Multiple institutions of higher — or woker — learning have been caught renaming DEI initiatives and hiding illegal aliens from authorities.
Two staffers at Tennessee universities were caught on a recording stating that they've simply rebranded their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and efforts to try to trick state and national authorities who banned the ideological nonsense. Meanwhile, another Tennessee university is reportedly hiding illegal aliens.
Shamefully, more than 35 colleges across America are also trying to operate as sanctuary campuses. It’s not just a Tennessee problem; it’s an academia problem.
In the recordings obtained by Fox News Digital, Will Eakin, a coordinator for the University of Tennessee’s (UT) “Access & Engagement” office, bragged, “It’s a chess game.”
The UT government relations staff help the school maintain its woke propaganda despite legislation outlawing it. “We had to take our current programming and our future programming and make sure that it aligns so that we can do the work that we're trying to do, while also catering to the Department of Education, the federal,” Eakin explained. “The biggest thing is using language as a tool for protection.”
UT President Randy Boyd, according to Eakin, “though he is a Republican, cares deeply about access and engagement, and he has been fully committed to the work of DEI and access and engagement, and he works very closely with government relations when they go to Nashville.” He praised government relations as “so good, they know which bills to be mindful of, how to best prepare and everything. And so here we are. These committees and task forces and offices were built back in 2020, and they're still up and running.”
UT claimed Eakin was misrepresenting the university in a subsequent statement.
Vanderbilt is also engaging in verbal chess. “We have things that clue people in and let people know that this is a safe space for everybody,” since “Belonging and Communities is, like, as close to that DEI work you can probably get,” said Ivie Carmouche, whom Fox identified as an academic coach in Vanderbilt's Center for Student Wellbeing. “The language will be different because we have to kind of be strategic. But there's a lot of collaborations with them.”
Vanderbilt, like UT, denied any Marxist rebranding.
Nashville’s Belmont University renamed its DEI office in 2022, continuing the objectionable programming despite Donald Trump’s executive order and Tennessee law.
But that’s not all. Another undercover recording exposes Jozef Lukey, Belmont University assistant director of student success and flourishing, who affirmed, “We do have undocumented students here.”
🚨BUSTED: @VanderbiltU's Janet Roberts was CAUGHT ON CAMERA disparaging Sen. Marsha Blackburn and hiding the school's DEI practices.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 23, 2025
"God help us...[@MarshaBlackburn's] ridiculous"
"We are heavily supported by federal funding...[so] we're not advertising diversity and… pic.twitter.com/CIxV6FCrwe
ICE raids have created uncertainty, he claimed. “We don't communicate to anybody externally who is undocumented, who it is, and so, like, yes, we know who it is.” Meanwhile, ICE has arrested gang members, pedophiles, and murderers in Tennessee.
Related: ICE Tells Doxers: ‘The Law’s Coming for You’
On July 21, Campus Reform reported that it had identified more than 35 colleges that are trying to be “sanctuary campuses" for illegal aliens evading ICE arrest. That way, money can go to foreign criminals instead of American citizens.
Portland State University (PSU), for instance, states on its website:
We have been committed to protecting and supporting all of our students, regardless of immigration status, since PSU was founded in 1946 — a stance that was strengthened when PSU became a Sanctuary Campus in 2016. However, the new administration’s actions have created a sense of fear and uncertainty for members of our community and beyond.
I want to make it clear that although we can’t predict what’s to come, Portland State stands firm in its commitment as a sanctuary school and an institution that cares about the safety and wellbeing of all its students.
Thus, campus authorities are banned from interacting with law enforcement. Long Beach City College in California, Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and Morehouse College in Georgia, along with the whole University of California system, also defy ICE and the Trump administration.
Notably, shielding illegal aliens is a violation of federal law, meaning these universities’ staff and leadership are arguably committing crimes. Time to cut off federal funds and investigate.
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