Campus mentors. Move-in events. Scholarships. Diversity offices that made them feel welcome on predominantly white campuses.
As U.S. colleges pull back on diversity, equity and inclusion practices, students of color say they are starting to lose all of these things and more.
The full scope of campus DEI rollbacks is still emerging as colleges respond to the Trump administration’s orders against diversity practices. But students at some schools said early cuts are chipping away at the sense of community that helped open the door to higher education.
“It feels like we’re going back. I don’t know how else to describe it,” said Breeana-Iris Rosario, a junior at the University of Michigan, which is closing its DEI office and scrapping a campus-wide inclusion plan. “It’s like our voices aren’t being heard.”
The retreat from DEI has been building for years, driven by Republican-led states that have ordered public colleges to close DEI offices and eliminate programs. But it has accelerated under President Donald Trump and his threats to cut federal funding.
Trump’s administration escalated the battle when it suggested in a letter to Harvard University that the school should lose its nonprofit status for defying federal orders, including a demand to eliminate DEI “to the satisfaction of the federal government.”
At Michigan, students have been told the casualties include orientation events for new Latino, Arab and Asian American students, along with the LEAD Scholars program, a financial aid award for Black, Latino and Native American students.
Coming from a low-income part of Detroit, Rosario said winning the scholarship cemented her decision to attend Michigan. She later met some of her best friends at a move-in event for Latino students called Alma. Losing those programs, she fears, could reinforce a sense of isolation among Hispanic students, who make up 6% of the school’s undergraduates.
“It would be hard to find my community if I didn’t have access to these resources,” she said.
Colleges respond to federal orders
A February memo from the Education Department directed schools and colleges to eliminate race from any decision-making around hiring, admissions, housing, financial aid and student life. It warned violators could lose access to federal money.
Dozens of universities have since come under investigation, all while the Trump administration freezes billions of dollars at Harvard and other colleges accused of defying orders on campus antisemitism and transgender athletes.
Michigan was among the first to make major DEI rollbacks, and others have followed to avoid federal scrutiny. Others have rebranded DEI offices and scrubbed the term from websites, and others still are standing firm in support of DEI.
At Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, officials cited the federal orders when they moved to close the campus DEI office last month.
“It is clear we must be in compliance with them to receive the federal funding that is critical to our present and future,” said Eric Kaler, Case’s president, in a campus message.
Kaler said the office will be replaced by an Office for Campus Enrichment and Engagement, though it’s unclear what that will entail. The private university receives about $250 million a year in federal research funding, 16% of its total revenue, according to university data.
Justen Pippens said the DEI office was like a second home on campus. The junior called it a “stress-free zone” where he could get personal and academic guidance. He grew so close with one staff member that he came to know her as Auntie. He said it’s unclear whether those employees will have jobs at the new office.
Case also is halting its Envision Weekend, an orientation event for underrepresented students. Pippens said it’s a setback for him and other Black students, who make up just 6% of undergraduates at Case.
“Now,” he said, “we no longer have our central support systems on campus.”
A victory for DEI opponents
In Virginia, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin celebrated when the University of Virginia’s governing board voted to end DEI programs in March.
“DEI is done at the University of Virginia,” Youngkin said in a statement, calling it a shift toward “merit-based opportunity.”
Tyler English, a senior at UVA, said students have been told scholarships and graduate programs focused on minority students are being scaled back or eliminated. Among other changes, a student group called Men of Color, Honor and Ambition is replacing the word “color” with “character,” he said.
“For a portion of us, we now question whether our identities and voices are truly valued in this space,” said English, a member of the campus’ Black Student Alliance.
University spokesperson Brian Coy wouldn’t provide details on DEI rollbacks and said he couldn’t confirm changes to scholarships.
The government’s anti-DEI campaign is being challenged in court by opponents who say it offers little clarity on exactly which practices are outlawed, leaving schools to weed out anything that could be construed as DEI.
As a result of the vague directives, “those who are advocating against this work are getting a higher return on their investment than they should,” said Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.
Yet opponents are pressing the White House to go further. Christopher Rufo, a conservative strategist who has fought DEI, said the government should root out DEI using tools that forced desegregation during the Civil Rights Movement.
“DEI is a violation of the Civil Rights Act,” Rufo said on X. “Any publicly funded institution that continues to practice DEI should face a federal investigation, consent decree, termination of funds, and loss of nonprofit status. If that doesn’t work, send in the 101st Airborne.”
Some fear diversity setbacks
In Michigan, the rollbacks are targeting programs that aimed to preserve racial diversity after the state banned affirmative action in 2006, including the LEAD program.
University of Michigan officials declined to discuss changes, but a campus message from President Santa Ono said the school will find other ways to support students, including an expansion of scholarships for low-income students.
Rosario and other LEAD scholarship winners received an email saying there would be “no adverse financial impact” to their financial aid, with no further explanation.
Rosario doesn’t entirely blame the university for the cuts, but she wonders why Michigan moved quickly to make changes while some colleges held firm. The first in her family to attend college, she fears what it means for the next generation of students.
“They’ve taken away our sense of community,” she said. “It just makes it that much harder for people of color to feel comfortable pursuing higher education.”
___
AP Education Writer Cheyanne Mumphrey in Phoenix contributed to this report.
