Unpacking Biola’s DEI Push: Promises, Policies and the Need for Repentance

A Parent’s Expectation: Biola’s Promise in 2017  

When we dropped off our daughter at Biola in the fall of 2017, Biola's president, Dr. Barry Corey stood in front of the parents and talked about how Biola was holding fast to its doctrinal commitments in an age of confusion. He mentioned the 30 units of Bible that our children would take, how Biola's graduates were making a difference for the Gospel all over the world and how Biola hadn't changed its statement of faith in over 100 years. We were supposed to walk away from that night feeling like Biola would reinforce the work we had done at home for 18 years.

Having our daughter attend Biola was the culmination of years of planning and saving, so our daughter would have the same lovely experience that my husband and I had back in the late80s/early 90s. I am a three-time Biola grad (BA communications, MA theology, MA Bible exposition). I also have a DMin in Public Theology, specializing in feminist standpoint theory from Birmingham Theological Seminary. My education and background are relevant to this discussion.

What I didn't know in 2017 (largely because I didn't even think to look for it) was that the wheels were already in motion to reshape the university. They had already made significant progress embedding the principles of social justice and Diversity/Equity and Inclusion ideologies into their hiring practices, training, residence life and curriculum. Ultimately, they would invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in staff time, even creating an entire department of "Diversity & Inclusion" (This page has been silently removed from Biola's website, but it is still available on the wayback machine.).

This is the story of one Biola mother's descent into a maze of disappointment.

The Unseen Shift: Early Signs of DEI at Biola 

One of the earliest discussions I could find using the word "diversity" on the Biola YouTube channel was in 2012. The speaker's discussion about the passage was fairly disconnected from the text. It seemed (to me) like her primary agenda was to introduce the concept of "diversity" to students, using the Bible as a springboard for the conversation.

According to the speaker's website, she is a specialist in DEI organizational and learning strategies. Her Master's degree is in Black Liberation Theologies and Womanist Theology. Her PhD is in Criminology and Race, Class, Gender Studies from Howard University. Were there really no red flags when Biola hired her as a faculty member and had her back to speak at three more public events (2015, 2016 and 2020)?

This is the kind of event that greased the wheels at Biola to desensitize students and staff to embrace the idea of diversity as a necessary component of Christian discipleship. Time and time again, Biola integrated the terminology of social justice, diversity, inclusion, liberation and racial injustice into its culture, telling students that this is what love for neighbor looks like. Search for these terms on Biola's YouTube channel for yourself. It would be one thing if it was a one-off. I could have grace for that. But given the level of frequency that Biola brought in speakers between 2012 to 2020/21 to address these kinds of social justice-oriented themes seems intentional.

Codifying Diversity: The 2019 Theological Statement 

In January 2019, Biola’s board of trustees unanimously approved the Unity Amidst Diversity: Theological Statement on Diversity. This was the university's effort to codify and Christianize the language of diversity and make it become a formal part of Biola's culture. It frames diversity not merely as a social or institutional goal, but as a biblical imperative aligned with the unity of the body of Christ.

[W]e commit to recognize and remove barriers in order to enhance learning and thriving in our community. To do this we commit to pursuing diversity as a part of the fabric of our university aspirations and institutional practices. This includes but is not limited to areas such as administrative leadership, recruitment and retention, hiring and promotion, research and funding, teaching and curriculum, co-curriculum, training for missions and service, and spiritual development. We commit to enhancing learning environments in which we can listen to the diversity of thought that exists within the Biola community, learning alongside and from one another. (emphasis added)

It promises to remove structural barriers to ensure equitable participation. My question: What does that actually MEAN?

It promises to embed diversity across leadership, hiring, curriculum, and spiritual formation. Again, what does that MEAN, exactly?

It promises to create spaces for "diversity of thought" where community members "learn alongside and from one another," emphasizing dialogue over division. Fair enough, but what are the boundaries of Biola's definition of "diversity of thought"? Are we talking about hiring both Calvinists and Arminians? Baby baptizers and credo baptizers? Or are we talking about hiring both center-right and center-left faculty?

