The University of Michigan announced Thursday it is ending its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program.
The massive DEI bureaucracy is the largest and most expensive in the nation, totaling over $250 million since 2016. The university has been considering shuttering the program as far back as November but finally announced its plan to “evolve” its approach, which includes closing its DEI office, ending its strategic plan and reviewing “all policies, programs and practices.”
“Student-facing services in ODEI [Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] will shift to other offices, which will continue to support access and opportunity,” the university wrote. A UM spokesman did not clarify whether DEI staff would just be relocated to other departments.
“Since the inception of our DEI strategic plan in 2016, we have made important progress in opening opportunities and supporting the success of all students,” the announcement says. “Over the course of our strategic efforts, we have heard strong pride in the university’s support for student-facing programs. We have also heard concerns about the balance of resources between administration and direct student support. Some in our campus community have voiced frustration that they did not feel included in DEI initiatives and that the programming fell short in fostering connections among diverse groups.”
“The University of Michigan is moving forward with important changes to our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs,” Kay Jarvis, UM’s director of public affairs, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “In a message today to the Ann Arbor campus and Michigan Medicine, the university announced it will reallocate funding away from administrative functions and toward student-facing initiatives that directly enhance student success and foster a sense of belonging for all members of our community. This will include closing the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion and discontinuing the DEI 2.0 strategic plan, among other changes.”
UM said it will expand financial aid, enhance mental health support, and improve counseling and advising services. It also said it will work “to expand student life programs that strengthen community, promote a sense of belonging and expand accessibility,” maintain its multicultural spaces and “continue to support cultural and ethnic events that enrich our campus and foster a vibrant, inclusive environment.”
The decision was made in part due to President Donald Trump’s recent crackdown on DEI efforts, axing teams and directives at the federal level and cutting DEI grants. Trump’s day-one executive order called for the dismantling of “radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing” throughout all federal agencies.
The university’s board of regents in November reportedly asked UM President Santa Ono “to defund or restructure” DEI at the university after reports circulated about the program’s failures, such as students and faculty reporting a deteriorating campus climate since the program began and being less likely to interact with people of a different race, religion or political ideology. Furthermore, attempts to create a more diverse campus fell flat, with black enrollment at the university remaining a steady 5%.
The program also reportedly created a “culture of grievance,” with the office’s conception coinciding with an “explosion” of complaints on campus involving race, gender and religion. Meanwhile, nearly 250 university employees were engaged in some form of DEI efforts on campus.
By December, UM announced it was abandoning diversity statements for hiring, promotion and tenure decisions after an apparent push from faculty, saying the statements had the “potential to limit freedom of expression and diversity of thought on campus.”
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/University of Michigan)
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