The massive diversity, equity, inclusion complex is out at the University of Michigan, thanks to President Donald Trump.

“Conversations about (DEI at UM) have been ongoing since at least 2023 and, with recent federal executive orders, guidance and funding cuts bringing urgency to the issue, we are moving forward with changes that will impact our community at the University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine,” UM President Santa Ono and other officials wrote in a statement to students, faculty and staff on Thursday.

The announcement cited Trump executive orders on DEI, a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding enforcement of those orders, and a Dear Colleague Letter from the Department of Education last month that highlighted the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down race-based affirmative action.

The letter listed UM among 45 schools under investigation by the DoE for utilizing “racial preferences” in academics and scholarships in violation of that court decision, and threatened the loss of federal funds for schools that don’t come into compliance, according to The Hill.

“The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions,” the letter read. “The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.”

UM announced Thursday it will shutter its DEI office, and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion, and services “will shift to other offices focused on student access and opportunity.”

University officials also ditched UM’s DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan and expanded a decision to end DEI for faculty hiring to all decisions on academics, hiring, promotions, awards, annual reviews and other assessments.

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“These decisions have not been made lightly,” the statement read. “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.”

UM Regent Sarah Hubbard posted to X that “savings from these programs will be used to support making Michigan more affordable for our students and families through expansion of the Go Blue Guarantee to family incomes of $125,000 or less and other student facing supports.

“We are eliminating bureaucratic overspending and making Michigan more accessible,” she said.

Plenty of folks at UM have a different perspective.

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Nathaniel Borenstein, an adjust lecturer, posted to Facebook that UM “completely caved” to the Trump administration on DEI.

“I understand that this will help protect faculty and researchers who depend on federal funding, so under the circumstances I might have reached the same decision,” he wrote. “But it’s truly awful that institutions no longer have the freedom to decide for themselves whether to have such things.”

Michigan’s taxpayer-funded universities spend millions on DEI programs every year, despite research that shows the effort is not producing the desire results.

UM has spent about a quarter billion dollars on DEI initiatives since the school created one of the most expansive programs in the nation in 2016, with more than half of the spending going to salaries and benefits for staff, according to an investigation by The New York Times last year.

In total, The College Fix counted at least 241 UM employees focused on DEI initiatives with payroll costs of roughly $30.68 million, or enough to “cover in-state tuition and fees for 1,781 undergraduate students.”

At UM, a survey released in late 2022 found “students and faculty members reported a less positive campus climate than at the program’s start and less of a sense of belonging,” according to an investigation by The New York Times Magazine published in October. “Students were less likely to interact with people of a different race or religion or with different politics – the exact kind of engagement DEI programs, in theory, are meant to foster.”

While UM is moving away from DEI, Michigan State University continues to embrace the race-based practices, most recently with its 2024-25 Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awards.

Democrats in the Michigan Senate, meanwhile, outvoted Republicans 19-18 to double down on support for DEI last week with a resolution that encourages lawmakers, school leaders and employers to “adopt and uphold the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion which promote inclusivity, protect freedom of express, remove barrios, and provide equitable opportunities for every American to pursue their dreams.”

The resolution contends DEI practices “perfectly embody the spirit of the American Dream” and are “deeply rooted in America’s founding principles.”

Republicans countered that narrative, suggesting merit and hard work are far more important than skin color or ideology.

“The American Dream isn’t about handouts or forced outcomes,” Sen. Aric Nesbitt, a Porter Township Republican vying to replace the term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2026, said on the Senate floor. “It’s about hard work, individual merit, and the freedom to fall and rise on your own terms.

“The DEI agenda reeks of the same big government nonsense President Trump fought against telling people who to hire, who to promote, how to think, all based on a cultural Marxist ideology that pits American against each other,” he said. “It’s the exact opposite of E Pluribus Unum, out of many one.”