Perhaps I am not the only one who had these questions. A year or so later, Biola published a document entitled, "Principles of Free Expression and Diversity of Thought." It says:

[F]aculty and students will engage and assess diverse thoughts, ideas, concepts, philosophies, and theological systems in a fair, sensitive and rigorous manner, with curiosity of mind and humility of spirit. We will examine critically the diverse ideas encountered in our fields of study and in the world-at-large. In order to maintain the unity that Christ commands (John 17:11, 21; Eph. 4:3) and the Christian liberty granted by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17), members of our community have the freedom to think, engage, explore, teach, research, and write on topics appropriate to the scope of their particular disciplinary expertise and experience and within the boundaries set by our theological commitments.

Since Biola's "theological commitments" take no specific position on topics like the critical social theories, social justice or DEI, it's unclear how this statement translated into student admissions and staff and faculty recruiting.

Ironically, Biola's rather lengthy statement about diversity lacks a clear DEFINITION of the word diversity itself. But the later document, "Principles of Free Expression and Diversity of Thought" does include a definition in the footnote at the bottom of the page.

(*Biola’s definition of diversity is “The variation of physical, social, psychological and spiritual characteristics of human beings that influence our experience in the world. Includes but is not limited to ethnicity, cultural values, race, socioeconomic status, sex, visible and invisible (dis)abilities, religion, denomination, age, language, and learning styles.”)

I wonder what diversity of religion would entail at an evangelical Christian environment. But maybe I should just be grateful that they omitted sexual orientation. The bottom line is, it was very, very, very important to Biola that people know that diversity mattered to them. It mattered a LOT.

This video used to be embedded on this (now removed) diversity web page. Interestingly, several of the people featured in this video aren't at Biola any longer.

Secular Parallels: Comparing Biola to UC and Stanford

Now let's briefly compare Biola's statement on diversity to a couple of their secular counterparts. Let's look at the University of California System, Regents Policy 4400: Policy on University of California Diversity Statement:

Diversity – a defining feature of California’s past, present, and future – refers to the variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and geographic region, and more. ... The University of California renews its commitment to the full realization of its historic promise to recognize and nurture merit, talent, and achievement by supporting diversity, accessibility, and equal opportunity in its education, services, and administration, as well as research and creative activity. ... Educational excellence that truly incorporates diversity thus can promote mutual respect and make possible the full, effective use of the talents and abilities of all to foster innovation and train future leadership.

Like Biola, the UC system commits to diversity as "part of the fabric" of institutional aspirations, spanning administration, education, research, and services (paralleling Biola's administrative leadership, hiring/promotion, research/funding, and teaching/curriculum). It emphasizes removing barriers for accessibility and equal opportunity, enhancing learning through "mutual respect" and diverse worldviews, and enabling community thriving via innovation—echoing Biola's "listen to the diversity of thought" and "learning alongside and from one another."

Let's also compare Stanford University's, Diversity Commitment Statement (IDEAL Initiative) with Biola's statement:

We believe that Stanford’s future preeminence requires that we enthusiastically embrace our diverse future now. ... Advancing the university’s commitment to the values of diversity and inclusion is a key component of Stanford’s long-range vision. ... At Stanford, we strive to ensure that a diversity of cultures, races and ethnicities, genders, political and religious beliefs, physical and learning differences, sexual orientations and identities is thriving on our campus. ... To solve complex social problems, to discover the next breakthrough in science, or to reach new heights of artistic expression, we must bring a broad range of ideas and approaches. (This program was discontinued in the summer of 2025.)

Stanford's statement mirrors Biola's holistic integration by addressing recruitment, education, and engagement (similar to Biola's recruitment/retention, teaching/curriculum, and co-curriculum). It highlights removing historical barriers (e.g., past quotas on race, gender, and religion) to foster thriving, and promotes "diversity of thought" through broad ideas and approaches for mutual learning—aligning with Biola's emphasis on "enhancing learning environments" and community interdependence.

The rather broad language of Biola's statement on diversity doesn't provide specifics about the administration's understanding of the mainstream DEI project and how it differs from what Biola was doing. But it does share some of the language and ethos of its secular counterparts.

