Some University of Maryland students have expressed concerns about this university renaming the former Office of Diversity and Inclusion to Belonging & Community at UMD.

The office changed its name on Aug. 7 to better reflect its mission of supporting “anyone who needs help establishing a sense of belonging and finding a nurturing community,” according to its website. The new name comes from feedback received from a spring 2024 Belonging & Community Survey, which collected data on how community members felt about the campus climate.

Matthew Adjodha, co-president of the Asian American Student Union, said the organization was “disappointed” with the decision. He said he thought the threat of losing federal funding under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration might have influenced the change.

“It does kind of seem like the university changing things preemptively, even to support continued funding, seemed like a form of bowing out, and almost like conceding to the pressures of the Trump administration,” the senior cell biology and molecular genetics and public health science major said.

[UMD students can now use Testudo nearly 24/7]

Since he took office in January, Trump has issued a number of executive orders aiming to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs across federal agencies and higher education institutions by threatening to withhold or cancel federal funding. In recent months, many universities across the country, including Ohio State University, Emory University and Purdue University, have closed their similar offices.

“Our university is more interested in protecting their own image and their funding than actually fighting for us,” Adjodha said. “That has extreme ripple effects. Down the line, it’ll be death by a thousand paper cuts. … There’s just going to be a lot of small changes they make until our university becomes unrecognizable to us.”

Adjodha added a majority of AASU found out about the change through social media, rather than through the university.

This university referred to its initial announcement and the belonging and community website in response to The Diamondback’s request for comment.

[UMD students honor lost Palestinian lives with campus art demonstration]

Carissa Robinson, the speaker of the house for this university’s Black Student Union, said she had mixed feelings about the name change.

Although the decision is unfortunate, she said, it’s “probably for the better” if the university doesn’t become a target of the federal government.

“I’m all in all just very thankful that they didn’t get rid of the office altogether,” the dance and government and politics major said.

Emily Nava, the president of De Colores, a campus organization that aims to provide a safe space for queer Latine students, wrote in a statement that she understands the name change but was “sad” to see that the university had to resort to renaming the office.

“Higher education is already a rough experience, and offices like the Office of Diversity and Inclusion provide resources to ease this transition,” Nava wrote.

Student Government Association President Dhruvak Mirani said in an SGA general body meeting Wednesday that he met with vice president for belonging Georgina Dodge about the name change. He didn’t elaborate on their conversation during Wednesday’s meeting.

The office’s staffing was not impacted by the name change. The office includes the Nyumburu Cultural Center, the LGBTQ+ Equity Center, the Office of Multi-ethnic Student Education and Bias Incident Support Services.

Adjodha said he hoped the university would be in “better touch” with the needs and demands of students moving forward.

“As much as all these marginalized students and communities want to be represented and protected at the school, I think it will be up to us as students, staff and faculty, to organize ourselves and our protection so that we don’t have to rely on what is becoming an increasingly unreliable administration,” he said.