The state of DEI, 10 weeks after Trump took office
The University of Michigan's decision to shutter its diversity, equity and inclusion programs was the latest in a series of shock waves rolling through higher education as the Trump administration continues its efforts to stamp out DEI in government and in business and academia.
In a letter announcing how its approach to DEI is 'evolving,' the school's leadership said Thursday that it would close its DEI office, as well as its Office for Health Equity and Inclusion. The letter cited intensifying federal action against DEI initiatives, including two executive orders by President Donald Trump, and the trickle-down effects of the 2023 Supreme Court decision that ended affirmative action in college admissions.
While just one of hundreds of DEI changes in higher education since Trump took office 10 weeks ago, the news was momentous.
'The Michigan decision is a big, big deal,' said John Sailer, director of higher education policy and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who has been at the forefront of efforts to rein in DEI over the past few years. 'Michigan was one of those universities that set the tone for the entire country. Other universities looked to what Michigan did and modeled what they themselves should do.'
Michigan was one of the first universities to require diversity statements from job candidates. It had more than 163 employees working in DEI, The Detroit News reported. The school was also the subject of a New York Times Magazine investigation published last fall that found the school had spent a quarter of a billion dollars on DEI.
According to that report, by Nicholas Confessore, 'Most students must take at least one class addressing 'racial and ethnic intolerance and resulting inequality.' Doctoral students in educational studies must take an 'equity lab' and a racial-justice seminar. Computer-science students are quizzed on microaggressions.' The Times report said that while some other universities were starting to retreat from aspects of DEI, Michigan had 'redoubled its efforts.'
But the month after Trump was reelected, the school announced that it would no longer require diversity statements — a description of how job candidates will advance diversity efforts — in hiring. The University of California, which pioneered the practice, did the same last week.
The announcements have rocked higher education, and offered further evidence that universities, even while decrying the administration's actions, are taking the president seriously. Americans, however, remain divided over the issue.
NBC reported this week that Americans are roughly split along party lines on the subject of DEI, with 49% of people surveyed the first week of March saying DEI should be eliminated and 48% saying they should continue.
And in a February Deseret News/Harris X poll about Trump's most popular and least popular executive orders, DEI fell into the 'least popular' tally, with 44% of respondents strongly or somewhat supporting banning federal DEI initiatives, and 46% strongly or somewhat opposing.
The Chronicle of Higher Education is tracking changes to DEI policies across the U.S., and as of this week, noted changes at 270 colleges in 38 states, including eight in Utah. While some positions are being eliminated and some offices are being shut down, others involve the renaming and mission change of DEI offices.
The University of California at Los Angeles, for example, replaced its Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion with an 'Office of Inclusive Excellence,' while the University of Colorado now has an 'Office of Collaboration,' and Northeastern University, an 'Office of Belonging.'
The University of Utah ended diversity statements a year ago, and Utah was one of the first states to ban 'discriminatory' DEI practices, replacing them with 'student success centers' to help all students succeed.
Rapid changes in DEI are also occurring in business, with Forbes tracking changes since Trump took office.
Among the changes reported by Forbes: Warner Bros. Discovery has renamed its DEI program 'Inclusion,' Bank of America changed a reference to 'diversity' in an annual report to 'talent' and 'opportunity,' and Pepsi reassigned its chief DEI officer to work on employee development.
Trump's first executive order on DEI, issued Jan. 21, ended DEI programs within the federal government, and 'encouraged' the private sector to end 'illegal DEI discrimination and preferences.' The administration maintains that such measures violate existing civil rights laws that protect Americans from discrimination and also 'undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.'
The second order mandated the termination of DEI positions, contracts and grants and requested an accounting of such programs within the government.
While Trump's executive orders did not directly address higher education, elite universities have been in the crosshairs of the administration for other reasons, including their handling of student protests related to the war between Israel and Hamas. Earlier this month, the administration announced that it would be canceling $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University because of what it called 'the school's continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.'
Faced with the prospect of significant cuts, universities that rely on federal funding have snapped to attention, Sailer told me. While DOGE and culture-war issues such as DEI grab most of the headlines, a lesser-known cut — the National Institutes of Health capping the supplemental funding added onto grants to help pay for 'indirect costs,' or overhead — stands to strip colleges and universities of millions of dollars in funding.
