Palomar College in San Marcos is getting rid of its anti-racism policy and instead will create a subcommittee to explore other options that address concerns.
The community college district’s board approved the moves on a contentious 3-2 vote this week, at a meeting packed with community members who objected and defended the existing policy.
The decision comes as a growing number of colleges nationwide move away from diversity, equity and inclusion policies and initiatives, and as the Trump administration targets them.
Board member Yvette Marie Acosta, who proposed getting rid of the policy, called it “performative” and said existing policies and anti-discrimination law made it unnecessary.
“I know I’m not a legal expert, but I often look at things from a legal perspective. And opening us up for liability, and legal liability, is something that maybe you all haven’t considered,” she said.
She suggested that was why other local community college boards don’t have similar policies.
Her colleague Roberto Rodriguez, who ultimately voted against jettisoning the policy, asked to keep it in place while a subcommittee could work on changes to address others’ concerns.
But Holly Hamilton-Bleakley, the board’s vice president, said she felt it couldn’t stay in place as-is. She said it’s unusual in how it’s written and isn’t based on a template from the Community College League of California.
“Those are the things that I’m taking into consideration, as I’m weighing out all these factors,” she said.
She put forward the compromise motion that ultimately passed — the combination of removing the policy and creating the panel.
Board member Judy Patacsil unsuccessfully tried to amend that motion to include a second legal opinion and discuss the policy and any concerns about it openly, not just in closed session.
“What are the objections?” she said. “What are the words that are problematic? What are we exposing ourselves to, the liability of the board or college, that there’s concerns about?”
She ultimately voted against getting rid of the policy.
Throughout the public portion of the meeting, board members alluded to legal advice on the policy that they said they were given in closed session.
But Rodriguez and Patacsil expressed skepticism about how other members were characterizing that advice.
“I don’t want to disclose the conversations that have been alluded to, but elimination was not the only option given,” Rodriguez said.
Board members have said that Palomar is the only community college with such a board policy, as opposed to an anti-racism statement.
For some defenders of the policy who spoke Tuesday, that was a point of pride.
Timothy Swan II, the college’s Associated Student Government secretary, said he couldn’t emphasize enough the importance of the board policy for those who need it.
“Any fathoming of the removal or deletion of any of our antiracism policies — that is racist,” he said at the Tuesday meeting. “It is pompous. It is blatant. It is disrespectful.”
In a later statement, Swan said he had spent days educating his peers about the policy, many of whom didn’t know it existed. He said they expressed disappointment at the board’s decision.
Student member Ariel Fridman ultimately cast an advisory vote to do so while also creating a panel — an effort billed as a compromise method.
After the board voted to rescind its anti-racism policy, Star Rivera-Lacey, the college’s superintendent and president, told the board she would work to “reassure our community … that our values have not changed at Palomar College.”
College spokesperson Julie Lanthier Bandy said the district is following the law, its code of ethics and its diversity commitment and “remains steadfast in ensuring that all students and employees are aware of the policies, procedures and resources available should they experience racism, discrimination or harassment.
In June, the Palomar board took a step similar to Tuesday’s when it stopped giving its land acknowledgement — a recitation intended to signal respect for Indigenous people — at the start of its meetings, according to iNewsource.
And in January, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of professors arguing that California community colleges’ DEI policies infringed on academic freedom.
That lawsuit was prompted by 2022 policy changes by the California Community Colleges board of governors requiring districts to evaluate employees on their work with a diverse student body. The judge ruled the plaintiffs had failed to allege a credible threat of enforcement against them.
Still, this year, institutions of higher education nationwide have faced pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration and others to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Republican-led states have been outlawing such policies for state-funded programs.
And in recent weeks, Trump has tried to create what he calls a compact with some universities, promising preferential funding treatment in exchange for control over their operations, admissions and academics. Several schools have already rebuffed the offer.