University of Richmond renames DEI office in apparent attempt to subvert Trump executive order
The University of Richmond recently rebranded its equity and inclusion office as the ‘Hub For Student Inclusion and Community.’
The name change comes in the wake of a series of Trump executive orders and guidance from the Department of Education earlier this year that took aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion practices .
A Virginia university recently changed the name of its diversity, equity, and inclusion office in an apparent attempt to circumvent Trump administration policy against such offices.
The University of Richmond rebranded the “Student Center For Equity and Inclusion” as the “Hub For Student Inclusion and Community” this semester, according to an email from Todd Adams, vice president for Student Development.
[RELATED: Democrats fight to keep DEI alive at Virginia colleges]
The new office will be affiliated with the school’s Health and Well-being Unit. “The Hub” will attempt to “remove barriers and offer a sense of belonging for University of Richmond students” and “cultivate inclusive communities and empower students to be affirmed in their identities,” according to its revamped webpage.
Some students have complained that the office is less visible, noting that the new office is nearly identical to the old one.
“Finding the NAACP and the BSA was tricky on its own,” one freshman student remarked. “Because of the names, it kind of sounds flat instead of what it’s actually supposed to be.”
[RELATED: Virginia Tech votes to dismantle DEI office amid legal compliance concerns]
Morgan Russell-Stokes, the dean of the revised department, commenced planning the change following Donald Trump’s reelection because of the president’s outspoken opposition to such offices, according to The Collegian.
One of Russell-Stokes’s specialties is “DEI Training and module development,” according to the office’s staff webpage.
The Department of Education issued a letter in February targeting such programs, saying, “DEI programs, for example, frequently preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not.”
“The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions,” the letter continued.
It also noted that the Department will seek to take action against schools that refuse to comply, namely along the lines of “antidiscrimination requirements that are a condition of receiving federal funding.”
The letter echoed a Trump executive order that the head of every federal agency “shall include in every grant or award … a term requiring the contractual counterparty or grant recipient to agree that its compliance with all Federal anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions …”
All relevant parties have been contacted for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
