As part of the efforts to eliminate DEI in the US Federal Government, a number of Asian American Clubs at West Point (the US Army Military) academy, were disbanded. The Asian-Pacific Forum Club, the Korean-American Relations Seminar, the Vietnamese-American Cadet Association were closed down, along with other organizations such the National Society of Black Engineers chapter and the Latin Cultural Club. Some media outlets reported that some other organizations such the West Point Humanist Society and the West Point Polish Club were not included, but that is hard to verify since all club webpages were also taken down. You can see the memo regarding the clubs here in a reddit on the topic.
The Army said that the disbanded clubs were part of its DEI office, and are quoted here saying that “more than one hundred clubs remain at the U.S. Military Academy, and our leadership will continue to provide opportunities for cadets to pursue their academic, military, and physical fitness interests while following Army policy, directives, and guidance.” You can see that this is true from this archived version of the now gone club web page. The disbanded organizations were listed under Affinity clubs while other seemingly ethnic organizations, like the West Point Polish Club, were not. There are many clubs at West Point, which amazes me because I didn’t think that the cadets would have much time to participate in them.
The coming months will see if this trend continues to other publicly funded colleges and universities, as many affinity organizations on campuses have some funding from their institutions. Some US corporations have begun rolling back DEI initiatives, although I have not heard about this affecting their internal affinity groups and employee resource groups.
