Sometime over the last few months, the office’s website dropped a few letters from its policy advising students of being gay abroad. A webpage that was once titled “LGBTQIA Students” was shortened to just “LGB Students” sometime after Jan. 17, the last time the page was logged by the Wayback Machine.
Notably, President Donald Trump — who has threatened universities over diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and who has especially targeted transgender people — was inaugurated on Jan. 20.
The activist group Students for Justice in Palestine at ASU noted the shortened page title in an Instagram post Wednesday, also pointing out that the trans-scrubbed version of the webpage also axed several links specifically for transgender people.
“ASU lines up to bow down to the fascist administration,” the student group said in its post. “Our students cannot be collateral for the destructive policies of Trump!”
The Global Education Office's online guide for queer students before (left) and after (right) scrubbing mentions of trans students.
Screenshot via Arizona State University
The website title reverted to “LGBTQIA Students” after Phoenix New Times contacted ASU to ask about the change. A university spokesperson told New Times on Thursday that ASU had not approved the language change and would restore the old language. That change was apparently made Thursday afternoon, though the page still has the shortened acronym in its URL and the links to trans-specific resources have not returned.
It’s unclear when the original change to the shortened URL and page title happened. Neither Global Education Office executive director Noah Rost nor Jennifer Malerich, the assistant vice provost for Academic and Global Engagement, responded to inquiries from New Times.
Resources for queer students listed by the Global Education Office before (left) and after (right) the page was scrubbed for mentions of trans people. Every resource originally listed was altered or deleted. The original set of resources has not returned.
Screenshot via Arizona State University
Most of the other mentions of trans students on ASU’s main website have remained. The school’s Educational Outreach and Student Services sub-website includes a page for “Transgender resources” among several others for students who aren’t straight or cisgender.
The irony of the change being made to the school’s study abroad page is particularly rich. The page exists to offer advice to queer students about studying abroad in countries that might be less than accepting of non-straight and non-cis people. “Research the LGBTQIA climate of your host country,” the page suggests, adding that students should ask themselves if there are “safety considerations you should be aware of” in their host countries.
Those queries might be better directed more inwardly. Under Trump, the U.S. government has adopted the cruel mission of erasing trans people from existence, targeting trans girls who want to play school sports with their peers and threatening institutions that provide gender-affirming care to minors.
In his inauguration speech, Trump promised to recognize people as one of “two genders, male or female.” In addition, the administration and its MAGA acolytes — including on the Scottsdale City Council — have made it a major policy goal to eliminate diversity programs in government or public institutions.
So far, ASU President Michael Crow has said that the university didn’t need to make many changes to its policies because the school, which boasts about accepting as many students as possible, already did not have any DEI-related goals.
