Major University To Shutter DEI Division

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin announced Wednesday that the university would close its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) division.

Mnookin made the announcement in a campus-wide message.

“The Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement (DDEEA) will sunset as a ​freestanding ​division. DDEEA has been the home for a set of scholarship-linked student support activities that serve approximately 5% of our student body. These programs, which provide holistic academic support for students receiving specific scholarships, will largely be relocated to the Division for Teaching and Learning, along with the leaders and academic advisors supporting this work,” the message read.

“DDEEA also provided some important employee support functions that will move to the Office of Human Resources, and DDEEA had several individuals focused on institutional data collection who will move to join Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research (DAPIR),” it added.

BREAKING: University of Wisconsin-Madison to shut down its DEI division, FOX reports. pic.twitter.com/XdC8UMKZvT

— Resist the Mainstream (@ResisttheMS) July 9, 2025

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted:

Additionally, Mnookin said UW-Madison would continue to support student cohort and support programs that were a part of the division and that scholarships awarded to current and incoming students through the programs would not be affected by this change.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, applauded the decision, and said in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he is “glad to see the UW System finally getting rid of this awful waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“We need less indoctrination and more effort to provide students with usable skills and knowledge to help them get a good paying job,” Vos said.

Vos, along with other Republican lawmakers in the state, renewed their push to abandon DEI initiatives after a state audit found that University of Wisconsin System campuses failed to track millions of dollars spent on DEI.

The audits, ordered by the Republican-controlled Legislature, estimated that despite the lack of precise tracking, the UW System spent about $40 million on DEI-related offices and activities.

“I also want to state clearly and unequivocally that diversity of all kinds, including diversity of viewpoint and diversity of identity and background, remains a core value of our university,” Mnookin said in the statement.

“We must create the conditions here, including through programs and support services, that allow all of our students, faculty and staff to flourish and to reach their full potential,” she added.

Fox News shared these details earlier this year:

The university was already set to scale back its DEI efforts after it made a deal with Republican legislators in 2023 to limit DEI-related positions. When the deal was struck, the university had 123 full-time positions to DEI. Auditors found that the number had dropped to 110 by May 2024 and now sits at 60.

In January, the university removed its chief diversity officer, LaVar Charleston, due to a “significant lapse in judgment and fiscal responsibility,” Fox 6, a local affiliate, reported. While Charleston was removed from his DEI position, he remains a member of the university’s faculty.

In its audits of state agencies, WLAB found that 12 agencies spent about $2.2 million on salaries for 47 positions pertaining to DEI. WLAB also estimates 23 agencies spent approximately $705,300 on salary costs for “time spent attending diversity, equity, and inclusion training required by Executive Order 59 or DOA in 2023.”

A challenge WLAB noted in its reports was that both the agencies and the university had overlapping costs, making it difficult to calculate exactly what was spent on DEI programs.