Treasure Valley Community College officials are revising their practices for buying goods and services and have removed any references to diversity, equity and inclusion, fearing a federal crackdown on such programs.
Such DEI initiatives in purchasing plans guide how contracts are awarded to vendors and suppliers at community colleges. At state community colleges, DEI programs in vendor selection are encouraged, but not required, according to Dana Young, president of Treasure Valley Community College.
The purpose of TVCC’s draft vendor diversity plan is to make bidding on contracts for goods and services at the college open to a diverse slate of vendors and suppliers.
The draft plan lists small local businesses and those that are owned by women, minorities and veterans. The draft vendor diversity plan -separate from the college’s revised bids and contracts – was initially going to accompany the college’s revised policy on awarding contracts, but the Board of Education’s Policy Subcommittee decided against further review, fearing that an executive order from President Donald Trump might impact the plan.
Instead, Young, on Tuesday, March 18, submitted a draft of the school’s revised purchasing plan that was scrubbed of all references to DEI to the college’s board during its regular meeting. The board did not take any action, nor did Young discuss the policy with the board.
According to the draft policy, the board would delegate to Young the authority to enter the college into contracts and agreements. The proposed plan to revise the college’s purchasing plan came out of a Board of Education Policy Subcommittee meeting on Tuesday, March 13.
During the March 13 meeting, Young told the committee members about the issues the college faces regarding DEI policies in higher education.
She said the state encourages schools to have vendor diversity plans that guide how contracts are awarded. However, they are not required, she said.
The challenge for the college is the conflicting state and federal guidance, according to Young.
She said state funding revolves around DEI initiatives, but federal directives have ordered colleges receiving federal money to eliminate such programs.
She said the college contacted Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s office for guidance and said, “You’re requiring us to have this and the feds are saying take it out.”
Rayfield joined a group of state attorney generals that issued guidance to counter the federal legal challenges to DEI in education,
Young said Karen Smith, the senior policy advisor and general counsel with the Oregon Community College Association, said she told Young the college did not have to make any changes to existing college programs.
Young suggested that with new programs, the college find a “common term” to use when referring to DEI that everybody “could all be comfortable and live with.”
Young said that nixing references to DEI in its procurement plan would not change how the college treats its students.
“The words diversity, equity, and inclusion have been politically weaponized,” she said.
The draft vendor plan considered by the subcommittee would have college procurement staff engaging with diverse suppliers, including veterans, minorities, women, and locally-owned small businesses. The plan also called for the college to establish monitoring and evaluation measures to ensure transparency.
Currently, the college is without a local contract board, according to Young. Darin Bell, the vice president of the college’s business department, said contracts are awarded out of the business office.
At one point during the policy meeting, the members of the policy subcommittee considered tabling the discussion, given how polarizing topics surrounding DEI initiatives have become. One committee member said that even bringing the draft policy to the board would make the discussion public.
Young said that the college does not have a local contract review board. An unidentified meeting participant told Young the policy subcommittee needed to push through a draft plan to take to the board of education since it did not have a local contract review board.
Anne-Marie Kelso, the college’s executive director of legal operations, Young and Bell have so far refused to explain how the college awards contracts beyond, but maintain the college follows state procurement laws.
Bids for items costing $25,000 to $250,000 informally are sought from up to three vendors the college knows, Bell said during the March 13 policy subcommittee meeting. He said that practice does not violate state procurement law but leaves the college open to scrutiny.
“It is possible in those intermediate situations, even for people to say, ‘Hey, I didn’t know about this. You didn’t tell me, and I think you didn’t tell me because you don’t like me,'” he said.
During the subcommittee meeting, Bell said the college could use the public procurement website OregonBuys.
Bell said posting potential contracts on OregonBuys would make them available to anyone to consider.
Contracts over $250,00 by law require a formal process, according to the Oregon Procurement Manual. Bell said the college has always followed the state process for contracts over $250,000. State law requires agencies to publicly announce a request for proposals and consider a minimum of three bids.
Under the college’s proposed bids and contracts plan, the college would put those large requests on OregonBuys.
Young said the college has not had any issues with potential suppliers feeling that they were excluded.
Young said reviewing a separate diversity vendor plan to potentially accompany a revised plan for purchasing goods and services, “made sense.”
Bell said the business office likes to be “transparent.” The vendor diversity plan, he said, lays out what it would like if the college were to think about not “excluding” vendors.
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