On March 27, the University of Michigan announced that it would be eliminating its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office. This marks a huge setback for students, as U-M has long been considered one of the nation’s leading academic bastions of diversity and equity.
This announcement was delivered to students and faculty via email. According to Politico, the university’s leaders “pointed to the court-order enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive orders on ‘restoring merit-based opportunity’ and ending DEI programs across the country.” Therefore, the university’s DEI office, launched in 2016 at the start of Trump’s first administration, will ultimately be shut down.
On March 31, it was announced that approximately 20 faculty members could lose their jobs due to U-M’s DEI cuts. While an exact figure has not yet been confirmed, MLive, a newspaper based in Michigan, has reported that “U-M officials have not said exactly how many employees will be impacted.” Notably, Rob Seller, the former vice provost for equity and inclusion, shared his thoughts on the university’s actions, stating that the university’s new policy was “a severe disappointment,” according to MLive.
The immediate move to shut down the DEI office comes from the current administration’s threats and deadlines for schools to end DEI programs at the risk of losing federal money. In response, a meeting was organized with the help of faculty leadership, which allowed people to voice their concerns regarding the closing of the DEI office. Although a meeting was organized, MLive stated that “attendance was capped at 1,000, but many faculty, staff and students hosted watch parties or broadcasted the conversation online.”
Numerous conversations have taken place about protests and rallies occurring on U-M’s campus. On March 31, U-M Co-president of the University of Michigan College Democrats, Aidan Rozema, stated that the group would be postponing its rally as of now, according to MLive.
Following U-M’s announcement last week, the university’s legal team will now review all policies, programs, and practices to ensure compliance with the law. This marks a shift in tone from the institution, which has recently presented a more cautious and measured stance. National Review shared a statement from the university: “We stand steadfast in our dedication to academic freedom, freedom of speech and freedom of expression, and to lifting the distinct, ineffable potential of every individual in our community.”
Additionally, National Review stated that “while many higher education institutions had DEI bureaucracies, the University of Michigan had a totalizing DEI regime that sought to ‘enact far-reaching foundational change at every level, in every unit.'” Considering professors were given handouts on “identifying and addressing characteristics of white supremacy culture,” while students were required to take a class on “racial and ethnic intolerance and resulting inequality.”
This raises the question of whether other universities will follow U-M’s lead in eliminating their DEI offices. UCF, for example, has already removed its scholarship for Latino students. As previously noted, the Latin American and Caribbean scholarship has been completely removed from the UCF website, now showing a “page not found” message. This scholarship aided Latino students in paying for their education, and after conversing with a student from Colombia, there are doubts about how this student will be able to continue their education now that their tuition has tripled without warning. Other LAC recipients commented that the university simply stated, “The Latin American and Caribbean Scholarship has been suspended and is no longer available at the University of Central Florida. It is recommended to seek alternative funding opportunities available at UCF or from private scholarship donors as needed.”
UCF has yet to publicly announce or comment on the erasure of LAC, but numerous recipients have voiced their concerns that the institution may never address this issue and will continue to end scholarships or programs quietly.
There is still a lack of confirmation on whether U-M will retract its previous state of abolishing the DEI offices in its institution or if UCF’s erasure of LAC is the beginning of a drastic change in the academics of Florida universities. But it is apparent that students and university scholars don’t seem to want to remain quiet as their jobs and education are threatened. It’s only a matter of time before we observe if these institutions will listen to their students and scholars or if the administration’s ultimatums will prevail above all.
To learn about and understand DEI better, check out a previous article I wrote about its history.