UF rebrands its ‘Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement’ center to comply with state anti-DEI law

The University of Florida’s Center for Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement (CIME) has been shut down in order to comply with Senate Bill 266, Florida’s anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) bill. 

CIME’s website “is currently under construction,” and it’s social media accounts are also currently out of service. 

CIME was primarily supported by taxpayer dollars, with 85 percent of its funding for 2022–2023 coming from the public treasury. 

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UF spokesperson Steve Orlando said that CIME is going through a transformation to make it compliant with Florida’s anti-DEI legislation. 

CIME will be rebranded as the “Office of Community and Belonging.” 

S.B. 266, among other measures, stops taxpayer dollars from supporting DEI departments in Florida’s schools. 

This March, the University of Florida eliminated its DEI department, firing all employees. 

As part of that reform, the school fired 13 full-time DEI workers and redirected $5 million away from DEI and towards efforts to recruit new faculty members. 

[RELATED: Mississippi public universities rebrand diversity offices as neighboring state takes action to cut DEI divisions]

UF’s reforms are part of broader efforts to remove DEI from Florida’s colleges and universities. Earlier this year, for instance, Florida International University also ended its DEI division.

Campus Reform has contacted the University of Florida for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.