President Santa Ono signed a letter along with Provost Laurie McCauley and other top officials announcing the decision.
The university’s leaders said the decision to close the school’s DEI offices, shutter its DEI plans, and end diversity statements in hiring has “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. We are deeply grateful for the meaningful contributions of leaders, faculty and staff who have advanced our ongoing efforts to create an ever-more inclusive and respectful community,” they wrote.
The school cited in the letter several Trump executive orders, including his “Ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity” order. They also included the “Dear Colleague” letter received by many schools, which was sent by the Department of Education and demanded schools to cease “using race preferences and stereotypes as a factor in their admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, sanctions, discipline,” and beyond or risk losing their funding.
That letter had a deadline for the end of February, meaning Michigan ended their programs a month past it.
The University of Michigan concurrently announced it will “increase investments in student-facing programs,” including expanded financial aid, mental health support, and other improved student resources.
Michigan’s decision to close its DEI programs drew mixed reactions, similar to how most of the closures across the nation have been received.
“The federal government is determined to dismantle and control higher education and to make our institutions more uniform, more inequitable, and more exclusive,” Rebekah Modrak, chairwoman of the Faculty Senate, wrote to colleagues in an email about the decision, the Detroit Free Press reported. “They are using the power of the government to engineer a sweeping culture change towards white supremacy. Unfortunately, University of Michigan leaders seem determined to comply and to collaborate in our own destruction.”
Conservatives celebrated the decision but acknowledged that the University of Michigan could go a step further. “Building on the momentum of state level victories across the nation as well as the executive orders from President Trump, the university’s actions are indeed a cause for celebration,” Goldwater Institute Director of Education Policy Matt Beienburg said in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“But 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,” he added.
TRACKING WHAT DOGE IS DOING ACROSS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Several other colleges have ended their DEI programs, including the University of Texas, Iowa, and Utah.
Some local schools, such as the University of Maryland, College Park, have not ceased their DEI programs as of March 27.
