(The Center Square) – Ohio State University closed its Office of Diversity and Inclusion effective Friday after President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting federal funding from those with DEI programs.

Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order entitled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” announced 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.”

Ohio State University's announcement said that “effective Feb. 28, 2025, the university’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) will sunset along with some of its services.”

When reached for comment, Ohio State University assistant vice president for media and public relations Benjamin Johnson told The Center Square that all the information concerning the closure is in the university’s announcement.

“Scholarships administered through the Office of Academic Affairs, including the Morrill Scholarship Program and the Young Scholars Program, will be maintained, but their eligibility criteria may be modified to ensure compliance with the law,” the school said, the former program of which being DEI-concentrated and the latter existing for low-income individuals.

“The programming and services offered by the Office of Student Life’s Center for Belonging and Social Change will be discontinued effective Feb. 28, 2025,” the school said.

Ohio State explained that “these actions will result in some position eliminations.”

In addition, “the Office of Institutional Equity will be renamed the Office of Civil Rights Compliance,” the school said, with the renamed office still continuing “as a university-wide resource for receiving, investigating and resolving all reports of discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct.”

Along with many other schools across the U.S., Ohio State University began evaluating Trump’s executive order and how to respond to it.

Brown University President Christina Paxson and Provost Francis Doyle sent a message to the campus saying that “offices across Brown are actively evaluating all federal activity related to higher education.”

“The University should know much more in the coming weeks and months as federal guidance related to the orders becomes available,” the message said.

“We always follow the law,” the message said. “But we are also prepared to exercise our legal right to advocate against laws, regulations or other actions that compromise Brown's mission.”

When reached for comment, Brown’s vice president for news and strategic campus communications Brian Clark directed The Center Square to the campus message, saying it “may be of some assistance in understanding Brown's approach to navigating all of the new and emerging federal actions as they are in their early stages.”

The Center Square reached out to dozens of universities across the U.S. to ask how they were responding to Trump's order. The following schools did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

• Harvard
• Stanford
• Columbia
• Duke
• Yale
• Penn
• Northwestern University
• The University of Chicago
• Boston University
• Emory University
• Mayo Clinic School of Medicine
• UC San Diego
• Indiana University
• The University of Pittsburgh 

The Center Square previously reported on a number of schools’ responses to the executive order, several of which stated they are reviewing it.

Kay Jarvis, spokeswoman for the University of Michigan, previously told The Center Square that U-M “is carefully reviewing all of the executive orders to understand their implications on the institution and students.”

Jarvis also directed TCS to a message from U-M’s President Santa Ono stating that university leaders are working to “understand the full impact and implications” of the Department of Education’s Dear Colleague letter that announced race-based decisions in education are unlawful and schools continuing with such tactics may face loss of federal funding.

University of Washington Medicine spokeswoman Susan Gregg previously told TCS that UW Medicine is in compliance with all state and federal laws, and that it continues to “provide our full spectrum of services.”

Victor Balta, a spokesman from the University of Washington, itself, previously told TCS that the school was “reviewing the executive order to determine what direct impact it may have on the UW.”

Stett Holbrook of the UC Office of the President Strategic Communications previously told TCS that UC was “evaluating recent executive orders issued by President Trump and the subsequent agency guidance to understand their potential impact on our communities.”

Case Western Reserve, UC Irvine School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and NYU each previously stated they had no comment regarding their respective responses to the order, with UC Irvine SOM saying it may have more information “as we learn more.”

UNC-Chapel Hill media relations previously told TCS that “we are monitoring all new executive orders and directives to determine the impact on our work and our community” and that the school “will comply with all federal and state laws and guidance.”

Meanwhile, a Cornell spokesman told TCS that “university leadership continues to evaluate how new executive orders affect our community. As more concrete information becomes available, we will provide guidance on how the executive orders and other directives may impact our programs and community members.”

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