5 private colleges that rebranded DEI offices in 2025
Here are five private colleges that seemingly attempted to pass DEI off of as something else this year.
On Thursday, we listed five public universities that rebranded DEI offices in 2025 in attempts to skirt legislation banning diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education. Private universities also took part in renaming offices this year.
Here are five private colleges that seemingly attempted to pass DEI off of as something else in 2025:
1. Harvard’s rebranded DEI office gets more cash than all DEI centers it replaced
Harvard University merged its Women’s Center, BGLTQ Office, and Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations into the new “Harvard Foundation” within the Office of Community Culture. The university’s dean attempted to assuage fears that DEI was being cut, instead saying that the new office receives more funding than the three old ones combined. The new foundation will only award funding grants for events “open to all students,” despite continuing to host a plethora of identity-based events.
2. Whittier College rebrands DEI office citing Quaker values
Whittier College rebranded its Office of Equity and Inclusion as the Office of Inclusive Excellence, citing the school’s “commitment to Quaker values of dignity, respect, and community.” The college removed words such as “diversity” and “equity” from its webpage, instead saying that it will promote “inclusive excellence and belonging.” Despite claiming the rebrand was in line with the school’s “welcoming multicultural community and the College’s roots in Quaker values,” it came just months after the Trump administration’s series of executive orders targeting DEI in higher education.
3. Washington University medical school hides DEI office in attempt to subvert federal crackdown
Washington University’s School of Medicine moved its Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from the first floor of the North Medical Building to a restricted-access 12th floor of the Mid Campus Center. The discovery was made by America First Legal, who also sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon requesting an investigation into the school for violating anti-DEI laws and executive orders.
4. Temple medical school rebrands DEI without removing it
Temple University’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine recently rebranded its Office of Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, making clear that the change is in name only. According to the school, the new Office of Strategic Partnerships in Health, Education and Resources will serve as an “expanded, school-wide commitment to advancing equity” with the same staff members from the old office, doing much of the same work uninterrupted. The office’s webpage includes the school’s Diversity Statement and information about its “LGBTQ Alliance Task Force.”
5. St. Louis University rebrands DEI office, denies link to Trump crackdown
St. Louis University closed its Division of Diversity and Innovative Community Engagement on the same day that it opened the Office of Belonging. The school asserted that the decision had nothing to do with the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI, claiming instead that it was a continuation of its long-running “Belonging at SLU” initiative. Some leftist students and faculty members interpreted the move as a scaling-back of DEI, but President Edward Feser assured the university community that the rebranding would allow the school to “achieve maximum effect in scale.”
