University of Wyoming cuts DEI degrees, keeps controversial classes
Despite removing bachelor's degrees in Gender and Women’s Studies and African American and Diaspora Studies, the University of Wyoming has retained several of the controversial courses that comprised the majors.
On May 15, the board of trustees voted to eliminate five degree programs, including two related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) majors.
Despite removing bachelor’s degrees in Gender and Women’s Studies and African American and Diaspora Studies, the University of Wyoming has retained several of the controversial courses that comprised the majors.
On May 15, the board of trustees voted to eliminate five degree programs, including two related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) majors, according to a recent report by the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. However, despite removing the degree tracks, courses from those programs remain available.
Neither of the two DEI-related programs was very popular, with Gender and Women’s Studies producing 17 graduates over the past five years and African American and Diaspora Studies only producing three.
The school’s course registration website still lists several gender-related classes for the Fall 2025 term, including “Intro to Gender/Women’s Studies,” “Gender & Religion,” “Sociology of Gender,” and “Race, Gender, Media, and Rhetoric.”
The school also kept its diversity-focused department, though it was renamed from the School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice to the Department of American Cultural Studies.
Overall, UW appears to have kept its broader DEI initiatives in place. Despite the degree cuts, most faculty and administrative structures remain unchanged.
In May, the university stated that, while it would eliminate its dedicated DEI center, it was nonetheless committed to retaining the services it had previously offered to students.
“The University of Wyoming will eliminate its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion but is committed to maintaining services to students that, in some cases, have existed for decades,” the university announced on May 10.
UW President Ed Seidel maintained that some services may have been “incorrectly” categorized as DEI and will continue to exist under a different name. “These initial steps are a good-faith effort on the part of the university to respond to legislative action while maintaining essential services,” Seidel contended.
In response to the Martin Center’s report, university official Chad Baldwin told Campus Reform that the institution “disagree[s] with the author’s conclusions.”
Campus Reform has previously reported about the Department of Education’s Feb. 14 notice that it sent to universities, warning them they could lose their federal funding if they keep DEI programs in place.
“Discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is illegal and morally reprehensible,” the letter stated.
“Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices,” the department added.
Other schools, such as the University of Southern California, the University of Alaska, Vanderbilt University, and Northwestern University have all removed references to DEI online.