Deepening Commitment: The 2020 Diversity Strategic Plan  

Biola pushed onward. The implementation of the strategic plan was delayed in the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19, but was launched in the Fall of 2020. By this point, my daughter was a junior at Biola and I was closely watching how events were unfolding.

Biola made the first public announcement about the Diversity Strategic Plan in June 2020. It alerted the public to what was about to happen. The university's news release describes it this way:

Human Resources revised employee onboarding in early 2019 and diversity and inclusion curriculum was formalized and included as a key component of training for new staff, and respectively Faculty Advancement included D&I professional development for new faculty. In addition, Symphony, a 6-week professional development learning track for current employees designed to deepen intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes launched in September 2019 and is offered every semester. Reading Groups are facilitated by the D&I Team and D&I Partners at least once a year.

One particular focus included a targeted effort to increase student enrollment from the Hispanic community. A task force was assembled to help Biola "become a Hispanic Serving Institution... Initiatives include working to strengthen Biola’s relations to the local Latino community, addressing ways to increase the Latino transfer rate to Biola, and fostering a positive co-curricular experience for Latino students."

Another critical goal was the cultivation of diversity of thought.

Engaging in diversity of thought is a critical component to enhancing the learning environment. In order to accomplish this, it is critical that our curriculum and pedagogy align and support opportunities to engage diverse perspectives in the classroom.

One of the key architects recruited to implement and provide accountability for the strategic plan was the Provost and Senior Vice President, Dr. Deborah Taylor. Her dissertation entitled, "Factors that Motivate Faculty in Christian Postsecondary Institutions to Adapt Their Behavior and Pedagogy to Become More Culturally Competent" is basically a how-to manual on how to "motivate" (force?) a predominantly white evangelical Christian college into adopting DEI ideology and competent pedagogy. (Yes, I read it. And you can read it, too.)

Factors_that_motivate_faculty_.pdf

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Biola's vaguely worded goals like "increase the integration of diversity of thought within the curriculum through works of scholars from diverse backgrounds" and "ensure diversity is a lived institutional value evident in our practices and policies throughout the university" could be innocuous. Or they could be veiled language for massive mission drift. But the placement of Taylor in leadership combined with her specific area of expertise, offered a level of clarity about what ideology, policies and practices stood behind Biola's strategic plan. Perhaps this is why the administration handed out a copy of the book, White Awake, to all of its faculty several years ago. A Biola staff member gave us her copy. It's basically a Christian-ish version of the book, White Fragility.

In addition, the failure to clearly explain the boundaries of "diversity of thought" created a pathway where social justice-affirming, DEI-affirming people could be recruited and promoted. And when complaints came up, administrators could easily point out that such disagreements didn't contradict the institution's statement of faith since it was silent about these ideological frameworks. Thus, social justice and DEI could be classified as "agree-to-disagree" issues that reflected the university's value for diversity of thought.

Growing Concerns: A Parent’s Awakening in 2020

By the summer of 2020, I was starting to wake up to the reality that Biola wasn't what I had been led to believe it was. I wrote about my initial thoughts and concerns here, here and here. But the people in Biola's top-level administration that I met with (and there were several of them) wouldn't admit the problems. Or if they did, they told me the conversation was "confidential" and I couldn't talk about it publicly or mention their name. This is why I have tried to focus my analysis on those items which were publicly available. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot to go on. Biola has done a pretty good job of shielding the public from the deeper issues.

What I didn't know in 2017 was that Biola had already put the wheels in motion to restructure the entire university according to diversity principles. They weren't saying it publicly, but behind the scenes Biola was embedding many standard DEI practices and baptizing them in the Christian ethos of love for neighbor. The people who already bought into the ideology were leading the way and those who were hesitant tried to get on board as best they could. After all, love your neighbor.

