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Top Midwestern university becomes latest college to roll back DEI initiatives as trend goes national

University of Michigan Provost Laurie McCauley announced the decision to stop using the diversity statements following an Oct. 31 recommendation from a faculty working group, the university said. The group reportedly criticized the statements "for their potential to limit freedom of expression and diversity of thought on campus."

Some American universities that claimed they would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) ideology have instead opted to rebrand the polarizing practice, according to CriticalRace.org. (CriticalRace.org)

"As we pursue this challenging and complex work, we will continuously refine our approach," McCauley said.

The university chose not to implement two other recommendations from the working group: integrating DEI content into teaching, research and service statements, and enhancing training on how to write and assess them.

Several other public universities this year have also rolled back their DEI initiatives and requirements. 

Signage at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on July 30, 2019. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)

Over the last four years, the Biden-Harris administration has encouraged DEI initiatives across several sectors of the federal government. (Fox News Digital-Hannah Grossman)

Iowa's three public universities — the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa — began eliminating DEI offices and reallocating funds after a state law was passed earlier this year.

Universities aren't the only institutions rolling back DEI initiatives, and during his campaign, President-elect Trump vowed to eliminate DEI programs in federal agencies. In 2020, then-President Trump issued an executive order to ban "divisive" training for federal contractors. And the House Oversight Committee held a hearing last month about dismantling DEI policies. 

"It is a multibillion-dollar industry that pushes a left-wing, far-left ideological orthodoxy in essentially every area of American life, which is why I've begun to call it the ‘DEI enterprise,’ instead of just DEI, so that people have a sense of what I'm talking about," Devon Westhill, a constitutional and civil rights attorney, told Fox News Digital in an interview.