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 student-facing 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.
“I haven’t heard about layoffs or real cost cutting,” Richmond said. “Instead, they’re shifting resources to things like financial aid, mental health and community building, which just sounds like DEI rebranded. If it was actually taking up tens of millions of dollars a year and now it’s gone, where’s the money going? I’d rather see them use the savings to lower tuition, instead of shuffling it into rebranded programs.”
In an interview with The Daily, LSA junior Hillary Poudeu Tchokothe, a Diversity Peer Educator for Michigan Housing, said DEI-based programs such as living-learning communities allows students to feel like they belong at the University. Poudeu Tchokothe said she fears future students will miss out on the welcoming experiences DEI housing initiatives currently offer.
“The Michigan DEI Office and all different programs — like the Diversity Educator Program, like the Multicultural Lounges Program — really work towards an inclusive space on campus and students can choose whether or not to come to us,” Poudeu Tchokothe said. “Some students really find solidarity and peace within our programming and within the lounges and I think the University is doing a real disservice to current students and future students by scrutinizing DEI. It’s really heartbreaking to me that incoming first year students won’t have the experience that I experienced my first year.”
In discussing the importance of living-learning communities, Poudeu Tchokothe also explained the historical ties of these programs to the Black Action Movement at Michigan in the 1970s.
“This is a slap in the face to the Black Action Movement that tried to create a lot of change on campus and that did,” Poudeu Tchokothe said. “That movement happened over 50 years ago and I feel like this one email that President Ono sent in the middle of class, might I add you, effectively rolled back 50 years of work, of blood, sweat and tears from different activists and students and faculty on campus, and I think sets a dangerous precedent for the future.”
In an interview with The Daily, Engineering senior Maryam Shafie, co-president of the Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, expressed concern about what student life will look like following the closing of the ODEI. Shafie said she believes a decision like this sends a message to historically underrepresented students that the University is not concerned about marginalized groups on campus.
“It’s never been something that has just been given to us easily, but it’s always been something that’s taken away very easily,” Shafie said. “So now, by going against the University’s community’s wishes and closing the DEI office, I think the University is going to be mobilizing students from diverse background, faculty staff, pretty much everyone against them because they have ultimately unmasked their authoritarianism. They’ve openly shown that the needs of their students, their faculty, their staff, particularly those from marginalized identities, are secondary to the demands of their own financial interests and donors or other influencers outside the University that we know are controlling our campus.”
Although SAFE was suspended in January and is no longer a University student organization, Shafie raised concerns for groups that are affiliated withODEI, especially long standing legacy organizations and groups affiliated with ODEI multicultural initiatives.
“Such a diverse group of people that belong to this campus community are outraged right now,” Shafie said. “There are slightly different but simultaneous conversations happening amongst all these groups … about how we respond to this, and this is serving as a unique and empowering force that can bring all of our issues together. Of course, the University benefits from us being fragmented, us having different goals and ways to achieve these goals through the University, but closing the DEI office … brings all of our goals together.”
Daily Staff Reporters Aanya Panyadahundi and Brady Middlebrook can be reached at aanyatp@umich.edu and pmbrady@umich.edu.
The post UMich faces student backlash after announcing closure of ODEI and OHEI appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
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