What’s New
The dismantling of diversity efforts has sped up since President Trump took office six weeks ago and quickly released two executive orders aiming to eliminate “discriminatory and illegal” diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
The Chronicle has tracked changes at 41 campuses since Inauguration Day. They vary widely. Several colleges shuttered offices and canceled events. Many removed DEI-related language from university communications. Websites related to DEI resources are disappearing.
Colleges were closing diversity offices and altering programming well before Trump took office. Most did so in response to state-level prohibitions, but some acted on their own. The Chronicle has tracked changes at more than 250 campuses in 36 states since 2023.
The Details
One of the most sweeping recent responses came from the University of North Carolina system, which ordered its colleges to eliminate all DEI-related courses from its general-education or major-specific requirements.
Removing language related to diversity, equity, and inclusion has been a more frequent response. The University of Alaska system will no longer use the words “diversity, equity, and inclusion” — or related language — in any university communications. Louisiana State University used an automatic web crawler to identify more than 1,300 webpages for review and removed press releases from its archive, like one announcing a professor’s grant to study health equity for Medicaid-eligible children in Louisiana. Northwestern University has shut down several websites that previously directed people to DEI resources, including pages for the Women’s Center, Gender and Sexuality Resource Center, and Multicultural Student Affairs.
In two instances at Michigan State University, students appeared to take up the mantle in responding to Trump’s executive orders. In January, student concerns prompted the college to cancel a Lunar New Year luncheon because Trump’s executive orders on immigration and DEI “prompted feelings of uncertainty and hesitation about gathering for events that highlight cultural traditions and communities,” The State News reported. Last month, the undergraduate student government voted to remove any mentions of DEI from their governing documents as a precautionary measure.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, released his own executive order shortly before Trump’s inauguration banning all DEI programs at state-run institutions. In response, West Virginia University closed its Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Previously insulated from state-level legislation threatening DEI, some colleges in deep-blue states are feeling the pressure. The University of Southern California deleted references to DEI from some of its websites, renamed several programs and jobs, and removed information about a scholarship for Black and Indigenous students. In Massachusetts, Northeastern University took down or altered several diversity-focused websites and said it will change the name of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the Office of Belonging.
The varied responses to federal guidance demonstrates the “enormously complicated situation,” as one lawyer put it, that colleges now face. Some students and faculty say their leaders are acting too quickly, and they’re urging institutions not to abandon their commitment to diversity. When Ohio State University closed two DEI-related offices, students organized a protest.
A few colleges stand out for saying they would not abandon DEI practices and principles. The University of Colorado’s president told The Colorado Sun that the university will follow the federal government’s lawful orders “while not preemptively backing away from existing efforts that help us deliver on our mission.” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, told colleges in her state that their current DEI practices are “well within the law.”
The University of Evansville, in Indiana, moved ahead with a new federally funded program focused on LGBTQ+ students. And while other universities are eliminating similar positions, Brown University recently hired a vice president for diversity and inclusion. “This is an important moment — and this is an urgent job,” the new hire told Brown’s student newspaper.
The Backdrop
Trump’s pair of executive orders threatened to withhold federal funding from colleges that operate “illegal” DEI programs, although the orders don’t specify what makes them illegal. He also ordered individual agencies to identify up to nine organizations for civil investigation and potential lawsuits, singling out colleges with endowments of more than $1 billion. (There are about 130 of them.) Higher-education organizations filed a lawsuit arguing that the “unconstitutionally vague” definition of “illegal DEI” could undo decades of civil-rights progress.
About two weeks after Trump filed the executive orders, the U.S. Department of Education sent a “Dear Colleague” letter informing colleges that they had 14 days to end race-conscious practices and programming that violates its interpretation of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the landmark race-conscious admissions ruling, or risk losing federal funding. That action also led to a lawsuit, which argues that the letter’s language is too vague to follow and that promoting only ideas approved by the federal government violates free-speech rights.
What to Watch For
February 28 marked the deadline given by the Department of Education for colleges to comply with its Dear Colleague Letter. That same day, the department released further guidance on the letter.
The Q&A document says that programs focused on particular cultures or heritages would not necessarily violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans racial discrimination in federally funded programs, as long as they are open to students of all races. Cultural or historical observances, like a Black History Month event, are also acceptable as long as they do not exclude certain races.
The document names some practices that would be direct violations, such as requiring students to participate in “privilege walks,” “segregating them by race” for presentations, or mandating training that “emphasize and focus on racial stereotypes.”
