Let’s call this what it is: a calculated and politically motivated decision disguised as “institutional restructuring.” President Carter’s move to “sunset” the Office of Diversity and Inclusion , eliminate the Center for Belonging and Social Change, and rebrand the Office of Institutional Equity is not about making Ohio State better. It’s about appeasing the right people, consolidating power, and ensuring the university stays in line with the growing national war on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
This is not about students. This is not about improving efficiency. This is about optics. It’s about bowing to political and financial pressures from those who want to see higher education stripped of any commitment to progress. It’s about making Ohio State palatable to those who see diversity as a threat and inclusion as an inconvenience. And if a few thousand students, many of whom relied on these offices for support, community, and opportunity, get left behind in the process? Well, that’s just collateral damage.
Our administration will try to spin this as a mere “restructuring” effort, insisting that Ohio State remains committed to “excellence” and “student success.” But let’s be real, removing dedicated resources for underrepresented students while throwing vague reassurances about modified scholarships and compliance offices is not a commitment to anything but the status quo. A status quo that ensures those in power stay in power, that funding pipelines remain uninterrupted, and that Ohio State remains on the good side of the people who would rather see universities scrubbed clean of DEI efforts altogether.
Students are not blind to what’s happening. We see through the empty justifications, the bureaucratic double-speak, and the performative concern for student wellbeing. This decision is not just disappointing, it is a betrayal of Ohio State’s stated values and a blatant abandonment of students who have long relied on these resources for support, advocacy, and empowerment.
To President Carter and the administration: If you truly believe in student success, then prove it. Reverse this decision. Listen to the students, faculty, and staff who are telling you, loudly, that this is wrong. Stand for something more than just political convenience. Because history will remember those who stood for progress, and those who stood in its way.
We will not forget. We will not let this go. And we will not stop fighting.
Senator Ryan Poor