Multiple universities have started dismantling DEI programs in wake of Trump policies
The University of Minnesota is “reassessing” its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on DEI initiatives in the federal government and higher education.
“In the last few weeks the national landscape for higher education has shifted. In response, the University is reassessing many programs, including those related to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” law school dean William McGeveran wrote in an email to faculty and students.
The reassessment comes in response to Trump’s efforts to gut the Biden administration’s DEI initiatives in higher education, federal agencies, and the military. On his second day in office, Trump, who has described DEI initiatives as “illegal and immoral discrimination programs,” signed an executive order requiring universities to pledge that they don’t run “programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws” when receiving grants.
That crackdown has led several other universities to start shuttering their DEI programs, the Wall Street Journal reported. Arizona State University and North Carolina State University instructed faculty members to halt DEI-related projects, while Michigan State University scrapped a scheduled DEI webinar and launched a review of campus programs to assess the effect of Trump’s executive orders. Boston University, meanwhile, closed up its much-criticized Center for Antiracist Research.
McGeveran also wrote that the University of Minnesota has “no choice but to pause the search for our next assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the email reads. The law school is canceling scheduled visits for the finalists after at least three months of searching for a dean.
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