The Public Facade: Biola’s Messaging and Ambiguity 

I do think that some of the pressure that Monique (my ministry partner), myself and some other alumni applied forced the administration to clarify their position a bit. In the fall of 2020, Corey released a statement entitled, "Biola’s Biblical Approach to Racial Justice" in a effort to clarify the university's position. In it, he mentioned that Biola was bringing in David French to teach students and staff about critical race theory. Corey also shared that he had appointed Dr. Leon Harris, assistant professor of theology, into a new position. Part of Harris' responsibilities included continuing "to host times of student lament." Corey promised to "continue to educate students to think and live biblically on issues of racial justice. We will continue to lead our community into hard and healthy conversations to equip ourselves to serve all students equitably. We will continue to listen and we will continue to pray, trusting in the reconciling work of the gospel vertically and horizontally." He also noted the Institutional Diversity Strategic Plan includes "appointing a faculty leader who will work across all schools on critical topics on how healthy diversity and cultural humility components are woven into course pedagogy, curriculum and advising."

In my opinion, this document contains a lot of coded language for social justice. But if the reader isn't familiar with the academic literature, then it might get missed. This document also demonstrates my experience with Corey's tactic of keeping parents and donors happy with just enough Jesus-talk to make them think Biola isn't buckling to cultural pressure. And it contains just enough cultural humility-talk so that people who want Biola to address systemic injustices will think that's happening. The reality is a big confusing mess that clarifies little.

By the time the calendar turned to 2021, Biola was still moving full steam ahead with the implementation of its Institutional Diversity Strategic Plan. On March 26, there was an hour-long public launch that was livestreamed on Biola's official YouTube channel. During this ceremony, Dr. Corey said, “For the past few years, the university’s leadership and Board of Trustees have given increased attention to how we are a community that thinks and acts biblically on diversity, truly caring about one another, welcoming students from diverse backgrounds and nurturing a climate that is welcoming for all. We’ve come a long way, but we’re committed to keep on going.”

Ironically, the web page offering the public summary of the strategic plan has been silently removed from Biola's web site. The lead paragraph describes it as a "comprehensive, multi-year plan that will allow for greater flourishing of God’s vision for unity amidst diversity on our campus and beyond." It summarizes the four Es of the university-wide strategic plan on diversity, as well as links to a glossary, a list of task force members and a timeline. All of this content has been silently removed from the Biola website, but it is still available to view on the wayback machine. I am also linking below to a slightly more detailed version of the strategic plan. It does give a little (not a lot) more information about how they planned to implement it.

BiolaDiversityStrategicPlan_Launch_Documents.pdf

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The task force presented recommendations for the next five years to the Advisory Board. This Board consisted of the "Cabinet, Senior Advisor to the President for University Mission, and the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Team. The Cabinet formally approved the plan in December 2019. During the Spring, 2020 the Diversity Strategic Plan Assessment Plan was reviewed by D&I leaders to confirm tangible benchmarks for progress."

In June 2021, Biola devoted a major portion of their magazine to summarizing the strategic plan, describing it as something "that will shape the university for years to come." This periodical is a very expensive, large glossy production that is sent out to all alumni. This was Biola's way of letting the entire Biola universe know, even elderly alumni and donors who aren't on YouTube, that it was a new day at the university. But with all of the Jesus-talk in the presentation, the ideology behind DEI probably flew past most readers.

Biola also released a formal press release about it. The news release repeated a lot of the same information but also offered some details about its history. The plan was drafted by Biola's Chief Diversity Officer, Tamra Malone. It was based on "multiple previous versions informed by other university strategic plans, campus climate studies, and peer reviews." During the spring of 2019, "the draft was vetted by the Institutional Diversity Strategic Plan Task Force, consisting of 25 faculty, staff and students. These campus leaders and stakeholders spent a total of 1040 collective hours exploring historical accounts and best practices to inform their prioritization of the plan." This is why I say that Biola was DEEP into this investment. They paid a lot of money just in labor to write this strategic plan. Writing this plan was intentional, from the board, to the President, to the Provost.

Behind the Scenes: The Paschall Lawsuit and Internal Politics

What I also didn't know that day in 2017 when we dropped our daughter off at Biola is that a former Biola employee named Danny Paschall had filed a lawsuit against Biola just a few months before. The key features of his lawsuit are summarized in an article by World Net Daily. (I tracked down the case file to verify the details of the article. See below.) In short, Paschall accused Biola of racial discrimination (Paschall is white), harassment, retaliation, defamation, infliction of emotional distress and other grievances. The complaint named Barry Corey and 20 other "Does" as defendants. His lawsuit chronicles a long and winding story of how he allegedly was passed over for a promotion in favor of an African American candidate, Andre Stephens. Paschall's account offers a behind-the-scenes look at the politics of what was happening as Corey was moving the university to embrace the principles of DEI. His story is, at minimum, consistent with what seemed to be unfolding in public. I assume that this lawsuit was settled out of court, since I can't find a public record of the outcome or finding of facts.

