For most Americans, if not the entire world, an unfortunate reality of modern life is that the minute you leave your house, you should assume you are on a camera somewhere. But apparently, not liberals. They will blather on about their activities, legal or otherwise, to the first person who shows any interest in what they are doing. This phenomenon seems to be even worse at colleges and universities. But fortunately for the rest of us, those who are convinced they are the smartest people in the room can't keep their mouths shut, and they give away what they are really up to.
The administrator whispers and jokes about how she isn't supposed to say that DEI is still happening at the university.
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 28, 2025
She says "We've renamed, we've reorganized, we've recalibrated so to speak." pic.twitter.com/iYDXqCtytS
Last week, I brought you the story of Vanderbilt University's Peabody Facility's Manager, Office of the Dean employee, Janet Roberts. On a hidden camera, Roberts bragged about how the school's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives were, as she put it, "flying under the radar." At least they were before the video went out.
READ MORE: Busted! Vanderbilt University Employee Tells Camera DEI is Alive and Well
Now, a second Tennessee institution of higher learning has been busted for essentially the same thing. In video exclusive to RedState, Dr. Jeff Cochran is a Professor of Counseling Education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Cochran explains to the off-camera person that the school's DEI office, which was not called the DEI office specifically, but the "Office of Community and Outreach," now has an even more ambiguous title, the "Office of Access and Engagement." It's DEI in a different suit of clothes. And it's not just the DEI office that got a linguistic makeover. Cochran explains that "We've university-wide changed the name of anything that used to be called DEI to access and engagement."
Cochran calls the verbal gymnastics a "workaround." The off-camera person then verifies that it's just the name that has been changed and asks, "But you're still doing the same work?" Cochran replies, "Yes." Cochran then goes on to explain that UT is on a list of President Donald Trump's of colleges and universities that are not doing enough to curb pro-Palestinian protests, and then says, "I don't think it's going to go anywhere. It's a point of pride, we're on the list." Gee, Professor Cochran, how very DEI of you. I'm sure your Jewish students are so appreciative of your attitude.
More than half of universities that have announced a change have only rebranded DEI:
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) June 13, 2025
“Over the last two years, at least 87 schools effectively renamed their DEI offices.”
“In contrast, 78 schools appeared to actually close their DEI offices and did not launch a similar… pic.twitter.com/kGLbrRA9Lk
Cochran then admits that the university budget is "highly dependent on federal partnerships," a.k.a. funding. The off-camera person says Cochran has been "helpful" because he "didn't realize that DEI work was still going on, just under a different name." Cochran replies. "Yeah, the people who were primarily doing that work for the university are still there." He goes on to say that there are some people at the provost level, and the Dean level, and one other person whose job it still is to "promote DEI initiatives."
ALSO READ: DOJ Civil Rights Div. Head Harmeet Dhillon Details Her First 100 Days Fighting DEI
Cochran also explains that:
"We have run all our syllabi, all our program handbooks, everything, through legal counsel to look for any wording that they would get it flagged for difficulty at the state level, which is, also takes care of it at the federal level. So a lot of times, we just found workaround wording. Yeah, well, we don't have any choice if we want to keep functioning."
Rush Limbaugh often said that "Words mean things." The left inherently knows this. They know that all they have to do is twist words and the meaning of those words, and what their real agenda is, then conveniently gets lost in the words pretzels.
Often, as is the case with Vanderbilt and the University of Tennessee, universities are blue dots in red states. But if these two institutions are doing this, it's going on in a lot of other places too. A good rule of thumb, check the language.
Watch the exchange below:
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