University DEI: Status Quo and Rebrands

Investigations


Total number of states: 46 plus the District of Columbia

Total colleges and universities in the report: 262

Total colleges and universities with active Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): 245

Total active DEI offices/programming (includes colleges or departments): 404

Active DEI offices/programming breakdown by college or department:

  • Business Schools: 4
  • Honors Colleges: 16
  • Law Schools: 21
  • Colleges of Education: 27
  • Colleges of Engineering: 30
  • Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, or Health: 54

Allegedly renamed or rebranded DEI offices: 28

Total number of institutions that removed webpages or shut down DEI Offices: 18


This investigation is intended to track the current state of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices and programming (names will vary) at colleges and universities. It is meant to identify which institutions currently have DEI offices, have shut them down, or appear to have renamed or rebranded their DEI offices and programming.

To date, Defending Education has tracked 245 universities which still have institution-wide DEI offices and/or programming in operation, 181 schools or colleges (such as Colleges of Education, Engineering, or Medicine, etc.), with an overall total of 404 currently active DEI offices and programming.

Additionally, 28 institutions and schools/colleges appear to have renamed or rebranded their DEI offices, 18 universities have removed webpages and/or shut down DEI initiatives, and in a few cases, have moved the DEI webpage behind an institutional login. These cases are noted with an archived page of that institution’s former DEI page.

While some, such as the University of Alaska Anchorage, seem to have completely shut down DEI operations; meanwhile, the University of Michigan has allegedly shut down its overarching “Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion,” yet schools such as Michigan Law and the LSA Department of Psychology still have active DEI pages. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to identify if a university has fully ended DEI programming. Therefore, the removal of institution DEI webpages is noted in the list section to track these changes.

An additional goal of this report is to serve as a tool for identifying the various words and phrases used in place of DEI, or for the purpose of rebranding. In a few cases, institutions appear to have moved DEI staff and programming under its “equal opportunity” and “civil rights” offices.

Some alternative DEI language examples:

  • “Access”
  • “Advocacy”
  • “Belonging”
  • “Community”
  • “Compliance”
  • “Inclusive Excellence”
  • “Institutional Excellence”
  • “Resilience”
  • “Success”


The following university side-by-side webpage examples are meant to highlight how institutions appear to rename or rebrand the DEI office or programming under a different title. The following examples show either minimal changes to the office’s overall functionality, webpage imagery, language, titles, personnel/staffing, location, etc.

Each image example includes the archived DEI webpage as well as the current iteration.

The University of Georgia’s Mary Frances Early College of Education appears to have renamed its Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the Office of Inclusion and Belonging.

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


Columbia College Chicago (IL) seems to have changed its Academic Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programming to Academic Diversity and Inclusion. The updated webpage states that “general federal funding may be at risk” because of the Trump administration’s “new interpretation of laws” which “requires institutions to cease using race in various areas such as admissions, hiring, financial aid, and campus life, including Diversity and Inclusion programs.”

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


The University of Evansville (IN) appears to have edited its Center for Inclusive Excellence webpage by revising a paragraph and removing linked images. [January 21, 2025, archived page]

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


Kansas State University appears to have renamed its Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging programming to Access and Opportunity.

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


McNeese State University (LA) appears to have changed its Office of Inclusive Excellence to the Office of Campus Compliance and Civility.

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


The University of Maine seems to have renamed the Office for Diversity and Inclusion to the Office for Community and Connections.

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


The University of Montana’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice webpage appears to have transitioned to Inclusive Access and Success.

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


The University of Tulsa (OK) appears to have rebranded its Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to the Office for Resilience and Belonging.

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


Carnegie Mellon University’s (PA) Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Office seems to have been rebranded the Office of the Vice Provost for Community, Culture and Engagement.

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


George Mason University’s (VA) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office appears to have turned into the Office of Access, Compliance, and Community.

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee appears to have renamed its Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Division of Community Empowerment & Institutional Inclusivity.

Left screenshot: Archived webpage/ Right screenshot: Current webpage


Below is a list of universities, as well as that institution’s colleges or schools, that have active Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offices or departments. If there appears to be a renaming or rebranding of that DEI department, both the original and the updated names are noted.

An * denotes that the institution appears to have renamed or rebranded its DEI office.

This is not a comprehensive list and will be continuously updated.