Paschall v Biola 3AC 081517.pdf

Download PDF • 1.45MB

The Reversal: Dismantling DEI in 2024

By November 2021, Dr. Taylor announced her retirement from Biola after seven years of service. According to the article in The Chimes, Corey asked Taylor to join the team until 2022. Once Taylor retired, Biola brought on Dr. Matt Hall in the summer of 2022. Multiple faculty have told me privately that bringing in Hall was intended to be a course correction for the institution.

In an email sent to campus on June 4, 2024, the President's Office announced that the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) division would be eliminated as part of university-wide budget cuts. What started out as a decade-long (or more) effort to reshape the entire university was now going away. Again, web pages were silently removed, including the summary of the strategic plan.

And now, here we are. But where is "here," exactly?

Where Are We Now? The Need for Transparency and Repentance

I believe Corey wants prospective Biola parents, alumni and donors to think that the mess from 2012 to 2022 has been cleaned up. Just today, a video featuring Barry Corey was released on the official Biola YouTube channel. It was a speech given at the annual "Family Weekend" event to Biola parents.

A little over 18 minutes into the speech, he passionately disavows liberal creep at Biola. This is from the transcript, so it's a little awkward at times.

There's no question about it that God's word is deeply integrated into everything that we do at Biola. And I think in so many places these days where that doesn't happen, just like where fashionable ideologies or critical theories or trends they just like they they just infiltrate these institutions. And I know what your students are getting here at Biola. And we don't buy into fleeting ideologies. We care deeply about conservative values here. And by conservative, I mean conserving the way God intended things to be. Conserving that which he says and declares in his word. God's word that lasts forever, right? That each person is God's image bearer and the church and the family are these lasting institutions and the the virtuous life is the flourishing life and that sex or gender or sexuality or marriage are not evolving paradigms. And that God's beauty is worth stewarding and we care deeply about advancing the gospel wherever God leads us. So that's the heart of Biola. It's been that way for well over a century and we're not capitulating on those deeply held values. I just want to promise you that and assure you of that.

As I watched this, I felt like I got into a little time machine and went back to August 2017 when Dr. Corey gave almost the exact same speech. The only discernible difference is that this time he explicitly mentioned "critical theories." Once again, he wants parents to believe that Biola is standing strong against the tide of liberalism.

But here's my main point. The statement of faith is NOT the problem. The problem IS the implementation of policies. Corey's denouncement of liberal creep seems perplexing in light of the public record. After all, the leadership who allowed (facilitated?) the influx of social justice, diversity and inclusion into the university was the Board of Trustees under the leadership of President Corey. To say my point more directly, while it is true that many of the key people involved in writing the strategic plan are no longer at Biola, the leadership who took Biola down that path is still there. To my knowledge, there hasn't been any public admission by the Board, Barry Corey or other administrators about the damaging impact that embedding of social justice and aspects of critical race theory and DEI have had on students, especially undergrads. Biola hasn't admitted to taking a wrong turn. No one from Biola's official administration has repented of taking the university in this direction. Neither have they explicitly admitted what changes have been made to help bring the university back in line.

These happy speeches that only focus on how Biola is unchanged in 117 years can't be the only public-facing discussion. The reality is, Biola remains a mix of truly outstanding professors, and some progressive professors and administrators. It has website orthodoxy, but is still a mixture of conservative and progressive people and policies. That's not likely to end for at least (IF it ever does) a few more years. Institutional change is often slow and takes time. But if Biola wants to truly rebuild trust, then INFORMED consent is vital. In order to build informed consent, staff, faculty, parents, alumni and donors need transparency. We need PUBLIC repentance. And in order to do that, we need a change in leadership, from the Board down.

Here are two of my recent conversations about Biola:

October 13, 2025

October 20, 2025