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): 403

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, 180 schools or colleges (such as Colleges of Education, Engineering, or Medicine, etc.), with an overall total of 403 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 These cases are noted with an archived page of that institution’s former DEI page.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