From Inside Higher Ed: Associate professor of psychological studies Sarah Herrmann and one of her students at Weber State University were preparing to present their research at the university’s 27th annual Unity Conference, the theme of which was “Redacted: Navigating the Complexities of Censorship.”
“Everything seemed to be going according to plan,” Herrmann said. She has spent the past two years studying the impact of Utah’s HB 261—a state law that bans diversity, equity and inclusion practices in higher education—on student academic performance and persistence... But on Sept. 29, days before the conference was scheduled to begin, the student received an email directive from Joel Berrien Jr., director of Weber State’s Basic Needs Center: Remove all mentions of “DEI,” “diversity,” “equity” and “inclusion” from your slides and resubmit them.
"At that point, I said, ‘We can’t in good conscience present our research without using those terms, and you should remove our presentation instead,’” Herrmann told Inside Higher Ed. “But it was very strange given how close it was to the conference,” which was scheduled for Oct. 2 and 3. Other faculty, unwilling to censor their own presentations or to support a censored event, also pulled out of the conference.
Organizers decided to cancel the event on Oct. 1... The irony was not lost on the faculty: The university was censoring its own conference about censorship...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/10/08/weber-state-censors-then-cancels-censorship.
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