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Mar 27, 2025, 3:49 PM
U-M administration announces cuts to all DEI programs, effective immediately
Email from Santa J. Ono, Laurie K. McCauley, Marschall S. Runge and Geoffrey S. Chatas.
Design by Leyla Dumke
ADMINISTRATION
UMich faces student backlash after announcing closure of ODEI and OHEI ‘We were really frustrated to see that failure, and also the fact that clearly, this decision was not made with student input.’
AANYA PANYADAHUNDI & BRADY MIDDLEBROOK Daily Staff Reporters
On Thursday afternoon, campus-wide cuts to University of Michigan diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives were announced in an email from University President Santa Ono and other U-M leaders. The changes include the immediate closing of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Office of Health, Equity and Inclusion at Michigan Medicine, discontinuing of the University’s DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan and ending the use of diversity statements in admissions and hiring across the University. Student-facing ODEI programs will shift to other offices and all units will evaluate their web presence to ensure compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders. According to Ono’s statement, this decision was made in response to last month’s Dear Colleague letter from the Department of Education — which criticizes DEI initiatives as perpetuating racial stereotypes. The decision also was made to ensure compliance with three executive orders
released in January — the Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities, Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity. In the email, the University pledged to increase investments in other student-facing services, including expanding financial aid and enhancing mental health support, advising and counseling, pre-professional guidance and various student life programs. However, it did not specify which ODEI, OHEI and DEI 2.0 services and programs would be relocated to other University offices, what changes DEI-related programs across the University community will see or how employees will be affected by the closures. In an email to The Michigan Daily, University spokesperson Kay Jarvis provided a general statement on the funding changes and directed community members back to Ono’s email and the University of Michigan Public Affairs Key Issues page. “The University of Michigan is moving forward with important changes to our diversity, equity
and inclusion (DEI) programs,” Jarvis wrote. “In a message today to the Ann Arbor campus and Michigan Medicine, the university announced it will reallocate funding away from administrative functions and toward studentfacing initiatives that directly enhance student success and foster a sense of belonging for all members of our community.” Following the University-wide email, some student organizations condemned the changes via social media, including Central Student Government and a critical joint statement signed by the University of Michigan College Democrats, Michigan Institute for Progressive Policy and American Civil Liberties Union Undergraduate Chapter. The statement claimed that the office closures represented the University’s submission to attacks on higher education and intellectual research, erasing decades of work towards racial justice within the University community. In an interview with The Daily, Ford junior Madeleine Wren, the co-president of MIPP addressed the organizations’ core intentions behind the statement and said she wished the University allowed for
input from community members before making decisions on DEI. “We were really frustrated to see that failure, and also the fact that clearly, this decision was not made with student input and this decision has massive implications for the students, first and foremost, and marginalized communities on campus,” Wren said. “Students deserve to know one, the factors that went into the decision that they made, but two, have a seat at the table and have a voice in the making of this decision.” In an interview with The Daily, LSA sophomore Sydney Olthoff, the co-chair of the University’s chapter of ACLU, criticized both Ono and the University’s Board of Regents and said she felt the board was unresponsive to student concerns. “We absolutely need to hold first President Ono and the Board of Regents accountable,” Olthoff said. “Even though we have a set up at this institution, (the set up) makes it really difficult for us to hold the Board of Regents accountable, because they are so inaccessible to students and because it’s not only us who elects them — it’s the entire state of Michigan.”
On March 5, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education addressing the Dear Colleagues letter, claiming the department overstepped its legal authority. Although the closing of ODEI is legal, Olthoff encouraged students to reach out if they feel concerned about their civil rights in the wake of the University’s decision. “There’s no litigation that I know of right now about the closing of the DEI office and that’s because the closing of the DEI office was an internal decision,” Olthoff said. “It’s not illegal. The thing that could potentially be illegal is if discrimination results from the loss of these programs. And so if anyone feels like they have been discriminated against or have had unequal opportunities due to the closure of these programs, I would encourage them to reach out directly to the ACLU of Michigan, the National ACLU or ACLU undergrads.” Other student organizations have welcomed Thursday’s changes. In an interview with The Daily, LSA sophomore Alexander Richmond, president of College Republicans at the University, said he appreciated the sentiment behind the University’s DEI
programs, but questioned the effectiveness of them in practice. “The premise of making (the University) welcoming for students who might have felt out of place historically, or creating opportunities for low income students, sounds like a good thing,” Richmond said. “(But) these initiatives have not done enough to warrant the continuation of them. A lot of it has come across as very performative, (like) the fact that minority students on campus, their enrollment has not gone up.” According to a report on U-M enrollment from the fall 2024 semester, minority enrollment has increased in recent years. Compared to 2020 statistics, the report details that Black and African American enrollment is up 87% and Hispanic and Latine enrollment has increased by 134%. Richmond criticized the administration’s lack of communication regarding where DEI programs would be moved to and where costs will be cut. He said he hopes the funding devoted to DEI initiatives will instead be redirected to other forms of financial aid.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
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