Harvard Dental School Abruptly Fired Its Head of DEI in December

Harvard School of Dental Medicine professor Fadie T. Coleman was forced out of her role as the assistant dean of the HSDM’s Office for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in December after the school’s dean said her work performance did not match his standards.

Coleman — who was appointed to lead the school’s DEI office in July 2022 — was abruptly ousted by the HSDM dean, William V. Giannobile, late last year. Former ODEIB interim dean Brian J. Swann said Giannobile told him Coleman was fired for failing to meet work expectations.

Giannobile, however, terminated Coleman’s employment at the ODEIB without any prior warnings and with little detail on where Coleman was falling short, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Swann said he — and other HSDM affiliates — learned about Coleman’s firing in a call with Giannobile. Swann said Giannobile did not provide any additional details on his decision to dismiss Coleman, which has not been previously reported.

“I think as far as she was concerned, she was meeting the standards of her job,” Swann said.

HSDM spokesperson Heather Denny declined to comment on Coleman’s removal, citing a policy against commenting on personnel matters. Coleman is still a full-time faculty member at HSDM, but an updated biography on HSDM’s website lists that she left the ODEIB in January.

Coleman declined to comment on her status with the ODEIB, but wrote in a statement that “some would argue that I exceeded expectations in my work.”

She cited her work increasing the “school’s DEI footprint by 85 percent in one year” and developing more than 30 “community-building programs using a learning together model.”

Coleman’s exit from the ODEIB was communicated to all HSDM faculty members in an email from Giannobile on Jan. 7 obtained by The Crimson.

In the email, Giannobile did not address the reason for Coleman’s departure, but wrote that he was “appreciative” of her work.

“While she makes this transition, I will ensure that support is in place so that the vital work of the ODEIB continues with minimal disruption,” Giannobile wrote.

With Coleman’s departure, the ODEIB is now run by just one person: Ariel Heim, a program coordinator with the office, who took on the role in Oct. 2022. While the office remains active, HSDM has not yet launched a search for Coleman’s successor, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Coleman’s departure comes amid growing scrutiny of DEI programs at colleges and universities from the new Trump administration. In a Dear Colleague letter last Friday, the Department of Education called on federally funded universities, including Harvard, to terminate the use of race in any decisions relating to “aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

Several Ivy League colleges and universities have begun to sunset their DEI programs and messaging, most notably the University of Pennsylvania, which replaced its central DEI webpage with a message that it had “initiated a review of our programs in this area to ensure compliance” last week.

As of Thursday, no school at Harvard has announced changes to DEI programming and the University’s central DEI webpage remained active. A online directory page for HSDM’s ODEIB office now redirects to an empty page, but Denny attributed the change to a new website infrastructure system.

Swann said Coleman’s departure from the ODEIB could prove to be a permanent measure.

“I feel like it’s being phased out in my personal opinion,” he said.

Swann said that Coleman’s departure raises serious questions about the relationship between the ODEIB and Giannobile — and how their expectations of the office’s work differed.

“What was he expecting becomes the question,” Swann said. “Whether it was delivered or not, becomes another question that I don’t think anybody really knows the answer to.”

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon