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It may appear as though Colorado State University has discussed the recent diversity, equity and inclusion changes sweeping across the country, but let me remind you: The CSU administration is not addressing these executive orders; they’re rolling them over.

In fact, our own student body has taken a stronger, more definitive stance against the DEI bans than the administration. We have been forced to stand up and advocate for our rights because the administration has made it clear that it will not do it for us or, at the very least, properly address our concerns. Other Colorado universities, however, have proven that it is possible to stand in solidarity with their students by advocating for DEI policies and programming that are crucial to their education and livelihoods.

The CSU administration portrays its compliancy as essential when, in fact, other universities that are equally affected by the same DEI policies have not removed nearly as many resources.

For example, CSU has removed several online resources for LGBTQIA+ students, such as website pages with pronoun information and all-gender restroom locations, while Metropolitan State University of Denver, at the time of writing this, still has an extensive page of pronoun information and external resources.

“Students at CSU deserve better. We deserve a university administration that will vocally acknowledge our wants and needs — one that will stand by us and our rights as the federal government tries to take them away.”

MSU’s apparent defiance extends beyond links and pages. MSU Senior Director of Media and Public Relations Tim Carroll said in a statement: “We define ourselves by who we include, not who we exclude,” further emphasizing that its programs are open to all students. MSU has long offered a variety of DEI resources, including a DEI council, a center for equity and student achievement and various affinity groups for those of similar backgrounds.

I understand that MSU’s response is the bare minimum; students shouldn’t have to ask their administration to protect their safe spaces — their rights, even — in any regard. But when CSU falls so desperately below the bare minimum, MSU’s outspokenness and lack of ambiguity is comparably appreciated.

Perhaps the loudest advocate for DEI initiatives has been the Colorado Community College System.

 “What we care about is ensuring that people from diverse backgrounds have the opportunity to demonstrate their merit and advance based on it,” Chancellor Joe Garcia said in a statement to The Colorado Sun. “And of course in this country, historically, that’s not always been the case. … Some people with great merit, with great aptitude, with great intelligence, with great ambition simply have not had the opportunity to compete on a level playing field.”

The CCCS is composed of 13 different institutions that serve around 124,000 students per year, which is an undeniably immense number of people to represent. Though the schools have announced that they will now be more precise in what constitutes DEI, their statement in its entirety is a commitment to support and continue their longstanding DEI programs.

It’s honestly a pretty stark comparison when pitting CSU’s response against that of CCCS’s. As a school with an undergraduate population about a quarter of CCCS’s size, CSU is entirely capable of hearing, acknowledging and vocally supporting its students and staff, as well as the DEI initiatives impacting them, in the same exact way as CCCS.

In a time where students need to hear affirmations and support from their public institutions, it’s important to look at other schools not only as a framework for improvement but as a way to pinpoint the flimsy excuses made by our own.

Students at CSU deserve better. We deserve a university administration that will vocally acknowledge our wants and needs — one that will stand by us and our rights as the federal government tries to take them away. And when we are told that such actions are not possible, we can point to other universities — within both the state and the country — and show that if institutions truly care enough about their students, they will stand up.

Reach Emma Souza at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @_emmasouza.