Note: This piece reflects the views of the author, independent of those of the Department of Psychology.
One year ago, the University of Michigan dismantled its diversity, equity, andinclusion programming after the Trump administration distributed a letter threatening to withhold federal support.
The letter was not legally binding, but U-M scrambled to comply, ending most DEI programming across the campus.
Months later, a federal judge permanently struck down efforts to restrict DEI inschools, ruling that President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI campaign violated the First Amendment and federal procedural rules. Frankly, it was embarrassing that U-M, with its vast resources, capitulated to a threat based on the thinnest pretext, one that many legal experts believed was unconstitutional.
As we’ve reached the one-year mark since the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion at U-M, we should critically reflect on the circumstances that led to its demise. For many people, the dismantling of DEI at U-M was a betrayal of the core institutional values that U-M purports to hold. Was the University of Michigan’s response the right course action and in the best interests of our community?
I believe the answer is no, and that it is time to reinstate legal DEI on U-M campuses.I am appealing to U-M leaders to act “with all deliberate speed.”
U-M’s pretext for ending DEI has been knocked down by a federal court, and there is no legal impediment to bring back DEI programming, so the university should dot his as soon as possible.
At the recent U-M Board of Regents meeting, the chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, Derek Peterson, stated that the closure of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion made it harder for U-M to “advance equity work” and “to widen access to higher education for excluded groups.”
In practice, what this means is that important sources of support for underrepresented students have been removed, which ultimately threatens campus inclusivity and retention efforts.
