As diversity, equity, and inclusion programs come under attack across the country, author and activist Keith Boykin ’87 and author and educator lan Rowe debated the merits of DEI policy on Feb. 26 in Filene Auditorium. 

The event, which was also livestreamed, was the third in the Dartmouth Political Union’s yearlong series, Critical Discourse in the Age of Disagreement, which brings together experts from a variety of perspectives to debate the nation’s most contentious political issues. 

Boykin is co-founder of the National Black Justice Coalition and a former White House aide in the Clinton administration. He has taught at several colleges, including American University and Columbia University, and is a former CNN commentator. A well-known voice on race, politics, and LGBTQ+ rights, his most recent book is Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race? 25 Arguments That Won’t Go Away. Boykin majored in government at Dartmouth and later graduated from Harvard Law School. 

Rowe is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on education and upward mobility, family formation, and adoption. He is the co-founder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a network of International Baccalaureate high schools in the Bronx, N.Y., and was formerly CEO of Public Prep, a nonprofit network of public charter schools based in the South Bronx and the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He is the author of the book Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for All Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power. Rowe holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

During the 90-minute debate and Q&A, Rowe and Boykin fielded questions from moderators Alexander Barrow ’27 and Margaret de la Fuente ’27, audience members, and one another, defining DEI, reacting to recent executive orders by President Donald Trump attempting to end federal support for DEI programs, and reflecting on issues such as racism, DEI policies, and affirmative action. 

Outlining his definition of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Rowe said DEI is based on “false pillars,” including the idea that the U.S. is a fundamentally racist nation, and by operating on the level of identity groups, such as race or class or sexual orientation, “carries stereotypes of oppressor versus oppressed.”

“Anytime we see disparities in outcomes by these groups, we attribute those disparities to discrimination within that group,” he said. 

That includes differences in educational outcomes for Black and white students, which, absent any other factors, are assumed to be due to racial discrimination, leading to interventions that are not necessarily beneficial, Rowe said. “I think that really hurts when we’re trying to figure out how to improve outcomes for all kids.”

Boykin, who supports DEI programs, said his “lived experience says that racism is a core part of who we are as a country.”

“Part of what DEI forces us to do is to look at the history that we don’t want to talk about, the reality that we kind of sweep under the rug and pretend that all these things are actually much better than they really are,” he said. “It’s just forcing us to be honest and have a critical analysis and not to pretend that the reality doesn’t exist.”

He said that DEI is not an action, but an aspiration—one that has often been misconstrued and conflated with strategies designed to achieve it.

Diversity is about having different people and different types of backgrounds, equity is about ensuring fairness, and inclusion “is making sure that people feel welcome,” Boykin said. “I don’t know anybody who’s really opposed to diversity, equity, or inclusion when you just give them those words.” 

While some diversity practices may be ineffective, “it doesn’t mean that the concept of DEI as a whole is problematic,” Boykin said. 

Boykin, whose father was in the military and whose mother worked for the Department of Defense, credited policies prohibiting racial discrimination for allowing him to grow up middle-class. 

The federal DEI program, which includes opportunities for people with disabilities, LGBTQ people, and people who were formerly incarcerated, has nothing to do “with treating people differently or unfairly,” he said. “It’s all about giving people equal access who haven’t been included in the past.”

Regarding affirmative action, Boykin said the policies had helped universities create well-rounded classes. 

“They don’t want to create a class of SAT clones and GPA clones. They want to create diversity so people can actually learn from each other,” said Boykin, who after college helped edit a book on admissions, 100 Successful College Application Essays. “Why is it that every other type of diversity is acceptable except race?”

But Rowe said the Supreme Court had made the correct decision when it ruled against race-based college admissions in 2023.

“The top Black students in this country are getting into good schools,” he said. The problem, which extends across races, “is that 80% of our kids are not prepared.” 

If colleges were to award preferential status in the admissions process, it should be class-based, he said.

“You’d get poor white kids, poor Asian kids, and I think that would go a long way to creating the kind of racial diversity that you’re talking about,” Rowe said. “But let’s not forget, the vast majority of kids are not getting into these elite schools, and they’re not getting in because they’re not prepared.”

After the debate, and noting that she was speaking for herself, not for the DPU as an organization, de la Fuente said she “enjoyed how both Rowe and Boykin held strong in their positions, pushing back on each other’s ideas while also finding common ground at some points.” 

And, the government and geography major said, “as someone who is interested in education in policy, I found the discussion of charter schools and affirmative action really valuable.”

Designed to foster respectful conversations, the DPU series receives support from the Office of the President, Dartmouth Dialogues, and other campus partners, including the Office of Student Life.