Foul Ball, Fair Game: How Student-Athlete Responses to Anti-DEI Legislation Serve as a Setting to Test Our Willingness to Act on Public Administration Values

In March 2024, the University of Florida emerged as one of the most recognizable institutions of higher learning to eliminate funding for DEI programs even as public administration programs seek desperately to stop sinking enrollments. In response, the NAACP encouraged Black student-athletes to reconsider their current and future commitments to public colleges and universities with similar policies. With significant access to social and financial capital, a student-athlete exodus may have major consequences for public administration programs. This commentary highlights how our programs may suffer further enrollment losses if public administration program leaders fail to stand for students by promoting inclusive policies that protect students of color. It concludes with a call to action for all stakeholders to resist the implementation of anti-DEI initiatives and programs that oppose formalized public administration values and to actively stand up against legislation that harms students that we seek to serve.