Are We Moving Away from Decolonizing Pedagogies?

The recent Executive Orders and challenges to education, libraries, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have made funding and access to intellectual and leisure resources isolated from everyday use. By conducting a literature review, the researchers are examining current newspaper articles and statements that underscore responses from individual higher education institutions. This literature review examines the indirect and direct effects of the executive order, highlighting the pattern of directions that universities and colleges have taken. This is to monitor what “compliance” may look like, such as minor adjustments to terminology, coursework, and/or hiring practices. Preliminary research has found that challenges toward DEI in higher education and libraries began as recently as March of 2024, and present a great toll against higher education research institutes that are primarily federally funded. This strained relationship between higher education and LIS professionals could potentially disconnect researchers from library tools and collections. There may be barriers to grant funding for LIS professionals, student workers, active projects, and future professionals in this field.