After much anticipation, University of Michigan’s board doesn't vote on defunding DEI

The University of Michigan Board of Regents did not vote on whether to defund its diversity, equity and inclusion program at its final meeting of the year Thursday following protests on campus to keep the embattled program intact.

The board did, however, decide it will no longer require diversity statements for faculty members during hiring or promotion, a significant reposition for the university. 

The board did not directly say it would not vote on disbanding its DEI program, which has reportedly spent $250 million on diversity initiatives since 2016. But members spoke in general terms, warning, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”

“There are no plans to make any cuts to these programs,” board member Michael Behm said.

The board also increased household income requirements in a program that allows qualified students tuition-free admission. The Go Blue Guarantee grants free tuition to high-achieving in-state students with family incomes of less than $125,000 — up now from $65,000. 

University President Santa J. Ono said the increase aims to make education at the school more accessible and equitable for students across the state.

Mark Bernstein, a board member, said the program, which falls under the umbrella of Michigan’s vast DEI program, was important because “intelligence and talent are spread equally across society, but opportunity is not. ... This is an extraordinary commitment to this state and to the future of this state.”

Board member Sandra Hubbard said, “This means we’re open for business for all walks of life, and people should feel comfortable on this campus expressing diversity of thought and freedom of expression from places throughout the state and the world.”

Some had taken Hubbard’s interview with Fox News after a November campus rally to support DEI to mean the board would vote to defund the massive DEI program. That came after an expansive New York Times Magazine article raised questions about the program’s effectiveness.

The Michigan Daily, the student newspaper, obtained a Nov. 20 letter to the Faculty Senate that indicated the board met privately in early November to discuss defunding DEI initiatives in the next fiscal year.

More than 500 students and faculty and staff members rallied on campus, objecting to the potential disruption of the program for the 51,000-student campus.

While there was no vote to defund the program, the decision on faculty diversity statements did alarm proponents of the program. During the hearing, several students and a few faculty members emphasized their support for DEI to the Board of Regents.

“We’ve seen it all over the nation," student Yasin Lowe said. "DEI has been added to the long list of dog whistles and buzzwords that many bureaucrats are now too scared to touch. Many have DEI completely wrong, instilling terror and fear for a reason I must attribute to ignorance at best, malice at worst.” 

Another student, Nicholas Love, challenged Michigan to “reflect on who it serves, who it excludes, who it claims to be and create a model where we are consistently improving access to education and prosperity.”

President-elect Donald Trump has already promised to pull back on DEI at colleges that receive federal funding. Some states, like Texas and Florida, have banned DEI programs at state-funded universities.

Keith Riles, a physics professor at Michigan, said he would like all DEI programs eliminated. He used the term “DIE,” popularized by Elon Musk, calling the program “discrimination” and the Black Lives Matter Movement a “grift.”

“I urge you to rip out all DEI industrial complex,” Riles said. He added that affirmative action is “repackaged as DEI. It’s corrosive to this institution. ... DEI is the only systemic racism that has existed on this campus.”