The Flint campus of the University of Michigan fights back against the efforts of the Trump government to dismantle diversity, fairness and inclusion programs.
The university spent $ 250 million on their trail blower in dei strategies, but threats to return federal financing led President Santa Ono to end the plan on Thursday.
However, the Flint campus of the university has issued a letter to the community in which it was announced that they would not eliminate their office, but would instead re -introduce the program under a new name.
Flint's Office or Dei now works as the Wolverine Hub of opportunities, perseverance and excellence, also known as hope.
'We do not expect a reduction in staff because of this change, but some personnel positions will retire and job descriptions will be assessed to ensure that we achieve the breadth of access that are needed for our students,' University of Michigan-Flint's Chancellor Laurence B. Alexander wrote in the letter, seen by Dailymail.com.
The letter continued that University Board will continue to support cultural events, an inclusive environment and will facilitate respectful conversations.
Alexander added that the university would evaluate its presence on the web to be in accordance with new federal guidelines, but there would be no changes at departmental level.
The Chancellor has also detailed that the Human Resources team of the Campus would change vacancies to eliminate language about the identity or dedication of an applicant to Dei.
Michigan University is forced to reverse dei initiatives in response to the recent executive orders of the Trump administration, making the programs illegal,
In a whole series of executive orders, Trump claimed that Dei was a violation of civil rights and called the programs 'radical' and 'waste'.
University of Michigan-Flint Chancellor Laurence B. Alexander gave a letter to the campus community about how dei policy would continue to move forward
'We understand that recent policy discussions at national level can evoke or evoke uncertainty. Know that we will continue to follow the government activities and are committed to providing clarity and updates if necessary, “the letter continued.
The letter specifically focused on UM-Flint's plan when combating Trump's dei policy. President Ono has not announced whether similar policy will be implemented on the other campuses of the university.
Michigan has three campuses Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint. The main campus is in Ann Arbor and focuses on research.
Flint and Dearborn have higher acceptance percentages and lower admission costs and the three campuses are financed separately.
Both Ann Arbor and Flint campuses adopted a dei -strategic plan in 2020 and the university defended the initiative.
In October, the New York Times investigated the size of Michigan's $ 250 million dei program, referred to by Flint Professor Mark J. Perry in which vacancies with regard to dei were risen by 70 percent.
A study conducted by the conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, the same think tank that Project 2025 wrote, called that the University of Michigan had the largest dei program of a public university in 2021.
A confidential report obtained by the Times also showed that Michigan's government encouraged the staff to continue to use diversity initiatives in recruitment and promotion.
President Santa Ono of the University of Michigan wrote in a public letter that the administration would terminate the dei policy in accordance with the recent executive orders of Trump
Flint -Campus Chancellor Laurence B. Alexander followed in a separate letter that the school would launch a new office, the Wolverine Hub of opportunities, perseverance and excellence, also known as hope
The Dei Strategic Plan of the university was launched in 2016 and an evolved strategy called Dei 2.0 was rolled out in 2023.
As a result of the initiatives, the first generation students rose by 46 percent and the recipients of Pell Grant rose by more than 32 percent.
On Thursday, President Ono released a letter in which the community was informed that the strategic plan of Dei 2.0 would be stopped.
“These decisions have not been taken lightly. We acknowledge that the changes are considerable and will be a challenge for many of us, especially those whose life and careers have been enriched by and dedicated to programs that are currently running, “Ono wrote in the message.
Ono noted that federal actions against Dei, including the recent executive orders of Trump, contributed to the decision to terminate the program.
On the first day of Trump's presidency, he signed an executive order that Dei programs called 'radical' and 'wasting'.
The order led the termination of all dei or deia programs (diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility) programs.
Trump signed another order entitled ending illegal discrimination and the repair of earnings-based opportunities a day later, which illegally declared dei initiatives.
The University of Michigan-Flint largely serves students locally for the area and has a lower tuition fee than the flagship Ann Arbor location
The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor is the most important campus and is a competitive public university with a low acceptance rate
ONO also called Trump's order to dismantle the Ministry of Education and written a letter by Craig Trainer, the acting assistant Secretary of Civil Rights at the Doe.
The letter threatened that federal financing would be eliminated for public universities who have not dismantled their Dei programs.
To combat the results of reversing dei, Ono said that the university would initiate other steps to continue to support the community.
Michigan said they would expand financial help and improve the support of mental health.
The University is also expanding its Blavin Scholars program and invests in more programs to promote academic success, including 24/7 AI teachers and a personal AI assistant for every member of the community.
