In a move to comply with President Donald Trump’s Jan. 21 executive order, the Board of Visitors voted unanimously to dissolve the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships March 9. For students and organizations who depended on funding from the DEI office to hold events, it is unclear what this will mean going forward. Students broadly expressed discontent with the decision, even if not placing the blame on the University itself.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump pledged to end DEI programs across the federal government. Just one day into his administration, he signed an executive order that ordered exactly that. Public universities across the country have been quick to respond, either by slashing and rearranging DEI programs or resisting the federal order.
The University’s Office of DEI offered many services — including providing funding to multicultural and diverse student groups and Contracted Independent Organizations. The Community Partnerships aspect of the Office provides resources like funding to student and community groups which promote diversity, equity and inclusion while also overseeing programming within the Charlottesville community. The Office also coordinates with other offices in the division like the Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, the Title IX Office and the ADA Office. Now, it is not yet clear which partnerships and services will continue.
Fourth-year College student Salimah Hagmagid said that she was not surprised by the move to dissolve the office, given the Board’s conservative lean.
“Unfortunately, I wasn't significantly surprised, because I think that this action comes as another response in a sequence of events in which the Board of Visitors has become increasingly more politicized,” Hagmagid said.
Since Gov. Glenn Youngkin began his term in 2022, he has appointed 13 of the 17 members of the Board. And though there is no indication that Board members are following Youngkin’s lead, the governor celebrated the Board’s decision in a public statement, saying it chose “merit-based opportunity” over “illegal discrimination.”
Third-year College student Phoebe Yoon currently serves as president of Alpha Kappa Delta Phi sorority, a member of the Multicultural Greek Council and an Asian interest sorority. She also is a member of Taste of Home, an organization with a mission of supporting local immigrant chefs around Charlottesville. She worries about the ability for organizations she is a part of to continue conducting their operations, as she believes moves against DEI have caused a loss in funding.
“A lot of the grants or fundings that I've applied to in the past were usually specified for DEI initiatives, but when I was looking for a funding for an event that's coming up pretty soon, I realized that a lot of them were closed or weren't accepting submissions anymore because they were unable to give out money,” Yoon said.
One of the grants Yoon previously used was the IDEA Fund provided by Student Council. In a statement to The Cavalier Daily, University Spokesperson Bethanie Glover said that the grant was no longer available because it was provided by the previous Student Council administration, and was not renewed when the new administration took over.
Because of this loss in funding, Yoon said both groups have struggled to maintain usual programming, specifically citing the events hosted by Taste of Home.
“Without the grant funding, it's getting harder to be able to reimburse and pay the chefs for the work that they do, and so we've not really been able to host those pop-up events as frequently as before,” Yoon said.
Hagmagid echoed these concerns, saying the Office of DEI gave event planning support to the Muslim Students Association, which she is a part of.
“One of the biggest ways that [the Office of DEI] is relevant to us right now is continuing to get support for students during Ramadan,” Hagmagid said. “That was through getting U.Va. Dine to help support opening Za’atar for early morning meals and late night meals for students.”
Hagmagid places the blame for the dissolution of the DEI office directly on the University and the Board. She said that the University should not be prioritizing politics over the well-being of students.
Other students saw the bind the University was in, given that the White House has not hesitated to cut federal funding for universities, even private institutions of higher education. The Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism terminated $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University from multiple government agencies over what the administration said was inaction to protect Jewish students during the 2024 protests and encampment over the war in Gaza.
Second-year College student Ryan Shoztic expressed understanding for the Board’s decision given recent actions by the president.
“I think this was largely [the Board’s] hand being forced because of federal policy regarding DEI and us being a public university,” Shoztic said. “And I think that was kind of reflected in the Board of Visitors’ statement that it seems like the University is still, in many ways, going to be committing itself to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.”
The resolution from the Board began by stating that the University “highly values diversity” and wants to create an inclusive environment that “immensely enriches our Grounds.”
Third-year Education student Paul Miller expressed a similar sentiment — strong disapproval of the decision, but sympathy for University President Jim Ryan and other leadership.
“I think Virginia has a legacy of racism and discrimination … and I think finally, the University has gotten to a point where they are acknowledging that, and previously had been making efforts to combat that and make amends to the people who'd been badly affected,” Miller said. “So I think reversing the previous stance on DEI based on the directive from the federal government is a loss in that sense.”
But Miller said the blame should not fall on Ryan, saying that it was clear from his statements he was not enthusiastic about this move. Referencing the funding cuts at Columbia, Miller added that non-compliance with the federal government could lead to even worse consequences for the University, potentially detracting from its status as a prestigious institution of higher education.
Still, the fact that the University complied with the Trump order at all left some students upset and disappointed with University leadership. Third-year College student Eli Weinger said he wished the University had taken the federal government to court instead of complying.
“U.Va. has delayed numerous promises of progress to its students, there's no reason U.Va. couldn't find a legal justification to delay the enactment of deeply damaging policies from the Trump administration,” Weinger said. “What they're lacking is the political will, because they care more about job security than they do about keeping students safe.”
He cited the Nov. 13, 2022 shooting report, the release of which has been delayed numerous times by the University for ongoing legal proceedings, as another way the University has not delivered a promise to students.
Weinger added that he believes that the University cannot fully please the federal government, so compliance on the DEI order is not worthwhile.
“What we're seeing across the country is that no matter how repressive [University administrators] are, it will never be enough to satisfy those in power right now and prevent them from going even further,” Weinger said.
Even with the elimination of the Office of DEI, some students still remain optimistic about the status of diversity, equity and inclusion at the University.
Shoztic said he believes that the University will likely continue DEI efforts in a less overt way.
“I don't think we'll see a lot of mass laying off. I think what we will see is that these [employees] will be moved into different areas and different departments to do different forms of specialties and provide different areas of work,” Shoztic said. “I think the University is still committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Yoon said that because the organizations she is a part of are “Asian interest groups,” not exclusive to Asian students, she is not worried about the organizations being eliminated entirely. For Yoon, these organizations are the community that helped her acclimate to the school, and she hopes they remain.
“So there's definitely some of that nervous energy there, just because we don't really know what the next steps are, because this is very new to all of us,” Yoon said. “And as student leaders, we really want to keep the communities that we have here on Grounds, because at the end of the day it’s what makes the U.Va. student experience what it is right now.”
The resolution approved by the Board states that Ryan has 30 days to move certain compliant DEI programs to a new office to ensure compliance with the order.
Weinger hopes that the University will continue to stand up for students instead of complying with the Trump administration entirely.
“I think that there are things that we can do to make sure that we reduce the harm that's being felt, but at the end of the day, this [University] administration is going to have to find it within itself to fight back and protect students.”
And for Miller, DEI at the University is more than just the Office or an acronym. He said that diversity on Grounds is about the students above all else.
“The one thing I can say is there are a lot of good people at U.Va., and I do think this is an accepting community, and I think it promotes diversity of thought and speech … I think this is a moment we can hopefully come together and grow from,” Miller said.
He said that going forward, DEI should not be seen as an acronym but as three words.
“I do ask people, instead of using the word DEI as an acronym or a buzzword, actually say the whole term out loud, diversity, equity and inclusion,” Miller said. “And I personally think if you have an opposition to one of those three words, then you most likely have some internal issues yourself.”
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