University of Alaska Anchorage

University of Arizona

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

California Institute of Technology

California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly)

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt

California State University, Chico

California University of Science and Medicine

Los Angeles Community College District

Loyola Marymount University

Otis College of Art and Design

Saint Mary’s College of California

San Diego State University

San Francisco State University

San Jose State University

Santa Clara University

Soka University

Sonoma State University

Stanford University

University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Davis

University of California, Irvine

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

University of California, Merced

University of California, Riverside

University of California, San Diego

University of California, San Francisco

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Cruz

University of Southern California

Whittier College

Colorado State University

Metropolitan State University of Denver

Naropa University

University of Colorado Anshutz

University of Colorado Boulder

University of Colorado Denver

University of Denver

Connecticut State Community College

Eastern Connecticut State University

Sacred Heart University

Trinity College

University of Connecticut

Wesleyan University

Western Connecticut University

Yale University

University of Delaware

Georgetown University

The George Washington University

Stetson University

The University of Tampa

University of Central Florida

Emory University

Oglethorpe University

University of Georgia

Augustana College

Columbia College Chicago

DePaul University

Dominican University

Elmhurst University

Harper College

Loyola University Chicago

Northeastern Illinois University

Northern Illinois University

Northwestern University

Roosevelt University

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Southern Illinois University

The University of Chicago

University of Illinois

University of Illinois Chicago

Butler University

Indiana University

Indiana University Indianapolis

University of Notre Dame

Purdue University

Saint Mary’s College

University of Evansville

Drake University

Grinnell College

Kansas State University

The University of Kansas

Centre College

University of Louisville

McNeese State University

Tulane University

Bates College

University of Maine

University of Maine at Augusta

Loyola University Maryland

John Hopkins University

McDaniel College

Salisbury University

Towson University

University of Maryland

University of Maryland Baltimore

Amherst College

Clark University

College of the Holy Cross

Emerson College

Endicott College

Harvard University

Massachusetts College of Arts and Design

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Simmons University

Smith College

Stonehill College

Tufts University

UMASS Chan Medical School

University of Massachusetts Amherst

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Central Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University

Grand Valley State University

Michigan State University

Northern Michigan University

Oakland University

University of Michigan

Bemidji State University

College of St. Scholastica, The

Macalester College

Mayo Clinic

Metropolitan State University

Minnesota State University System

St. Catherine University

University of Minnesota

University of St. Thomas

Mississippi State University

The University of Southern Mississippi

Washington University in St. Louis

Webster University

Montana State University

University of Montana

Nebraska Wesleyan University

University of Nebraska- Lincoln

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

University of Nevada, Reno

Dartmouth College

Plymouth State University

University of New Hampshire

Princeton University

Ramapo College of New Jersey

Rutgers University

Saint Peter’s University

Stevens Institute of Technology

Stockton University

New Mexico State University

The University of New Mexico

Adelphi University

Binghamton University (SUNY)

Buffalo State University (SUNY)

Clarkson University

Colgate University

Columbia University

Cornell University

Empire State University (SUNY)

Fordham University

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hofstra University

Marist University

New York University

Pace University

St. John’s University

St. Lawrence University

The State University of New York System (SUNY)

SUNY Brockport

SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry

SUNY Fredonia

SUNY Old Westbury

SUNY Oneonta

SUNY Plattsburgh

University at Albany

University at Buffalo

University of Rochester

Davidson College

Duke University

North Carolina State University

Queens University of Charlotte

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Wake Forest University

University of North Dakota

Baldwin Wallace University

Kenyon College

Ohio University

The Ohio State University

University of Cincinnati

University of Dayton

University of Toledo

Wright State University

The University of Tulsa

Lewis & Clark College

Oregon State University

Pacific University

Portland State University

Southern Oregon University

University of Oregon

University of Portland

Western Oregon University

Arcadia University

Bucknell University

Carnegie Mellon University

Drexel University

Eastern University

Gettysburg College

Haverford College

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Juniata College

Lehigh University

Maywood University

Millersville University

Misericordia University

Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)

Saint Joseph’s University

Temple University

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pittsburgh

Villanova University

Wilkes University

Brown University

Rhode Island College

University of Rhode Island

College of Charleston

Presbytarian College

University of South Carolina

Augustana University

Sewanee, The University of the South

The University of Tennessee Knoxville

Vanderbilt University

Baylor College of Medicine

Baylor University

Concordia University Texas

Rice University

Southwestern University

Brigham Young University

University of Utah

Westminster University

Middlebury College

University of Vermont

Vermont State University

George Mason University

Old Dominion University

University of Richmond

University of Virginia

Cascadia College

Central Washington University

Clark College

Eastern Washington University

Gonzaga University

Seattle University

University of Washington

University of Washington Bothell

Washington State University

Western Washington University

Whitworth University

West Virginia University

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

University of Wisconsin-Madison

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

University of Wisconsin – River Falls