(The Center Square) – Case Western Reserve has closed its diversity office in response to federal directives, while other schools have no updates on their responses towards Trump’s DEI-terminating executive order.
“The university-wide Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusive Engagement will close, effective immediately,” Case Western Reserve President Eric Kaler said in a statement.
When reached for comment on the office’s closure, Case Western Reserve director of national media relations Colin McEwan told The Center Square that there is nothing new to share “beyond President Kaler’s recent statement.”
Kaler wrote that the decision follows two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders, Jan. 20’s “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” and Jan. 21’s “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.”
The Jan. 20 executive order calls for the “termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
The Jan. 21 executive order mandates similar terminations.
“It is clear we must be in compliance with [the executive orders] to receive the federal funding that is critical to our present and future,” Kaler wrote.
In place of the DEI office, Case Western Reserve is opening the Office for Campus Enrichment and Engagement, which will perform various functions and have a goal of “enriching our campus life through building community, active engagement, mindful learning and transformative civil dialogue.”
“We will continue to assess programming and processes across the university to ensure they comply with law and support our community,” Kaler wrote.
Schools across the nation have been responding to Trump’s DEI-ending executive orders, as well as a Dear Colleague letter from the U.S. Department of Education that stated race-based decisions in education are unlawful.
Ohio State University, the University of Virginia, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Michigan previously announced the dissolution of their respective diversity and inclusion offices, The Center Square reported.
When contacted, none of the four schools provided updates to their responses to the Jan. 20 executive order.
The University of Cincinnati, the University of Arizona, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Washington, the University of California, Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, Brown University, Cornell and the University of Wisconsin–Madison are all evaluating, reviewing, or monitoring Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order, The Center Square previously reported, with no updates to their responses when reached again.
The University of Washington Medicine spokeswoman Susan Gregg told The Center Square that there are no updates to the medical school’s previous comment stating it is continuing with its normal operations – which would presumably involve DEI.
Likewise, Michigan State University had no update for The Center Square to its previous comment that it “feels confident [it is] continuing to operate within federal and state laws” as it regards its manner of educating and hiring.
The Center Square previously reported that Columbia University recently removed DEI language from parts of its website and took down some DEI-related web pages.
Columbia did not respond when asked for updates on its response to the executive order.
Emory University “decline[d] to participate” when asked for its response to the Jan. 20 executive order, joining the University of Maryland, UC Irvine School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and NYU, who each previously told The Center Square they had no comment.
UC Irvine SOM previously said it may have more information “as we learn more,” but did not provide any more information when reached again.
The following schools have not yet provided comment after repeated requests concerning each of their responses to the executive order:
HarvardStanfordDukeYalePennNorthwestern UniversityThe University of ChicagoBoston UniversityMayo Clinic School of MedicineUC San DiegoIndiana UniversityThe University of PittsburghCommunity College of Allegheny CountyUniversity of FloridaFlorida State UniversityEast Carolina UniversityUniversity of CincinnatiLouisiana State UniversityUniversity of MississippiUniversity of MinnesotaGeorgia TechGeorgia State UniversityRutgers UniversityGeorge Mason UniversityOregon State UniversityThe University of AlabamaTexas A&M UniversityThe University of Texas at AustinPurdue University
