The Student Government Association fielded questions Monday night about the school's stance on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), according to multiple people at the meeting.
Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Douglas Pearson started the meeting by saying he was "not here to speak on behalf of the university on this topic, I'm not an expert on this topic and I'm not the president of the university," referring to the discussion on DEI.
Pearson added that Mercer is working to meet guidelines sent in a Feb. 14 "Dear Colleague" letter from Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the United States Department of Education. In the letter, Trainor gave universities two weeks to scrub any remnant of "overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions" from their websites and enrollment processes, and threatened to cut federal funding to those colleges that do not comply.
In order to protect the university from losing federal funding, Pearson said that Mercer would move away from "promoting any programs that could possibly jeopardize that funding" but that the guidance from the Education Department would not change the values of the university.
"We continue to value the worth of every individual, we continue to advocate for the study of truth and understanding," Pearson said before directing questions to SGA President Dalton Loyd '25, who answered the majority of the questions at the meeting.
It was the first time since last April that the SGA had to field questions from the gallery about the university's actions, and one of the students who spoke Monday was among those who were most vocal in April. Sky Grzybowski '26 started with acknowledging that they had been detained in the days before the April SGA meeting, which led to their being "fired up" about talking to SGA.
Grzybowski opened by asking the senators when they knew that mentions of the university's DEI and anti-racism policies were deleted from Mercer's website.
Loyd said that the university still has an anti-discrimination policy listed on its website, but when he was told that the university's anti-racism policy had been removed, he spoke out against that decision. "I think all of us understand the concern and gravity of the situation if an anti-racism statement has been taken down within the last two months," Loyd said.
In a copy of the Mercer University Student Handbook revised on June 20, 2023, the handbook's definition of harassment includes "communication of threats, use of profanity, verbal assaults, derogatory comments, racist remarks or behavior." The handbook, most recently revised Feb. 7, 2025, however, does not include the term "racist." The recent edition's definition of harassment includes "communication of threats, use of profanity, verbal assaults, derogatory comments, or behavior."
"That's something that's been very much worrying a lot of the students I have been able to chat with," Grzybowski said. "There is a lot of panic going around at the moment about how dark this process has been. A lot of us only now learned about this during the civil rights and LBGTQ town hall that was held a week ago."
The Human Rights Campaign of Georgia and Mercer's Common Ground organization hosted a town hall in Toney Auditorium on Feb. 12 where students could speak to Mercer professors about legislation impacting the LGBTQ+ community, according to a flyer circulated for the event.
Over the summer, Mercer' Office of Diversity and Inclusion merged with the existing Title IX office to create the Office of Equity and Compliance, Loyd said. He added that he could "see that concern" about the lack of communication between students and the administration as it pertains to the Office of Diversity of Inclusion's closing.
When communication between the administration and the student body came up, Pearson addressed the gallery to say that President Bill Underwood often listens to student voices and "meets regularly with your student leaders here," and suggested that students address Underwood directly when they have questions. Loyd said that the request for more open communication lines is one that "all 33 of us on SGA have made and that we as students desire."
Loyd asked that students remain engaged with their civil duty to school and federal governments to fight misinformation and the rumor mill.
Late in the meeting, Sen. Sreeja Pandiri '26 summed up different services on campus which students can use utilize that could give them an opportunity to voice their concerns or push for change on campus. "The least we can do is listen," Pandiri, who chairs SGA's campus safety and improvements committee, said.
Gabriel Kopp '26 is majoring in Journalism and Law and Public Policy at Mercer University. He has written for The Cluster since he started at Mercer, and currently works as co-Editor-in-Chief. When he isn't studying, he enjoys going for runs and reading The New York Times or the AJC while sipping coffee.
