As President Donald Trump has taken action to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal and private sectors, colleges across the country, including Notre Dame, have adjusted language on their websites to remove some references to DEI initiatives.
On Jan. 21, a day after being sworn in as president, Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The order focused on rooting out DEI initiatives in government, business and higher education.
Under section three of the order, all federal contractors and subcontractors must cease promoting diversity and using affirmative action in hiring. Moreover, every federal contract or grant award must include a term requiring the recipient to certify that it follows federal anti-discrimination law in hiring and does not operate DEI programs that violate federal anti-discrimination law. All federal contracts and grants must also “excise references to DEI and DEIA [diversity, equity, inclusion and access] principles, under whatever name they may appear.”
According to the 2024 annual report, Notre Dame received over $154,039,000 in federal grants in fiscal year 2024. Per the Office of Institutional Equity’s website, Notre Dame is considered a federal contractor when it comes to federal employment law, seemingly making it subject to these requirements.
According to the order, federal contractors may operate under the previous regulatory scheme for 90 days after the signing of the order.
Section four requires the heads of all federal government agencies, including the Department of Education and attorney general, to eliminate DEI initiatives in the private sector. The Department of Education, along with other agencies, is also required to identify up to nine publicly traded corporations, non-profit corporations or institutions of higher education institutions with endowments over $1 billion to investigate to determine their compliance with the order. As of 2024, Notre Dame had an endowment of over $23 billion, making it eligible for investigation.
In section five of the order, Trump also directed the attorney general and secretary of education to issue guidance to institutions of higher education receiving federal funds within 120 days as to how to comply with the decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College case, which ended the use of affirmative action in college admissions.
At some point between Jan. 22 and Jan. 27, the URL for Notre Dame’s “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” webpage was changed from diversity.nd.edu to weareall.nd.edu. The words “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” were removed from the top banner of the webpage and replaced with “We Are All Notre Dame.”
The content of the pages of the old and new web pages that list the University’s commitments remains largely unchanged aside from a subtitle, which was changed from “principles of diversity and inclusion” to “building the beloved community.” Text articulating Catholic Social Teaching was rearranged and slightly edited and the subtitle “University Statement on Diversity and Inclusion” was removed.
In response to a request for a comment explaining the reason for the change in the URL and title of the website, University spokesman Erin Blasko said the changes were not related to government actions, but were actions taken to reflect University President Fr. Robert Dowd’s leadership.
“Since Fr. Dowd’s inauguration, we’ve been going through the website and we’ve been updating it to better reflect Fr. Dowd’s voice and leadership in a number of ways,” Blasko said.
Blasko said this also included replacing President Emeritus Fr. John Jenkins’ name and quotes with Dowd’s. He further explained the reason for the changes.
“With Walk the Walk week and with Fr. Bob’s recent conversation with [vice president for institutional transformation Rev.] Hugh Page on the ND Stories podcast about building bridges to a beloved community, we felt that this was the appropriate time to update that particular website to better reflect his voice with respect to issues of racism, inequality and discrimination,” Blasko said.
During the podcast, released Jan. 22, Dowd reiterated his support for inclusion initiatives.
“Our efforts in promoting inclusion and a spirit of welcome and belonging is grounded in our Catholic mission,” he said.
At the end of the podcast, interviewer Jenna Liberto referred viewers to visit diversity.nd.edu to learn more about “Notre Dame’s commitment to building an ever more inclusive campus community.” By Jan. 27, the link had been renamed.
Other private universities have made similar changes to the names of their DEI initiatives. Northeastern University recently changed the name of their “Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” to “Belonging in Northeastern.” Vanderbilt University renamed their “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion,” webpage to “You at VU” this January.
Blasko repeated Dowd’s commitment to diversity and inclusion initiatives.
“As a Catholic university, we are committed to defending the dignity of every human person, to promoting a just society in which every person can flourish, and attending particularly to the needs of the most vulnerable, and so that doesn’t change, and that hasn’t changed at all,” Blasko said.
At the moment, the University operates a number of DEI initiatives through a myriad of programs and institutions.
The Division of Student Affairs serves as the instrument for much DEI work on campus. Its website lists a number of initiatives under its diversity and engagement tab, including the Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Gender Relations Center (GRC), Multicultural Student Programs and Services (MSPS) and the Office of Student Enrichment (OSE).
The Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which opened September 21, 2023, was planned in 2021 as a result of the work of the Notre Dame Board of Trustees’ Task Force on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, of which Dowd was a member. The Center was funded by an initial $1 million gift from the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The Center, located on the second floor of LaFortune Student Center, houses all of the Division of Student Affairs’ DEI initiatives. The student-led Diversity Council, whose role, as listed on the website, is to “explore the issues of diversity and inclusion on Notre Dame’s campus to promote awareness, understanding and acceptance of all people,” and PrismND, Notre Dame’s undergraduate LGBTQ+ association, are also housed in the center.
PwC currently offers grants up to $3,000 to students and clubs for programming and professional development related to DEI through the center.
The stated objective of the GRC is to “foster dialogue on issues of sexuality, gender and healthy relationships consistent with the Catholic character of the University.” The center’s initiatives are categorized under the four focus areas: “Healthy Relationships,” “Gender Equity and Intersectionality,” “LGBTQ and Allies” and “Masculinities and Authenticity.”
MSPS supports multicultural student clubs as well as mentorship programs, professional development initiatives and microaggression intervention workshops in order to “nurture a sense of belonging, student success, and servant leadership for Notre Dame’s historically underrepresented students through growing relationships rooted in Catholic Social Teaching.”
The OSE offers financial support and resources for first generation and low-income students, as well as “non-traditional background students,” such as transfer students and DACA students.
Doug Thompson, executive director for diversity and engagement, declined a request for comment on the future of DEI initiatives at Notre Dame.
The Office of Institutional Transformation, which was formed after Page was named the inaugural vice president for institutional transformation and advisor to the president in 2021, also houses a number of DEI initiatives. According to its website, the role of the office is to implement an “integrated diversity, equity, inclusion and justice strategy” in hopes to “improve the experiences of our faculty, staff and students and build a local instantiation of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s beloved community — one which dismantles systems of injustice and creates space for those who have traditionally been excluded.”
The office’s programs include consultations and departmental reviews and the DEI practitioners group, a group of over 160 Notre Dame staff who work to implement DEI initiatives in their departments as well as resources and platforms for speakers who wish to lecture about DEI-related topics.
Page did not respond to a request for comment.
Eve Kelly, executive director for institutional transformation and staff belonging, also did not respond to a request for comment.
Notre Dame’s divisions and colleges each have their own DEI initiatives, as often explained on their websites. On Jan. 14, the header for the College of Science’s diversity initiatives read “Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion,” but has since been changed to “Our Commitment to Dignity for All.” The College of Arts and Letters, College of Engineering and Mendoza College of Business websites all have DEI statements. The College of Architecture has a page titled “Our Inclusive Culture,” while the Keough School of Global Affairs does not appear to have any DEI initiatives listed.
When asked whether University DEI policies and initiatives would change in response to Trump’s executive orders and policy guidance, Blasko stated that “despite what may happen or what is happening at the federal level, we remain committed to creating a beloved community on campus.”
“As always, we will follow the law,” he said. “But our commitment to creating a beloved community, which I talked about, that will not change. That is part of our mission and values as a Catholic University.”
