Under the looming threat of federal examination, Northeastern has replaced or dismantled nearly all of its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, messaging and websites.
Among several other changes, Northeastern replaced the website for its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with a sparse webpage entitled “Belonging at Northeastern” and has indicated that the department will be replaced with a new “Office of Belonging.” The original website was active as recently as Jan. 24.
The apparent backpedaling from DEI comes amid an executive order President Donald Trump issued Jan. 21 which instructed federal officials to investigate “illegal” DEI programs. The order explicitly instructs federal agencies to compile a report outlining a plan to “to deter DEI programs or principles … that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences.” The plan will seek to identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations which include “institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars.”
As of June 30, 2024, Northeastern’s endowment investments totaled $1.85 billion, per the university’s FY 2024 financial statements.
The university could not be reached for comment as of Jan. 28.
In an interview published the evening of Jan. 28 by the university-run media outlet Northeastern Global News, Jack Cline, Northeastern’s vice president for federal relations, said that the university may “adjust” its methods of achieving diversity of background and experiences within its institution.”
“Our values aren’t going to change,” Cline told NGN in response to a question about what the Trump administration’s examination of DEI programs means for Northeastern. “We’re an institution that embraces a culture of belonging, because we know that having a diversity of backgrounds and experiences make us better at teaching, at research, at solving the world’s problems. The methods we use to achieve those goals may need to be adjusted, though — partly because we’re always looking for the best way to meet our goals, and partly because we need to continue to comply with the law.”
Amid a nationwide racial reckoning in higher education during the summer of 2020, Northeastern adopted an aggressive plan to instill principles of DEI across the university. Less than a year later, university officials reported record-levels of diversity in classrooms and among faculty, greater campus police accountability and a series of new initiatives that worked to “advance [the university’s] mission of societal impact and create a future of justice and equity for all.”
The future of that plan, which university leaders had widely advertised, now seems unclear.
Chair of the faculty senate’s Senate Agenda Committee Heidi Kevoe-Feldman told The Huntington News in an interview Jan. 28 that Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs David Madigan plans to speak on the topic and Trump’s freezing of federal aid at a faculty senate meeting Jan. 29.
Removing DEI messaging
It’s not clear exactly when the university altered its original DEI site, but Internet Archive results show Northeastern maintained a page for the Office of DEI as recently as Jan. 24. Previously reached via “https://diversity.northeastern.edu/,” the URL now directs users to the Belonging at Northeastern page.
The Northeastern Human Resources Page has also shifted to the “Belonging” language in place of the words “Diversity and Inclusion” used as recently as Jan. 4.
So far, five out of nine Northeastern Boston-based colleges and schools — the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Bouvé College of Health Science, College of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Northeastern University School of Law — have removed or altered their DEI pages. For instance, the School of Law’s page now uses the header “Belonging” rather than the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” text that titled the page as recently as Jan. 18.
As of publication, the College of Arts, Media and Design, the College of Science, the College of Engineering and the College of Professional Studies still maintain DEI pages.
Mills College at Northeastern in Oakland still has a commitment to DEI section on its website as of Jan. 28.
With the removal of the original DEI website comes the loss of a large swath of information used by university affiliates from underrepresented communities. The site contained a DEI data dashboard, a list of relevant initiatives, events and resources, the ability for visitors to sign up for 11 affinity group newsletters and Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun’s nine-point anti-racism action plan.
The university also changed the usernames of its Office of DEI social media accounts to variations of “Northeastern Belonging” on Instagram and X, which both contain “The Office of Belonging at Northeastern University” in their bios. On Jan. 27, the Instagram account posted for International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” watermark.
The Office of Belonging
The new website contains two blurbs of text describing the reorganization. The first notes the importance of “fostering a community of belonging” and states “embracing this pluralism is not the work of one office, department or academic unit. It is a shared responsibility that spans disciplines and boundaries.”
The second paragraph makes reference to the office’s “reimagined approach,” which it says will include trainings, workshops, participation of affinity groups and the use of data.
The website also links to the “Presidential Council on Belonging,” which appears nearly identical to the previously titled “Presidential Council on Diversity and Inclusion.” The council is made up of roughly 45 university affiliates, including deans, administrators, faculty and both the undergraduate and graduate student body presidents.
The site also links to 10 affinity groups — employee-led communities which “affirm and celebrate varied backgrounds, experiences and perspectives of our global community.”
The office appears to fall under the purview of Chancellor and Senior Vice President for Learning Ken Henderson, whose office’s website previously listed DEI as a responsibility as recently as Dec. 12, 2024. It now lists it as “Belonging.”
While the office falls under Henderson, Richard O’Bryant is named as the university’s chief belonging officer. O’Bryant, the director of the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute, stepped into the role after Karl Reid, Northeastern’s former chief inclusion officer, left Northeastern in spring 2024 to fill a similar role at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The chief belonging officer position had previously been referred to as the chief inclusion and belonging officer and was housed under the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. As of publication, some university websites continue to use the former title.
O’Bryant did not respond to a Huntington News reporter’s request to speak about the changes.
A major shift in policy
The removal of DEI messaging and websites marks a significant shift in the university’s previous messaging on race and diversity.
As Black Lives Matter protests marched through Boston during the late spring, summer and early fall of 2020, Northeastern administrators threw their institutional support behind the nationwide movement toward racial justice and police accountability.
Aoun released a plan of action in June 2020 to “address the scourge of systemic racism.” The initiative laid out a wide-ranging set of measures including the creation of several new positions, centers and a Northeastern University Police Department advisory board.
In 2020 and 2021, Aoun advertised and reaffirmed the university’s commitment to DEI policies during interviews with The News. After the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down affirmative action in college admissions in June 2023, the university president sent an email to the Northeastern community stating the institution would “remain steadfast in our commitment to building a globally diverse community.”
Henderson told The News in April 2024 the university remained committed to its DEI policies, office and administrators in the wake of widespread attacks.
“We’ve been very clear about the commitment to DEI at the institution,” he said.
Months later, the university saw a 35% drop in the share of Black students enrolled in the Class of 2028 from the year prior. When The News first reported the decline — an admittance of 72 fewer Black students than the fall 2023 application cycle — the university said in a statement to The News it would “continue to place tremendous value on the educational benefits of a diverse student body and seek to enroll students from a broad range of life experiences within the bounds of the law.”
Editor’s Note: Anyone with information about DEI programs at Northeastern can email [email protected].
