The University of Michigan announced it will be closing the doors of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) office on Thursday.
In a message to the university, the president and other top leaders said that due to recent executive orders from President Donald Trump as well as funding uncertainty, they will be doing away with their DEI programming.
“We write today to share important updates related to programs and central offices that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI),” they said in a joint statement.
“Conversations about these institutional efforts have been ongoing since at least 2023 and, with recent federal executive orders, guidance and funding cuts bringing urgency to the issue, we are moving forward with changes that will impact our community at the University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine,” they added.
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The University of Michigan started its “inaugural DEI strategic plan” in 2016, then developed a DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan for 2023-2028.
Some of the action items for the plan included “Enhancing International Graduate Student Diversity,” “Enhancing Black Student Representation & Experiences,” “DEI in Carbon Neutrality and Sustainability Efforts,” and “Enhancing Religious, Spiritual & Interfaith Diversity on Campus.”
The New York Times reported the University of Michigan had spent approximately $250 million on DEI efforts through last fall, and a report from The Heritage Foundation found the institution had 163 DEI personnel.
The DEI closure announcement comes as federal funding for schools has been under scrutiny by Trump.
In February, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to departments of education in every state telling them to remove DEI policies or risk losing federal funding.
A “frequently asked questions” page on the University of Michigan’s new DEI changes specifies that services for students that were part of their DEI office “will shift to other offices, which will continue to support access and opportunity.”
Staff tasked with implementing DEI are directed to “refocus their full effort on their core responsibilities.” Reviews are to be made of the university’s website to ensure it complies with Trump’s executive order.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WARNS THAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUST REMOVE DEI POLICIES OR LOSE FEDERAL FUNDING
The university also said it will focus on investments for students, including increasing financial aid, “Enhancing mental health support,” as well as “Celebrating cultural and ethnic programs,” and working to support academics and scholarships.
A statement from the conservative Goldwater Institute praised the news with a hint of caution.
“To truly restore the intellectual integrity of the university, its administrators must ensure that the institution also eliminates DEI requirements currently forced upon students throughout its mandatory academic course requirements, including those offered under different labels such as the required ‘Race and Ethnicity’ category that undergraduate students must complete,” Matt Beienburg, director of education policy at Goldwater Institute said.
“Not only are such requirements explicitly grounded in pushing politicized narratives around ‘race, ethnicity, and racism,’ ‘racial and ethnic intolerance and the resulting inequality as it occurs in the United States,’ but they also redirect millions of dollars of student tuition and taxpayer funding to such politicized coursework,” Beienburg added.
Fox News Digital reached out to the University of Michigan for comment as well as the White House, but did not immediately receive a response.
