Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Tom Shields

Abstract

This honors thesis examines the extent to which public Virginia higher education institutions engage their institutional histories in leadership rhetoric when responding to the Trump administration’s anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Employing a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) following Mullet’s (2018) seven-step framework with an inductive coding approach and grounded in rhetorical history theory, this study analyzes official statements from the Offices of the President and Provost across four case study institutions: the University of Virginia (UVA), George Mason University (GMU), the College of William & Mary (W&M), and Longwood University (LU). Data sources span two time periods: May 2020 to May 2021, following the death of George Floyd, and January 2025 to present, following President Trump’s second inauguration and subsequent executive orders targeting DEI initiatives in higher education. The analysis identified six rhetorical themes across all four institutions: Placing the Institution in Sociopolitical Contexts, Appeals to Institutional Features, Shared Identities as Unifying Forces, Highlighting DEIB at the Institution, Speaker Positionality, and Reliance on Constitutional Freedoms. While each theme appeared across both time periods, the ways in which institutions engaged with them shifted drastically. In the 2020-21 period, institutions invoked historical narratives of racial injustice to position themselves as moral agents committed to restorative justice. In the 2025-26 period, that moral framing gave way to legal compliance language and appeals to institutional reputation and constitutional freedoms. Situated within Virginia’s complex history of racial segregation and resistance to desegregation, thesis findings suggest that institutional commitments to racial justice remain structurally fragile. Under sustained political pressure significantly constrains higher education leadership, regardless of an institution’s size, history, or prior DEI commitments.

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