The University of Maryland renamed its Office of Diversity and Inclusion to Belonging & Community at UMD to reflect that the office supports “anyone who needs help establishing a sense of belonging and finding a nurturing community.”
The change, effective Thursday morning, does not impact the office’s staffing.
“ODI is changing our scope to better align with the work we perform on behalf of the entire campus community,” this university wrote in a statement to The Diamondback.
The office includes the LGBTQ+ Equity Center, the Nyumburu Cultural Center, the Office of Multi-ethnic Student Education and Bias Incident Support Services. It also oversees this university’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects people with disabilities from discrimination.
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Dozens of higher education institutions have renamed or eliminated their diversity, equity and inclusion offices since President Donald Trump began his second term in January. Trump has opened investigations into universities because of their diversity, equity and inclusion policies. This includes Columbia University and Harvard University, which have faced federal research funding cuts.
The new name is based on feedback this university received in its Belonging & Community Survey, which was administered in spring of 2024 and collected information about how students, staff and faculty feel about the campus climate.
The survey results indicated this university needed to take steps to help people feel more comfortable, such as by enhancing mental health resources and addressing disparities in inclusion. The results will continue to be used to strengthen community members’ sense of belonging, according to the university’s statement.
The office’s website URL has also changed from diversity.umd.edu to belonging.umd.edu.
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“We look forward to continuing to serve the entire UMD community, adhering to the values and compassion that have always driven our work and dedicated staff,” the statement read.
The website previously hosted a dashboard with 25 critical issues identified by Black student leaders at this university in 2020, The Diamondback previously reported. But this April, this university took down the dashboard and replaced it with two paragraphs mentioning the demand’s existence.
Georgina Dodge, this university’s vice president for diversity and inclusion, told The Diamondback in April that the issues would be reestablished online. As of Thursday, reporters for The Diamondback could not find the 25 demands on the office’s website.
