Beyond observing the systematic exclusion of qualified Black scholars at Rhode Island’s public university, it is evident that the university’s DEI and Diversity Committees are overwhelmingly staffed by individuals with little to no expertise in constitutional law or civil rights policy. These committees often show open hostility toward African Americans who do possess such expertise—especially those who seek meaningful racial equality rooted in law and policy. This exclusion is not accidental; it is a deliberate process through which liberal university leadership maintains ideological control and suppresses dissenting Black voices that challenge performative equity structures.

Blocked from Diversity and Search Committees

At the April 30, 2020 Diversity Committee meeting, Associate Dean Brian Krueger publicly withdrew the controversial “Diversity and Violence” policy proposal after Professor Louis Kwame Fosu raised serious concerns. Krueger explained that the proposal had merely been floated by committee members and had not yet reached central URI administration. Disturbed by the underlying assumptions and direction of the committee’s report, Professor Fosu again formally requested to join the Diversity Committee during the meeting, which was hosted by Dean Jeannette Riley via WebEx.

This marked the third time Professor Fosu—an expert in U.S. Constitutional law and a vocal advocate for civil rights and equity—had expressed a desire to contribute to the committee. However, he was once again politely blocked. Dean Riley responded that committee membership was determined by a vote, effectively denying Fosu any opportunity to participate in shaping DEI policy.

Despite his qualifications and expertise, Professor Fosu has been repeatedly barred from joining any Diversity or Search Committees at URI. These exclusions raise serious concerns about whether the university’s DEI structures genuinely support intellectual diversity and open discourse—or whether they are instead being used to suppress free speech and maintain administrative control through ideological conformity.

FBI: Objective Truth About Race and Campus Violence

Despite attempts by some university administrators—including Dean Jeannette Riley and her deputy, Associate Dean Brian Krueger—to frame Black students or faculty as potential threats through misguided policy proposals like “Diversity and Violence,” there is no evidence supporting a pattern of violence by Black individuals against white faculty or students at URI.

In fact, broader national data from the FBI and Department of Education consistently show that incidents of mass violence and campus shootings are overwhelmingly committed by white males—not African American or Latino men in universities. Efforts to misrepresent racialized safety threats not only perpetuate harmful stereotypes but also divert attention from real issues of campus safety and institutional equality.