The University of Missouri at Columbia, which drew national attention in 2015 for racial-justice protests that hastened the resignation of its president and chancellor, will overhaul efforts to diversify its campus and improve the graduation rates of students of color, scattering responsibilities once centralized in the division of inclusion, diversity, and equity across several departments.
The college will no longer employ a vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity, and equity (Maurice Gipson, who currently holds the role, will leave the university on August 15), and those who worked in that division will be reassigned to other departments.
The college has also ended the use of diversity statements and ceased race-conscious admissions and scholarships.
College leaders will no longer explicitly serve students based on their race, gender, or sexual orientation, administrators said. President Mun Y. Choi said on a press call late Friday afternoon that the university is moving toward a race-neutral approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and “not excluding any group in the name of inclusion.”
He acknowledged the move was a concession to the tremendous pressure colleges are under as state lawmakers have attempted to ban DEI efforts. As of this week, 85 such bills have been introduced in 28 states since 2023. Fourteen states have enacted anti-DEI laws that prohibit a wide range of activities, including preferential hiring, admissions policies based on candidates’ identities, mandatory diversity training, diversity pledges, and the hiring of DEI officers.
Missouri lawmakers have introduced 13 anti-DEI bills, none of which have passed.
“We don’t believe [the bills introduced in Missouri] are threats, but we are seeing what is happening in other states,” Choi said.
He said he believes the college can continue to serve students of color well even with the changes announced Monday.
“We have seen examples of universities having to eliminate their DEI programs with mass layoffs. For us, by being proactive, we can make sure our students have the services they need,” Choi said. “The services that were available for students will still be available.”
In 2015, students accused Mizzou of not sufficiently addressing racism on campus, pointing to years of racist incidents, including one in which white students dropped cotton balls in front a Black cultural center. One student leader went on a hunger strike, vowing not to break his fast until then-President Timothy Wolfe resigned. He eventually did step down, as did the chancellor of the University of Missouri system, R. Bowen Loftin.
Campus demonstrators, many of whom coalesced around a group called Concerned Student 1950 — a reference to when the college was forced by court order to admit Black students — also demanded the college increase minority representation on the faculty and in its student body. They demanded that 10 percent of the faculty be Black by 2017.
Mizzou hired its first vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity, and equity in June 2016. The role would become the command center for increasing diversity in the faculty and among students and addressing the racial climate on campus.
Progress on hiring has been slow, and as of 2023, fewer than 4 percent of the faculty is Black.
Gipson, the departing vice chancellor for inclusion, was hired in 2020. With his focus on achievement for students of color, Gipson rallied behind student-support initiatives like Men of Color, Honor and Ambition — or MOCHA — and its sister organization, Women of Color, Honor and Ambition. Gipson also helped guide the Mizzou Black Men’s Initiative and the Mizzou Black Women’s Initiative, which provide peer-to-peer mentoring for first-year Black students. He took an active role in the recruitment of more students of color to the campus.
Black enrollment for the incoming freshman class at the university is up 11 percent compared to 2023, and Hispanic/Latino enrollment increased 14 percent for the same period.
Graduation rates for Black and Latino students at Mizzou (67 and 72 percent, respectively) are higher than the national average for either group (40 and 54 percent, respectively)) and higher than any college in the state.
The Chronicle has tracked 185 college campuses in 25 states that have made changes to DEI programs since January 2023.