'Universities are kind of recognizing that this is an existential event for them. On one hand, they are, across the board, extremely upset about it. ... But they are also taking it very seriously,' Sailer said.
While some schools that have ample private resources and have flown under the administration's radar might be able to risk losing funding, others can't. ('Certainly not Columbia, but maybe Princeton,' Sailer said.) And, in fact, Columbia quickly made concessions to the administration in hopes of having its funding restored, although it's still unclear if that will happen.
The threatened cuts are coming at a time when public trust in higher education is historically low, with the percentage of Americans expressing high trust in higher ed falling from 60% to 30% over a decade, Sailer said.
As DEI expanded over the past decade, it became a battle in the culture wars even though most Americans champion diversity.
As Derek Monson of the Sutherland Institute wrote for the Deseret News, 'The majority of Americans of all races recognize the value of diversity in American life. A plurality of Americans of all races believe it is important for businesses to promote racial and ethnic diversity in the workplace. But a majority of Americans of all races also believe hiring and promotion at work should be based only on qualifications, even if this produces less diversity, and they do not believe race and ethnicity should be a factor in such workplace decisions.'
DEI also became synonymous with progressive policies, even though its broadest applications extended to diversity of faith.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who was former Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, said this week that Democrats should have doubled-down on both immigration and DEI. Speaking at a town hall in Texas, Walz said: 'We've been talking about this for years as a country of immigrants, and we let (Republicans) define the issue on immigration. We let them define the issue on DEI, and we let them define what woke is. We got ourselves in this mess because we weren't bold enough to stand up and say 'you damn right we're proud of these policies. We're going to put them in, and we're going to execute them.''
University of Michigan President Santa J. Ono and other university leaders said in their statement, 'These decisions have not been made lightly. We recognize the changes are significant and will be challenging for many of us, especially those whose lives and careers have been enriched by and dedicated to programs that are now pivoting. We are deeply grateful for the meaningful contributions of leaders, faculty and staff who have advanced our ongoing efforts to create an ever-more inclusive and respectful community.'
Some faculty members also spoke out strongly against the changes. Derek Peterson, a history professor at the University of Michigan, told the Detroit News, 'It's a capitulation, an embarrassment, a departure from our mission as a university. It turns the university's back on what we thought were core values of this institution in the name of expediency.'
Sailer said the future of DEI will largely depend on the 'political will' of future candidates to advocate for these programs, as Walz wants them to do. 'Behind a lot of really staunch denunciations of what the Trump administration is doing, a lot of people, even progressives, are saying there were problems (with DEI), so on one hand, it doesn't seem like there is political will to reinstate a lot of the things that might be pulled back over the next four years — and certainly not with diversity statements. A lot of people agree that this was a bad policy.' Also, he said, some of these programs took decades develop, and if DOGE-type efforts take hold at universities, it's unlikely these programs will ever be rebuilt to the scale that they had reached.
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LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!). WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!" A variety of market observers quickly weighed in hours after Tuesday evening's unveiling to suggest that the deal may not have a lot of meat on the bones — but at least relations are no longer moving in the wrong direction. The talks perhaps underscored how unlikely a comprehensive trade deal is anytime soon, noted AGF Investments Greg Valliere, "but at least relations may not worsen as talks continue throughout the summer." Both sides promised additional talks in the weeks or months ahead, but none have yet been scheduled. Veronique de Rugy, a professor at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, suggested the talks continued to show China's leverage. "China is hurting, yes—but they still hold the upper hand on critical resources, and they know how to use them." Any lessening of tensions — and freer flow — of these mineral resources in China would be a significant boost to the global economy with China holding outsized leverage in both the reserves and processing capacity of these key building blocks for everything from computers to electric vehicle batteries to medical devices. Likewise, the US offering concessions on export controls would be a significant move after years where successive US administrations have wielded these controls — especially around the design and manufacture of semiconductors — by saying they need to be tight on China for national security reasons. Read more here. May's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report will be released on Wednesday and its expected to show that prices rose a bit faster than in April. Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal breaks down what to look out for and how President Trump's tariffs are impacting what consumers are now paying for goods and services. Read more here. Now that the US-China trade truce is back on track, both sides are keen to ensure it stays that way. China's Vice Premier He Lifeng said both sides need to now 'show the spirit of good faith in abiding by their commitments and jointly safeguard the hard-won results of the dialogue.' Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Despite the US-China trade truce resuming the pain from President Trump's tariffs remains in China, especially among small exporters. Reuters reports: Read more here. Japan warned Wednesday that tariffs threaten its economic growth, the government said in a monthly report. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. A federal appeals could said on Tuesday that President Trump's sweeping tariffs can continue for now. This is a significant win for Trump, who introduced tariffs back in March and declared "Liberation Day," as he saw them as a way to free the US from what he called unfair trade practices. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Early summer sales for Inditex, the owner of fashion retailer Zara, came in weaker, as the company missed expectations for first quarter sales on Wednesday. President Trump's tariffs have impacted consumer demand in the US and other major markets. Reuters reports: Read more here. After weeks of back and forth, the US and China have agreed on a framework to implement the Geneva consensus that helped ease tariffs. The breakthrough came after two days of talks in London, including a marathon session on Tuesday. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said both sides had to "get the negativity out" before making progress. 'Now we can go forward to try to do positive trade, growing trade,' he said. As part of the deal, Beijing has promised to speed up shipments of rare earth metals, a crucial component for global auto and defense industries. Washington will ease export controls. This marks the first sign of movement on key issues. The proposal will now be presented to President Trump and China's Xi. Still, the discussions also did little to resolve a long-standing issue: China's trade surplus with the US. 'Markets will likely welcome the shift from confrontation to coordination,' said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets. 'We're not out of the woods yet — it's up to Trump and Xi to approve and enforce the deal.' The meeting was set up after a phone call between the two leaders, following weeks of each side accusing the other of breaking the Geneva commitments. Both countries had used chips, rare earths, student visas and ethane as bargaining tools. Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor at East China Normal University, said trust, not money, has been the biggest casualty of the trade war. 'We've heard a lot about frameworks,' he said. 'But the fundamental issue remains: Chips versus rare earths. Everything else is a peacock dance.' Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told House lawmakers on Wednesday that the Trump administration may extend the 90-day tariff pause on some countries in order to continue trade negotiations. When asked if Americans should prepare for another "Liberation Day" on July 9, when the tariff pause ends for most countries, Bessent said that the administration may choose to move the deadline on 18 of the most important trading partners, so long as they make an effort to come to the negotiating table. "We are working toward deals on those, and it is highly likely that [for] those countries — or trading blocs, in the case of the EU — who are negotiating in good faith, we will roll the day forward to continue good faith negotiations," Bessent said (see video below). "If someone is not negotiating, then we will not." A recent report on the drastic decline of US ocean imports serves as an example of how President Trump's increased tariffs on China affected supply chains and several industries as ttalks continue. Reuters reports: Read more here. The Treasury Department says that the US government is successfully using tariffs to decrease the budget deficit by more than $30 billion, largely due to increased customs receipts. Reuters reports: Read more here. China will ease curbs on exports of rare earth minerals for six months as part of a new trade understanding with the US, according to The Wall Street Journal. The move could add more uncertainty for American manufacturers, particularly the auto industry, which has been pushing for easier access. The Journal notes that the move gives China leverage down the line if tensions ratchet back up. From the report: In celebrating the agreement early Wednesday, President Trump noted "any necessary rare earths will be supplied, up front, by China." He did not mention any time limit on loosening those restrictions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in testimony before Congress on Wednesday, painted Wednesday's agreement as an incremental step on the longer road to a more comprehensive trade deal. "A trade deal today or last night was for a specific goal, and it will be a much longer process," he told a House committee. When asked if current US tariff levels on Chinese imports would not change again, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC, "You can definitely say that." "We're in a great place with China," Lutnick said Wednesday. While the US-China truce framework is awaiting final word from US President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Lutnick added, "Both sides are really positive." The agreement is largely viewed as reestablishing the "handshake" that US and Chinese officials reached in Geneva last month, as details on a larger trade pact remain scant. Trump posted on social media this morning that the US has imposed 55% tariffs on China, a number that does not include any new tariffs but instead comprises some preexisting tariffs, Trump's fentanyl tariffs, and 10% "Liberation Day" tariffs. Lutnick touted that, as a result of the two-day talks, the US will gain access to rare earths and magnets, while the Chinese delegation sought to remove the US's export controls. He added that the trade deficit remains an ongoing issue, stating, "We're going to examine how China can do more business with us." May's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed inflation pressures eased on a monthly basis despite investor concerns that President Trump's tariffs would accelerate the pace of price increases. