The University of Michigan announced Thursday it will end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs, immediately closing both the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion.
School administration said the programs are being ended in response to recent executive orders and federal guidance from the Trump administration that are beginning “to reshape higher education.”
“These decisions have not been made lightly. We recognize the changes are significant and will be challenging for many of us, especially those whose lives and careers have been enriched by and dedicated to programs that are now pivoting,” said a statement from school administration.
This is just the latest move by the school away from similar DEI initiatives, after it decided to end the use of diversity statements in faculty hiring back in December, weeks before President Donald Trump took office.
That policy will now also be expanded university-wide as diversity statements will no longer be solicited or considered in admissions, hiring, promotion, awards, annual reviews or other assessments for faculty and staff. The administration will also discontinue its DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan.
Moving forward, the university said it plans to shift student-facing services previously in the closed offices “to other offices focused on student access and opportunity,” while also increasing its investments into those services.
Those investments include:
• Expanding financial aid and scholarships
• Enhancing mental health and academic success programs
• Building community through maintaining student spaces and multicultural programs
“These efforts underscore our commitment to prioritizing student-facing initiatives and ensuring resources are directed where they will have the greatest impact,” school administration said. “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.”
It’s unclear if or how many employees the university cut in conjunction with closing the offices.
Sarah Hubbard, a regent at the University of Michigan, said in a statement that affiliated staff were eliminated, but the university did not announce that.
Hubbard said she is supportive of the university’s decision, which follows “a number of policy and process changes that are making our campus safer and stronger as a place of learning and academic excellence.”
Since DEI initiatives were first introduced in 2016, the university has spent more than $250 million on its efforts to build “one of the most ambitious diversity programs in the country,” the New York Times reported in 2024.
The end of DEI at The University of Michigan marks a significant win for the Trump administration, which recently opened up a series of investigations to address diversity, equity and inclusion policies at institutions of higher education around the nation.
The administration stated that concerns about “funding cuts” brought urgency to the issue, leading it to quickly move “forward with these changes.”
It’s not the first university to take such steps in the past few weeks, as the University of Virginia and others have also closed their DEI offices, as previously reported by The Center Square.
