Beginning in 2020, while frequently citing George Floyd's death, Samford began a campus-wide effort to mandate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in every aspect of its campus experience. For years, the University used its website and social media accounts to tout endless updates on its diversity initiatives. Those updates have slowed in the last year, though there is little indication that the university has changed any of the policies that were previously implemented.
Two significant figures in the earliest portion of Samford's DEI timeline, Denise Gregory, assistant provost for diversity and intercultural initiatives, and President Andrew Westmoreland, have since left the university. Two others who have been at the forefront of the school's DEI and divisive concepts are Samford University Professors Theresa Davidson and Niya Pickett Miller.
When Westmoreland retired he was replaced by President Beck A. Taylor. Taylor came to the university with his own long standing record of promoting and supporting the ideals and concepts of DEI.
In 2017, as the President of Whitworth University, Taylor hired, Lorna Hernandez Jarvis, Ph.D as the chief diversity officer and associate vice president, saying, “Throughout the search process, search committee members and I were increasingly impressed with Lorna’s ability to articulate the rationale for elevating conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion at Christian colleges and universities, and with her demonstrated experience in helping students, staff and faculty realize those goals. She will be an important addition to Whitworth’s senior staff, and I look forward to working with her in the years to come.”
May 2020, he and Jarvis co-authored a letter to the Whitworth Community, saying, "We write today to unequivocally denounce the sin of racism that continues to plague our nation, our community, and our campus" that warned of the dangers of "unchecked white privilege."
One month later Taylor signed onto a letter that compared Floyd's death to that of Martin Luther King Jr. and ended with the line, "Black Lives Matter."
Under his early stewardship, Samford continued the efforts to integrate DEI into the school's program through what the school called its "Diversity Action Plans." Two of those plans have recently been changed or deleted from the school's website following an inquiry by 1819 News. The school's "Racial Justice Report," has also been deleted.
The plan that is linked as the Diversity Action Plan was recently added.
That's not the only recent change; where the website once read, "Samford actively strives to advance racial diversity on campus and work toward reconciliation," it now says, "Samford's diversity efforts are centered in its commitments to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and other biblical teachings. The university's list of strategic objectives included in the Diversity Action Plan is under continuous review to ensure compliance with state and federal law."
Below is a partial timeline highlighting just some of Samford's key DEI, racial justice, and social justice activities or statements:
- June 4, 2020: The Task Force on Racial Justice at Samford University was announced in the wake of the racial injustices in America sparked by the death of Mr. George Floyd.
- June 29, 2020: Samford's Director of Athletics, Martin Newton announced the promotion of JeNorri Armsteadto a newly created position as the athletic department implemented "a broad action plan to address racial justice, diversity, and cultural awareness within the Department of Athletics. The plan includes the creation of a new position within the department's Senior Leadership Team, Director of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives for Athletics, and seven objectives designed to create and maintain a better environment to promote diversity and inclusion."Armstead was promoted in 2024 to the role of Senior Associate AD for Internal Affairs. Her current bio does not mention the role of Director of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives. Instead, it says, "JeNorri Armstead joined the Samford Athletics Department in early 2017. She was promoted to Senior Associate AD for Internal Affairs in August 2024. She serves on the Executive Leadership Team, oversees the Athletic Business Office, oversees the processing of game, vendor and sponsorship contracts, oversees the diversity initiatives within athletics, and serves the primary contact for Human Resources within the Athletics Department."
- April 27, 2021: Board of Trustees passes resolution "Affirming the Task Force on Racial Justice." That resolution says, "NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Samford University Board of Trustees that the board extends appreciation to the members of the Task Force on Racial Justice for their devoted efforts to this worthwhile and righteous calling and stands in solidarity with the University administration, faculty, students and other stakeholders in achieving the goals recommended in the task force report."
- April 28, 2021: The 50-page "Task Force on Racial Justice" report was published. According to the report, the primary goal of the Task Force was "to assist the university in fostering positive, enduring changes in campus culture and existing systems so that racial justice may become a known attribute of the institution." It says, "Racial injustice at Samford, past and present, have been examined and addressed."Among the many recommendations was "the inclusion of concepts of race, racism, justice, equity, and racial justice as permanent and easily recognized components of the curricular experience for all Samford" undergraduate and graduate students. (The report has been removed from the University's website but can be found on an archived page.)
Task Force on Racial Justice Report by aprylmarie.fogel on Scribd
- October 14, 2021: According to a story in The Samford Crimson, "Phase two of the Task Force first gathered in the home of President Taylor. Gregory remarked on Taylor's engagement in the meetings and his desire to be heavily involved. "Dr. Taylor is very supportive. He was very interactive in participating (in the meeting). He was involved, was there in the trenches with us," Gregory told the paper.
- February 15, 2022: The Samford Crimson reports the hiring of Shenitha Hinton, MS, LPC, NCC, "Counselor offers services to students of color." The student paper reported, "As part of a partnership with the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives and the Counseling and Wellness Department, Hinton has started offering her counseling services at Samford." According to the story, "Hinton said she agreed to this opportunity because she wanted students of color at Samford to have someone who could truly understand their needs."According to Hilton's LinkedIn profile, she was on a one-year contract with the university, in which she says that she "Provided counseling services for students from underrepresented racial minority backgrounds."
