MSU Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Jabbar R. Bennett speaks at the Multicultural Center's ribbon-cutting ceremony in East Lansing, Michigan on Feb. 7, 2025.
Michigan State University's Board of Trustees will vote Friday on whether to tweak the title of the institution's top diversity, equity and inclusion administrator.
Jabbar Bennett currently holds the title of Vice President and Diversity Officer, a position housed within MSU's Office of Inclusive Excellence and Impact. The board resolution proposes changing his title to Vice President and Chief Inclusion Officer, according to the meeting agenda.
"As the university continues to navigate various federal impacts, we remain committed to upholding our mission and values while ensuring compliance with government regulations through equal opportunities in education, research and outreach for all Spartans," said Inclusion Communications Manager Henry Mochida.
He continued, "Any adjustments to titles reflect our collective goals and intended outcomes."
The vote comes as MSU, and universities across the country, respond to the Trump Administration's efforts to curtail DEI programs nationwide. The federal government has framed them as discriminatory in nature and antithetical to meritocracy, while threatening to investigate and cut funding to institutions that maintain them.
In the early days of Trump's second term, MSU voiced support for DEI at board meetings, and issued statements tying the strength of the university to the diversity of its students and faculty. But, since then, it's quietly backed away from DEI in some respects, at times citing the need to comply with government regulations.
In July, MSU removed references to DEI on several of its webpages including its 2030 Strategic Plan, multiple college websites and a DEI plan previously posted to the Office of the President’s website. Also, that month, the university announced it would no longer require DEI statements in job postings, hiring, evaluations or promotion and tenure decisions to ensure that the university complies with federal directives.
More recently, the university asked several student organizations included in the Council of Racial and Ethnic Students & Council of Advocacy and Marginalized Students to change their mission statements in order to ensure compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws. As a result, groups included in CORES & CAMS will no longer receive automatic funding from MSU and must ensure their mission statements meet university-approved standards in order to remain registered student organizations.
The office that Bennett works in has itself had its title changed: formerly known as the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, it's now called the Office for Inclusive Excellence and Impact.
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