This story was updated at 12:40 p.m. to reflect recent developments.
UMass Boston’s Diversity and Inclusion webpage was edited last week to remove references to diversity, ethnicity and gender identity.
As originally reported by Boston 25 News, the page is now titled “Inclusion and Belonging.” All mentions of diversity have been removed from the page.
“We encourage you to bring your whole identity to campus—your diversity, ethnicity, gender identity, culture and beyond,” a version of the page archived Jan. 25 read. The edited site replaces the last section with “your unique lived experience, heritage, culture and beyond.”
The change comes just two weeks after President Donald Trump, who took office Jan. 20, signed an executive order titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.”
UMass Boston Director of Communications DeWayne Lehman said the timing was purely coincidental, and the updates were part of establishing the Office of Inclusive Excellence and Belonging, led by Vice Chancellor Calvin Hill, who was hired in June of last year.
“Implementing and transitioning to this new office has been an ongoing process, the timing of which has not been related to external pressures,” Lehman wrote in an email Friday. He did not explain why the phrase regarding diversity, ethnicity and gender identity was removed from the page.
The update did not remove the university’s goal of becoming “the leading anti-racist and health-promoting public research university” from the page. It also did not remove mentions of diversity and ethnicity from the university’s mission statement. A directory of identity-related support resources known as “All of Us,” which is maintained by the office, remains unaffected as well.
“The new Office of Inclusive Excellence and Belonging incorporates and enhances all of our current and previous efforts and initiatives in this area,” Lehman wrote. The new office replaces the office of Diversity, Excellence and Inclusion, which was led by an assistant chancellor. The new office is led by a vice chancellor, placing it higher in the university’s hierarchy than the previous office.
The Trump administration order requires “the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
The order also bans the government from attaching DEI requirements to grants and contracts.
Though the executive order applies only to the federal government, some private sector companies have used it as an opportunity to cut back their DEI programs. Google relied on the order in stopping its diversity hiring goals, citing the company’s status as a federal contractor, and said it was reviewing other programs, The New York Times reports. Target announced cuts to its programs Jan. 24, four days after Trump signed the order, according to the Associated Press.
A version of this article appeared in print on Page 1 of Vol. LIX Issue X, published Feb. 10, 2025.
