Dr. Emelyn dela Peña
PHILADELPHIA — As democratic ideals and inclusive participation face sustained pressure across the nation, higher education leaders are gathering this week for the 2026 National Association for Diversity Officers in Higher Education’s annual conference. Under the theme "Reclaiming ‘We the People’: Democracy and the Renewal of Higher Education," the convening serves as a critical space for those who are invested in the work of diversity to move beyond crisis management and toward the intentional protection of equity and belonging.
The conference arrives at a consequential time for the profession, one marked by a shifting sociopolitical climate and heightened scrutiny of diversity initiatives.
Despite the different ways institutions are navigating the times — with some changing the names of their DEI offices to avoid federal scrutiny and others doubling down on the importance of naming the work explicitly — Dr. Emelyn dela Peña, NADOHE's president, says the work remains the same.
“At the end of the day, we support students and their needs,” she said. “Before there was a field of DEI there were people working in the field. We had people who cared.”
Though there are fewer attendees this year than in previous years, dela Peña said she is encouraged by the number of people who continue to demonstrate their commitment to the work by showing up, even when they don’t have chief diversity officer titles.
The program of this year’s conference highlights a strategic pivot toward "contextual courage"— the willingness to take values-aligned risks within institutional roles — and the necessity of restorative leadership. Key sessions are set to explore the intersection of free speech and inclusion, the ethical tests facing DEI infrastructure, and the role of shared equity leadership in embedding responsibility for inclusion across entire campuses.
“I've always believed in shared equity leadership,” dela Peña said, adding that having academic diversity officers embedded across departments in addition to someone at the chief level is a both-and imperative.
Equity work “has to be infused within the president's office, the provost, HR, legal counsel, student affairs, financial systems — it has to be embedded in the whole campus,” she said, adding that it is still important to have “someone at the 30,000 foot view” level with visibility into the full campus priorities.
“What happens when everyone is in charge and no one is in charge is that there are a lot of people who are responsible, but we don’t have anyone who is accountable” for moving the needle for diverse students, and then “it often falls on the most marginalized to pick up the pieces, to fill in the gaps,” said dela Peña.
She went on to emphasize that diversity and equity on campus can’t be the work of one person or one office that is accountable for outcomes driven by people who don’t report to them.
"That’s a really hard place to be,” she added.
This week’s conference aims to challenge attendees to examine institutional responsibility and to reclaim higher education as a powerful force for democratic renewal. As the sessions unfold, the focus remains clear: sustaining the commitment to social justice while building more resilient, inclusive communities.
“There's nothing inherently wrong with the work that we do in support of students” dela Peña continued. “We are holding institutions accountable to the anti-discrimination laws that they say they uphold. So to kind of flip the script at this point and say that DEI is illegal is baffling to me.”
“Many institutions want to check that box but aren’t putting money behind that,” she said.
