DEI Rollbacks Hit Campus Support Systems for Students of Color

Campus mentors. Move-in events. Scholarships. Diversity offices that made them feel welcome on predominantly white campuses.

As U.S. colleges pull back on diversity, equity and inclusion practices, students of color say they are starting to lose all of these things and more.

The full scope of campus DEI rollbacks is still emerging as colleges respond to the Trump administration’s orders against diversity practices. But students at some schools said early cuts are chipping away at the sense of community that helped open the door to higher education.

“It feels like we’re going back. I don’t know how else to describe it,” said Breeana-Iris Rosario, a junior at the University of Michigan, which is closing its DEI office and scrapping a campus-wide inclusion plan. “It’s like our voices aren’t being heard.”

The retreat from DEI has been building for years, driven by Republican-led states that have ordered public colleges to close DEI offices and eliminate programs. But it has accelerated under President Donald Trump and his threats to cut federal funding.

Trump’s administration escalated the battle when it suggested in a letter to Harvard University that the school should lose its nonprofit status for defying federal orders, including a demand to eliminate DEI “to the satisfaction of the federal government.”

At Michigan, students have been told the casualties include the LEAD Scholars program, a financial aid award for Black, Latino and Native American students, along with orientation events for new Latino, Arab and Asian American students. The university said Tuesday it has not decided whether to eliminate or restructure the orientation programs.

{snip}

A February memo from the Education Department directed schools and colleges to eliminate race from any decision-making around hiring, admissions, housing, financial aid and student life. It warned violators could lose access to federal money.

Dozens of universities have since come under investigation, all while the Trump administration freezes billions of dollars at Harvard and other colleges accused of defying orders on campus antisemitism and transgender athletes.

Michigan was among the first to make major DEI rollbacks, and others have followed to avoid federal scrutiny. Others have rebranded DEI offices and scrubbed the term from websites, and others still are standing firm in support of DEI.

At Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, officials cited the federal orders when they moved to close the campus DEI office last month.

{snip}

In Virginia, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin celebrated when the University of Virginia’s governing board voted to end DEI programs in March.

{snip}

Tyler English, a senior at UVA, said students have been told scholarships and graduate programs focused on minority students are being scaled back or eliminated. Among other changes, a student group called Men of Color, Honor and Ambition is replacing the word “color” with “character,” he said.

“For a portion of us, we now question whether our identities and voices are truly valued in this space,” said English, a member of the campus’ Black Student Alliance.

{snip}

The post DEI Rollbacks Hit Campus Support Systems for Students of Color appeared first on American Renaissance.