MSU DEI, Research in Waiting Place; East Lansing Officials Vow to Keep Programs in Place

In the hours after his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed more than two dozen executive orders, some targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government and higher education. These actions have some researchers at Michigan State University worried about future funding and work.

ELi reached out to Jabbar Bennett, MSU vice president and chief diversity officer, to learn more about how the executive orders might affect the university’s work. However, his office declined to comment.

A webinar with the goal of demystifying policy related to DEI that would have featured Bennett and other MSU employees charged with maintaining relationships with the federal government was planned for Tuesday, Jan. 28, however it was cancelled the day after it was announced.

The silence comes after emails from the White House went out to federal agencies and employees that declared steps were being taken to “close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA-related contracts.”

The emails also warned against any efforts to “disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language,” asking employees aware of attempts to disguise DEI offices to report them to the White House Office of Personnel Management if they occurred after the 2024 election.

Several MSU programs and offices, perhaps sensing the changing winds, began altering names of their DEI offices before the election. The College of Veterinary Medicine’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion became the Office of Inclusivity and Strategic Partnerships while the College of Social Science created an Office of Institutional Equity.

ELi spoke with scientists and faculty members who are concerned about their work under the Trump administration. They asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.

Florence is a researcher at MSU who described her research as using “animal models to examine environmental impacts on health.”

“The health we look at tends to be reproductive health,” she said, “and while there hasn’t been anything specifically stated that that is on the chopping block, there is a general feeling that our kind of research will not be encouraged in the future.”

Florence told ELi that the National Institute of Health (NIH), the agency that funds much of her research and that of her colleagues, has entered a blackout and is not allowed to make statements about research impacted by the executive orders. She said meetings with the agency have been cancelled.

“With the executive order to cut federally-funded efforts for DEI,” she explained, “the NIH had diversity and DEI supplement [funds so] researchers who receive a grant can receive additional funding to bring diverse researchers into a lab. A lot of research laboratories rely on that funding to pay their staff. We are concerned from a diversity angle because we endorse and explore diverse research from diverse scientists.”

Florence said that the planned work of one visiting researcher to her lab may have to be postponed or canceled because of the executive orders, as the researcher in question was being funded by a line of additional funding based on the minority status of the researcher.

“Many of today’s established researchers have been through programs that gave them incredible opportunities to get to where they are now,” she said. “Without those opportunities and because of the [executive] orders, researchers from diverse backgrounds, they’re not able to focus right now because they’re worried about what’s to come.”

Craig is a graduate student who has studied race in America and its impact on experiences that come after high school.

He said that his peers and the faculty he encounters at MSU have been “unsurprised but nonetheless horrified” about the DEI-related executive orders.

“At MSU,” he said, “the leadership has taken a pragmatic approach, but that tends to lead to some over-compliance. The ‘institutional neutrality policy’ and changes within positions and officers in the university – let’s get ahead of this if there is federal or state law compels us to but we’re getting ahead of what might not even be coming.”

But Craig said he is most concerned with how these orders and the atmosphere they create in higher education will affect his coming job search, saying that he’s already seen it have a “chilling effect” on hiring.

“I know people who have lists of states they won’t apply to or live in because they prohibit [public] funding for certain topics so professionals are super vigilant about what publications and conferences they submit for things like tenure review.”

Craig said that despite the executive orders, he feels like his faculty at MSU are in his corner and will do their best to protect his ability to continue his research.

“I don’t think we’ll ever be able to remove race data from educational research,” he said.

Rosemary has been on her MSU department’s DEI committee for two years. In that time, the group spearheaded efforts to get a wheelchair accessible set of doors installed in the aged building that houses her department. They have solicited funds from the occupant offices in the building but have seen the original price quote double. Because she is trying to find the funding while working for her department’s DEI office, she has concerns that trying to fund the accessible doors will only become harder if MSU is affected by the executive orders.

“It could hinder us if it brings a lack of funding,” she said. “We’ve had issues getting outreach grants to fund [the project] already.  It’s not even about DEI; it ’s about accessibility.”

Rosemary said she was moved to get involved in the DEI committee after witnessing the inclusive spirit of the department.  

“We want to deliver excellence in the community,” she said. “DEI efforts are often political.  We need an accessible door to make people’s lives easier…to help older people who can’t push [it open]. We’re providing the best care for our community. If we change our name, that’s fine as long as we keep doing things that benefit everybody.

“Regardless of what happens,” Rosemary said, “we’re going to keep trying our best to push forward. The MSU community has done a very good job of pushing forward. We’ll come together to support one another.”

East Lansing officials promise to continue DEI efforts.

While MSU’s DEI programs are being threatened, the city’s programs don’t appear to face the same risk at this time.

Before Trump’s inauguration, ELi spoke with Elaine Hardy, East Lansing’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion director, about the future of her office’s work in the city.

“Unfortunately,” she said, “the word diversity has been politicized and has caused people to not really even understand the magnitude of what that word stands for. People hear the word diversity and they immediately think that there are certain people that are excluded from the conversation about diversity. And that’s just simply not true.”

Hardy says that offices like hers are for everyone.

“Diversity is not bad,” she said. “It means diversity of thought, diversity of opinion…it involves everyone.”

When asked how she engages with individuals who believe DEI work is harmful, Hardy said that it’s important people have the complete picture. She’s encountered individuals who believe that equity means taking something from one group and giving it to another

“It’s just not the truth,” Hardy said. “Equity is giving people the tools they need to be successful and that’s all it means. It doesn’t mean that it takes from anyone else.”

Hardy believes that the work her office has done since its 2020 creation has helped educate people by bringing them to the table.

“We launched a series of lunch and learns [for city staff] that encompassed a broad range of topics, everything from talking about women’s history and suffrage to providing autism awareness,” she said, “and that’s really going to be our focus for 2025; to continue the work of building an organization that is centered around culture and belonging so that everyone can authentically come to work.”

Hardy aims to ensure that all parts of the community are considered within city hall, and that people from different backgrounds feel comfortable sharing their views.

“We will ask ourselves three questions,” she said. “Who’s in the room with us, who should be in the room with us, and how do we get them here? When we begin having those conversations as an organization and then with our community, I think that we’ll be able to continue to build on the voices that we hear from in the community and continue to build an organization where everybody feels like they’re valued and they’re included.”

City Manager Robert Belleman voiced his support for East Lansing’s DEI efforts when we spoke with him earlier this month.

“East Lansing is committed to ensuring the city and the programs and services we offer are inclusive,” he said. “Diversity is very important, but inclusivity ensures it’s all encompassing in general in saying that we’re sensitive to everyone, [including] race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity.  Inclusivity also means a diversity of thoughts and opinions. We want to hear and welcome everything and, you know, we may agree to disagree. But I think it’s important to hear it.”

Correction 2/6: This story was updated to clarify the lunch and learn sessions are for city staff.