers, values and identities are under assault that it is difficult to prioritise key values like teaching, inclusive course design and advocacy over immediate personal and professional concerns.
We approach these complex challenges from the perspective of educator-scholars, learning experience designers and teaching faculty in the US, addressing colleagues who are invested in being proactive advocates for our learners and colleagues (especially those with vulnerable identities and roles). These suggestions are, by necessity, limited and incomplete. They are intended as an outline of foundational practices that can be built upon over time.
All too often in the past, higher education’s commitment to the values of equity, diversity and inclusion has been contingent upon rewards and resources. The likelihood of making a course accessible and inclusive has depended on course releases, the availability of DEI-related funding, or the capacity of an accessibility review team. In our current context, these vital supports and resources are being slashed – with real and devastating consequences to the hardworking professionals leading DEI efforts and the many members of campus communities who benefit from them. Our suggestions are intended to support this work on a more grassroots, micro-level. When we are truly committed to our values, we do the work anyway – even if we don’t have the time, and even if we need to develop expertise.
So, what are some meaningful, practical ways we can sustain inclusive practices in increasingly hostile environments, amid political and institutional pushback?
Design meaningful learning experiences
The design decisions we make while crafting the experiences and content within a course have immense power on the experiences our learners have and lay the foundation for students feeling safe enough to learn. We design more inclusively when we:
Use accessible course design. When we include closed captioning on videos, alternative text on images and proper heading structures, learners with a range of abilities and disabilities can learn with fewer barriers. What’s good for some is good for all.
Design for flexibility. Universal design for learning encourages educators to incorporate flexibility to support all learners, including students with disabilities, neurodivergent students and English language learners. This includes multiple sources for learners to experience content (e.g., an article, a podcast, a video) and multiple ways to engage with the content (e.g., small group discussions, reflections, making an artifact).
Include multiple perspectives. When we incorporate course materials that amplify marginalised voices and centre people of the global majority, we support better representation as well as the potential for more robust, multifaceted understandings.
Remember lessons learned during emergency remote teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. Flexible work and learning arrangements lower barriers for lots of folks, including those with different health conditions and life responsibilities.
- How universities can move from DEI backlash to breakthrough
- A common enemy approach to anti-racism in higher education
- Doing DEI when you can’t use the ‘D’, the ‘E’ or the ‘I’ word
Prioritise pedagogy
Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching. Strong pedagogy transcends time, technological trends and (political) turmoil. When we argue for educators to prioritise pedagogy, we mean relying on effective teaching practices that acknowledge learners’ contexts and identities, fostering belonging and creating spaces where learners are safe to learn. These ideals are not new. John Dewey argued for these as long ago as 1899.
Prioritising pedagogy comes in many forms and is highly dependent on contextual factors such as the age and experience of your learners, your course content and the structure and expectations of your course. However, we can all engage in supportive pedagogies such as the following:
Know your learners. Learn how to pronounce their names and what they’d like to be called. This information can be shared individually with an instructor and can allow learners to share other contextual factors such as their work or caregiving schedules.
Be trauma-informed. The foundation of trauma-informed pedagogy is to respect learners’ identities, strengths and challenges; enact expected accommodations; and connect struggling students with campus resources. Being proactive is vital.
Maintain a respectful learning environment. Regardless of your teaching format – online, hybrid, or in person – it is crucial to establish community norms around respect, listening and civil disagreement. In our courses, we teach learners what this means every semester via content and feedback; we all have different ideas and conceptualisations of respect. When questionable things occur, we must address them kindly, professionally and immediately.
Iterate. When we receive data that something did not pan out the way we intended, we must reflect, inquire, respond and improve. None of us gets everything right every day, but we can always do better.
Be proactive in your advocacy
Unfortunately, micro-aggressions remain common in higher education, and it is still tremendously difficult to speak truth to power. At a time when most of us already feel unsafe in some way, it can be even more challenging to not only acknowledge our privilege, but also jeopardise it by speaking up in solidarity with others.
Lead with empathy. When we lead a class, lead a programme, or hold a privileged identity, we are in a position of power. So it’s important to solicit feedback regularly and in ways that feel safe to folks in vulnerable positions – and it is just as important to actively listen and respond to that feedback in meaningful ways. When power dynamics are at play, it’s not just about active listening, but proactive listening.
Speak up. When folks with privileged roles and identities engage in micro-aggressions (such as speaking over others, repeatedly misgendering learners or colleagues, or continually prioritising the interests of the most powerful over the most vulnerable), it’s important to speak up in the moment. Even if that means resisting expectations of “politeness” and deference to the academic hierarchy.
There is no way to sugarcoat the reality that remaining committed to our values becomes much more difficult when it requires significantly more time, effort and risk. But we must continue to do the work – even when it isn’t official policy, and even when it isn’t rewarded by a meritocracy-based system.
Liz Owens Boltz and Brittany Dillman are assistant professors at Michigan State University.
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