University of Maine renames DEI office while maintaining DEI programs amid federal concerns
The University of Maine rebranded its Office of Diversity and Inclusion as the Office of Community and Connections, removing DEI-related terms, but maintaining the same DEI-based programs.
The change follows a federal crackdown on DEI policies in higher education, but university officials emphasized that the office’s mission and activities remain unchanged.
The University of Maine recently rebranded its Office of Diversity and Inclusion as the Office of Community and Connections, retaining the same Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) emphasis while eliminating those terms from the name of the office.
The announcement was made in an email sent from university officials to the entire student body. “The Division of Student Life is pleased to announce the launch of the Office of Community and Connections (OCC), a new initiative designed to broaden and integrate essential resources for members of the UMaine and UMaine Machias communities.”
The university’s Interim Dean of Students Andrea Gifford told students that the change, which occurred on March 5, is more about changing the “words” of the office and not the “work.”
“My words to people are ‘Try not focusing so much on the words, and focus on the work,’” Gifford explained, according to The Maine Wire. “That is not changing.”
Gifford continued to explain that there will be almost no substantive change, despite the name alteration.
“The three lounge areas that we have that are student lounges in the Union, their names have not changed, their purpose has not changed,” Gifford said. “The office, and the staff and the students that are dedicated to working there, their day-to-day work has not changed.”
On the University of Maine OCC’s website, three sub-organizations are listed as of publishing time: the Rainbow Resource Center, the Intersectional Feminist Resource Center and Multicultural Student Center.
The university’s branding change comes in the wake of the federal government announcement that it will revoke funding from schools that retain DEI policies.
On Feb. 14, the Department of Education issued a letter to schools that receive federal funding, including the University of Maine, announcing a federal crackdown on DEI policies, which the department stated had been used to smuggle “racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.”
Since the notice, many schools have begun scaling back or completely eliminating DEI initiatives, including at the Universities of Cincinnati, Southern California, Northwestern, and East Carolina.
In response, law professors from multiple schools have published a memo in favor of DEI, arguing that it can “cultivate more diverse, equitable, and inclusive institutions,” and that “common DEI initiatives remain legally defensible” even after the executive order was issued.
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Maine for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
