When states ban DEI programs, universities rebrand

Instead of ‘diversity, equity and inclusion,’ how about ‘access and engagement’?

At the University of Tennessee, the campus diversity, equity and inclusion program is now called the Division of Access and Engagement.

Louisiana State University also rebranded its diversity office after Jeff Landry, a Donald Trump-backed Republican, was elected governor last fall. Its Division of Inclusion, Civil Rights and Title IX is now called the Division of Engagement, Civil Rights and Title IX.

And at the University of Oklahoma, the diversity office is now the Division of Access and Opportunity.

In what appears to be an effort to placate opponents of diversity and equity programs, university officials are relaunching their DEI offices under different names, changing the titles of officials, and rewriting requirements to eliminate words like “diversity” and “equity.” In some cases, only the words have changed.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, at least 82 bills opposing DEI in higher education have been filed in more than 20 states since 2023, and 12 have become law, including in Idaho, Indiana, Florida and Texas.

Many college officials feel they need DEI offices to market to an increasingly diverse generation of students and the faculty who might attract them.

The opposition to diversity programs comes at a challenging time as universities face an incoming student shortage — the result of declining birthrates and skepticism of the value of an expensive college degree — and a ban on race-conscious admissions.

In announcing the renaming of the Louisiana State DEI program, the school’s president, William F. Tate IV, said there had been no political pressure. But he also recently told the faculty senate “we most certainly have paid attention to the ripple effects” elsewhere.