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.1% on a monthly basis in May and 2.4% on an annual basis, a slight uptick from April's 2.3% gain. Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal reports: Read more here. I would keep an eye on consumer names off the news of a trade deal with China floated by President Trump this morning (see our prior post below). Seeing upticks premarket in heavily China-exposed retailers such as Nike (NKE), Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). The premarket gains here aren't mind-blowing in part because tariffs appear to still be in place. Trump posted on Truth Social: OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME. FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!). WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!" A variety of market observers quickly weighed in hours after Tuesday evening's unveiling to suggest that the deal may not have a lot of meat on the bones — but at least relations are no longer moving in the wrong direction. The talks perhaps underscored how unlikely a comprehensive trade deal is anytime soon, noted AGF Investments Greg Valliere, "but at least relations may not worsen as talks continue throughout the summer." Both sides promised additional talks in the weeks or months ahead, but none have yet been scheduled. Veronique de Rugy, a professor at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, suggested the talks continued to show China's leverage. "China is hurting, yes—but they still hold the upper hand on critical resources, and they know how to use them." Any lessening of tensions — and freer flow — of these mineral resources in China would be a significant boost to the global economy with China holding outsized leverage in both the reserves and processing capacity of these key building blocks for everything from computers to electric vehicle batteries to medical devices. Likewise, the US offering concessions on export controls would be a significant move after years where successive US administrations have wielded these controls — especially around the design and manufacture of semiconductors — by saying they need to be tight on China for national security reasons. Read more here. May's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report will be released on Wednesday and its expected to show that prices rose a bit faster than in April. Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal breaks down what to look out for and how President Trump's tariffs are impacting what consumers are now paying for goods and services. Read more here. Now that the US-China trade truce is back on track, both sides are keen to ensure it stays that way. China's Vice Premier He Lifeng said both sides need to now 'show the spirit of good faith in abiding by their commitments and jointly safeguard the hard-won results of the dialogue.' Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Despite the US-China trade truce resuming the pain from President Trump's tariffs remains in China, especially among small exporters. Reuters reports: Read more here. Japan warned Wednesday that tariffs threaten its economic growth, the government said in a monthly report. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. A federal appeals could said on Tuesday that President Trump's sweeping tariffs can continue for now. This is a significant win for Trump, who introduced tariffs back in March and declared "Liberation Day," as he saw them as a way to free the US from what he called unfair trade practices. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Early summer sales for Inditex, the owner of fashion retailer Zara, came in weaker, as the company missed expectations for first quarter sales on Wednesday. President Trump's tariffs have impacted consumer demand in the US and other major markets. Reuters reports: Read more here. After weeks of back and forth, the US and China have agreed on a framework to implement the Geneva consensus that helped ease tariffs. The breakthrough came after two days of talks in London, including a marathon session on Tuesday. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said both sides had to "get the negativity out" before making progress. 'Now we can go forward to try to do positive trade, growing trade,' he said. As part of the deal, Beijing has promised to speed up shipments of rare earth metals, a crucial component for global auto and defense industries. Washington will ease export controls. This marks the first sign of movement on key issues. The proposal will now be presented to President Trump and China's Xi. Still, the discussions also did little to resolve a long-standing issue: China's trade surplus with the US. 'Markets will likely welcome the shift from confrontation to coordination,' said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets. 'We're not out of the woods yet — it's up to Trump and Xi to approve and enforce the deal.' The meeting was set up after a phone call between the two leaders, following weeks of each side accusing the other of breaking the Geneva commitments. Both countries had used chips, rare earths, student visas and ethane as bargaining tools. Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor at East China Normal University, said trust, not money, has been the biggest casualty of the trade war. 'We've heard a lot about frameworks,' he said. 'But the fundamental issue remains: Chips versus rare earths. Everything else is a peacock dance.' Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Sign in to access your portfolio