This story was originally published by Mirror Indy.
By Claire Rafford
Mirror Indy
May 22, 2025
Indiana University is closing its system-wide DEI office on May 22 amid political pressure from federal and state government officials.
In a news release, the university said the decision was made as an effort to “further ensure compliance” with state and federal guidelines regarding diversity programs.
In April, Indiana’s Republican supermajority passed a law that bans state government and public colleges and universities from taking actions based on characteristics like race or gender — though, notably, lawmakers scaled back an earlier version of the bill that explicitly prohibited colleges from having DEI offices.
President Donald Trump’s administration has been pressuring colleges to end DEI policies, most recently by threatening to use a civil anti-fraud law to revoke funding from colleges that promote diversity and inclusion.
It’s not entirely clear yet how this order will affect IU Indianapolis, though the university’s DEI division website was removed as of May 22.
The Indianapolis campus ran many programs through its Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, including the multicultural center, the LGBTQ center, the Center for Conflict Resolution and Dialogue Programs and the university’s disability services center.
The news release said “select student programs and centers” would be reintegrated into other departments at IU, though it did not specify which were being canceled and which were being preserved.
IU is also renaming its Office of Institutional Equity to the Office of Civil Rights Compliance, which the release said “more accurately reflects” the office’s mission to ensure that the university is in line with federal civil rights laws. The Trump administration has pointed to civil rights and anti-discrimination laws as a justification for ordering institutions to stop their DEI initiatives.
Supporters of such programs say that DEI initiatives provide resources for students that have historically been underrepresented in higher education, such as Black and Latino students.
Indianapolis’ DEI division included a variety of advisory councils, including groups for Black, Latino and LGBTQ faculty and staff, as well as a number of resource pages.
During the 2023-24 school year, there were 102 IU employees with diversity, equity or inclusion as part of their job titles or duties, according to a document filed with the state in September.
It’s unclear how many of those staff worked at IU Indianapolis specifically. The university hasn’t said whether DEI employees across IU will lose their jobs or be shifted to another role.
When contacted with questions about the closure and how it would affect the Indy campus, IU spokesperson Mark Bode referred Mirror Indy to the university’s news release.
IU Indianapolis is the second Indianapolis university to shutter its DEI program in response to federal and state laws. In February, Ivy Tech announced the closure of its statewide diversity, equity and belonging office, saying it wanted to protect its state and federal funding, especially for student scholarships.
But even before the May 22 announcement, IU has been making quiet changes in response to the Trump administration’s orders for months.
In February, the university abruptly closed an equity research center at IU Indianapolis after the federal Department of Education revoked its funding. And, IU School of Medicine has recently removed and edited dozens of DEI-related webpages after a Trump administration order that required schools that receive funding from the National Institutes of Health to certify they don’t run programs that promote “discriminatory equity ideology.”
When Dani Martinez heard IU’s DEI office was closing, she was sad, but not entirely surprised.
“Nobody can really be mad, considering that IU is a public school,” the incoming IU Indy sophomore said. “If they want to have funding that they have right now, which is obviously decreasing all the time, then they do need to adhere to whatever is the policy right now.”
But for Martinez, diversity programs have been a major part of her college experience so far.
During her freshman year, she joined an IU Indianapolis group that was, until recently, named the Diversity Equity and Achievement Program. Colloquially called DEAP, the program helps first-generation and underrepresented minority students succeed in college and beyond.
Since Martinez joined the program, she’s grown close with friends she met there. The DEAP lounge, a dedicated study and gathering spot for students in the program, is one of her favorite places to hang out. With other DEAP students, she can be herself.
“I feel like a lot of people don’t feel the same type of connection (when they’re) being supported by someone who doesn’t look like them or have the same background,” Martinez told Mirror Indy in March. “It’s like, ‘I can feel empathy and sympathy for you, but I can’t actually relate in a way.’”
In April, IU changed the program’s name to the Dedicated to Enrichment, Achievement and Persistence Program. But despite that move — and others like it — Martinez said she doesn’t feel like that will affect the welcoming community of students at IU Indianapolis.
“Just because they closed our DEI offices and they changed our diversity words, that doesn’t really mean anything,” Martinez said. “We’re still gonna do what we do.”
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus. Contact Claire by email claire.rafford@mirrorindy.org, on most social media @clairerafford or on Signal 317-759-0429.