- November 2022: The schools Diversity Action Plan was released, in a statemement on September 2, 2022 the described the report saying, "A university wide committee, led by Dr. Denise J. Gregory and made up of 31 employees and students, was tasked by President Beck Taylor to create a Diversity Action Plan for the university, building on the findings and recommendations across multiple areas of the final report of Samford University’s Task Force on Racial Justice. The purpose of the Diversity Action Plan is to advance Samford’s commitment to promote and support racial diversity across campus, and to create a “more durable and accountable process” to implement the report’s recommendations. The plan will be incorporated in the university-wide strategic plan." This document has been removed from the school's website.
- November 2, 2022: In a statement on its website, the University wrote, "2020 was a year of civil unrest. The murder of George Floyd sparked outrage across the country, inspiring many people and institutions to reflect on how they could be better allies in the fight against racism. Samford was no different." Going on to state, "The Race, Ethnicity and Social Justice minor was approved by Samford in the spring and went live in fall 2022. Students interested in learning and advocating for equality can now enroll in the program.""We are excited to provide this opportunity to students to broaden their knowledge on this topic,” Associate Provost for Student Success and Diversity and Inclusion Denise Gregory said in the statement. “It is a direct action of the Task Force’s recommendation. To see it implemented is another step towards creating a campus culture that fosters positive growth towards racial justice.”
- December 6, 2022: The school website highlighted a book club formed at the University, saying in part, "Fifteen faculty members across seven departments in the college came together to read How to be an Antiracist, Teaching to Transgress and selected chapters from Performing Antiracist Pedagogy, meeting to discuss throughout the year.One of the two grant recipients, Taylor Cyr, an assistant professor at Howard College of Arts and Sciences, was quoted as saying, "Our explicit goals for the Faculty Reading Group included learning from the expertise of teachers and scholars of historically oppressed or disadvantaged groups, and identifying conceptual resources and concrete practices that could be integrated into our classrooms at Samford. We also hoped, and continue to hope, that the Faculty Reading Group might spur on more conversations about promoting equity in our classrooms."
- January 3, 2023: The school announced the release of “Fidelitas: Faith and Future," the school's new strategic plan, which was unanimously adopted by the Samford Board of Trustees in December. The plan includes language that says, "Goal: Integrate inaitavies from the Diversity Action Plan into university culture, policies, and procedures."
- April 2023: Samford University published an update to the school's "Diversity Action Plan: Progress Update 2023" The report highlighted work done between 2020 and 2023 and work to be done.According to the report, "As of April 2023, over 90% of the expected initiatives have either been completed or In Progress. Fourteen percent of them have been completed and 77 percent are In Progress. However, 7 percent have not been started as of this reporting period (Figure 2).Following an inquiry from 1819 News about the status of its Diversity Action Plan initiatives, Samford University deleted this document from its website. They did not answer the questions posed about the status of its implementation.
- June 6-7, 2023: According to the school's website, Samford University’s Orlean Beeson School of Education, in partnership with the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives (ODII), hosted its second Diversity Forum. The forum was described as "The school of education invites community leaders, educators and those in professional fields focused on building diverse learning communities to join us for collaborative discussions, learning opportunities in diversity, equity and inclusion, and growth and learning with other P-12 and higher education professionals." The schedule, which is still available online, includes a session entitled "What Happens When We All Care and Advocate? Teaching for Equity in Tough Times" which was described as, "This keynote address will discuss how teachers and students across the country are doing equity work, despite the climate that may seem to stifle the growth of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging."
- March 27, 2025: Samford University updates the Diversity Action Plan on its website. While it is unclear when the document was uploaded to the website, the new document's properties indicate that the new version was last saved by De'Janae Tookes, MEd, the Executive Director of Multicultural Initiatives in the Office of Student Success and Diversity. When the new document was added, the original 2022 was replaced, and the 2023 document was deleted in its entirety. Included in the changes is the removal of the date on the cover page and the inclusion of this disclaimer, "Office of Student Success and Diversity will work in concert with the University’s general counsel and Human Resources departments to assure compliance with all local, state, andfederal laws and to maintain consistency across, and where appropriate in subordination to,University approved policies and plans."A manual side-by-side comparison of the documents shows substantive changes beyond just spacing and page number errors in the table of contents.Items that were deleted or removed in the recent update include the following, each of these were deleted in the document as well as in the final section of the document that list them by priority. They are listed here in the order in which they were deleted.
- Provide incentives for students of color and underrepresented students (i.e., first generation) students to study abroad (VP-AA/BUS)
- Increase the diversity of the undergraduate and graduate student population (with priority at the undergraduate level) (VP-SAEM)
- Determine and increase scholarship funds for students of color (VP-BUS/SAEM/ADV)
- Provide funding for mental health support for students of color (VP-BUS/SAEM)
- Prioritize the hiring of a full-time campus minister of color in the Office of Spiritual Life (VP-SAEM)
It is unclear why the university has stopped publishing updates on its diversity programming. 1819 News has reached out to Samford multiple times during the course of our investigation they have declined to comment.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [email protected]
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning or become a member to gain access to exclusive content and 1819 News merch.
