Massachusetts Technological Institute abolished the office on inclusive and diversity at the request of the White House

The Massachusetts Technological Institute (MIT) announced the closure of his office in diversity, justice and inclusion (Dei), joining many universities that turn their diversity programs due to the campaign of President Donald Trump against such practices, CNN reports . In a letter on the University’s website, MIT President Sally Cornblut said that the institute would close the community and equality office (ICEO), as well as abolish the position of vice president responsible for inclusion programs.

Cornblut emphasized that MIT does not refuse efforts to ensure a variety of community, but stated that the university will “move the focus to building a community at a local level”, and the main ICEO programs will be transferred to other campus units. The decision to close the DEI office followed after a multi-month analysis of programs of the diversity of the university, headed by Karl Reed, the last vice president of equality and inclusion, who left the post in February after less than the year of work.

CNN notes that in recent weeks, universities are hastily trying to comply with Trump's requirements in the hope of preserving hundreds of millions of dollars of federal grants, due to which critically important medical studies in the field of cancer, maternal health and other scientific areas are financed. The Trump administration threatened to cancel financing medical research and deprive universities with accreditation that have diversity and inclusion programs.

MIT is one of 45 universities against which in March the investigation of the civil rights department of the Department of Education was launched on charges of "allegedly racially excluding practices in their programs for graduates." The MIT solution on the closure of the DEI office takes place against the background of the escalation of the White House conflict with universities-this week the Trump administration canceled all the remaining federal contracts of Harvard University in the amount of about $ 100 million in addition to already canceled or frozen grants for several billion dollars.

In early May, the US Department of Education notified the President of Harvard University Alan Garber that he stops providing federal grants to the educational institution due to his refusal to comply with the requirements of the department and participate in negotiations with the Trump administration. The letter of the Minister of Education of Linda Marie McMan said that the university should no longer count on federal financing until it eliminates a number of problems - from insufficient reaction to anti -Semitism to the use of “racial criteria” in the policy of admission and insufficient representation of conservative teachers.

The decision was a response to Harvard’s claim, disputing the freezing of scientific grants at $ 2.2 billion, while federal funding is about 11% of the university budget - about $ 687 million in 2024 fiscal year. McMan said that Harvard “betrayed its ideals” and “turned into a laughing stock for the entire US Higher Education system”, adding that now the university will have to rely on its own endument over $ 53 billion, “accumulated due to the prosperity provided by the US free market - the very one, which, as you teach students, should be despised.”