Here’s a list of what each Utah university has closed due to the state’s anti-DEI push

The banned words “diversity, equity and inclusion” have been scrubbed from nearly everything. Entire websites are now erased or archived. Cultural programs and offices no longer exist. And the staff from those have been reassigned to new roles.

This is what it looks like with Utah’s anti-DEI law now in full effect at public colleges and universities across the state.

The deadline for complying with HB261 was July 1. And schools that had been talking about their plans have now implemented them.

The conservative-backed law requires higher education institutions here to open any race- or gender-specific program to all students. A Black cultural center, for instance, would have to welcome white students. And if that won’t happen, they’ve been advised to shutter those services.

Schools are also supposed to create new generalized “student success and support” centers that help all those enrolled — with lawmakers saying no single identity should be given extra resources.

Each school in the state has taken a slightly different approach. But all have eliminated at least some of the places where marginalized students went for support.

Weber State University in Ogden shut down eight identity-specific centers, meanwhile Utah Valley University held onto four and restructured one.

The University of Utah has been advising departments on how to update their language to follow the law, with a guide on words to avoid and shifting phrases from things like “cultural affirmation” to “viewpoint diversity.”

If you try to go to the website that was formerly for Utah State University’s Inclusion Center, it is now titled “Compliance with State Law HB261.” At other schools, those old pages lead to an error code.

Some have also gone further than what the new law requires, anticipating additional pushes from the Utah Legislature in the future to clamp down even more.

Here is a breakdown of what each of the eight public colleges and universities in the state have done — what they have closed, renamed, restructured — as they have wrangled with HB261.

University of Utah

The state’s flagship school was the center of attention as lawmakers were crafting the anti-DEI measure, and now the U. has drawn attention for purging more than is explicitly required under the law.

It closed four cultural and identity centers: the Women’s Resource Center, Black Cultural Center, LGBT Resource Center and Center for Equity and Student Belonging. The university has also eliminated the umbrella Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, which most of those centers fell under.

Some resources will be shifted to a new Community and Cultural Engagement Center that will focus generally on cultural education and awareness.

The U. also is setting up, as required by law, a generic Center for Student Access and Resources that offers support on scholarships, for instance, for all students with no specific gender or race-based resources.

Mary Ann Villarreal, who had been hired at the U. as the vice president for equity, diversity and inclusion, will remain on the president’s cabinet as an adviser, but she will no longer have that title or the same work duties. Instead, Villarreal will shift to community-focused engagement.

Meanwhile, the university will keep a specific Native-focused center. The American Indian Resource Center will be renamed the Center for Native Excellence and Tribal Engagement. That office is crucial to the U.’s longstanding agreement with the Ute Tribe where the school gets to use the Utes name in its athletic programs in exchange for supporting Indigenous students.

During the legislative session, HB261 was updated to specifically exempt Native students’ supports and scholarships from being targeted by the measure; under the language, tribes are not considered racial identity groups because they are sovereign nations.

Similarly, the U.’s Dream Center will remain open because it is based on immigration status, not ethnicity.

The U. has said it will continue to celebrate events like Juneteenth, Martin Luther King Jr. Week, Pride Week, Women’s Week and other cultural heritage months.

Utah State University

Utah State University disbanded its Inclusion Center that previously served all marginalized student populations, with specific programming for students of color and the LGBTQ+ community.

Staff and resources have been “reassigned” across the university, according to a letter from the school’s president. That includes many who have been moved to a division called Academic Belonging and Learning Excellence.

Meanwhile, student clubs — which don’t have to change — that were previously housed under the Inclusion Center will move to the division for Student Involvement and Leadership. And the school will open a new Center for the Study of Community to celebrate different cultures.

The northern Utah school has said it intends to keep its Latinx Cultural Center and its in-the-works Native American Cultural Center. Those will have to be audited by the Utah System of Higher Education, under a new process, to make sure they comply with the law.

And Jane Irungu, who was hired in 2022 as the school’s inaugural vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, will now be a special adviser to the president. Her new position focuses on university growth.

Utah Valley University

UVU has the biggest student body in the state with more than 44,000 enrolled. And it was the first of the schools here to announce the changes it has made under HB261.

Shortly after the legislative session ended, the school renamed its Office of Inclusion and Diversity — because those words are now banned — the Office of Institutional Engagement and Effectiveness.

That new office is set to focus broadly on student success, with Chief Engagement and Effectiveness Officer Rasha Qudisat at the lead. It is charged with tracking data, such as graduation rates.

The school is notably pushing to keep its existing cultural centers and programs, including its Multicultural Student Services center, LGBTQ+ Student Services center, Native American Initiative and Women’s Success Center.

In accordance with HB261, those centers are now focused on “cultural education, celebration, engagement and awareness to provide opportunities for all students to learn with and from one another.” Any specific resources that had been offered at those are now housed with the First Year Experience and Student Success office and available to all students.

The school previously had a “culture and talent team” that is also being restructured, with services from that split between the new engagement center and human resources.

Southern Utah University

The Cedar City school is losing its Center for Diversity and Inclusion, as well as its Q Center for LGBTQ+ students. It is working with students to “redevelop the spaces” into areas where everyone can gather.

Staff and resources have moved to the university’s existing Student Outreach and Support office.

The school does not plan to open a separate center for cultural celebration. It says that it hopes cultural events will continue to be held by student clubs, and the university does not “need to duplicate” those efforts.

SUU says it will continue to operate the Office of International Affairs for students coming to the school from outside the country.

Utah Tech University

After fighting for a name change two years ago to make the campus feel more inclusive to students of color, Utah Tech is now dissolving under HB261 centers for inclusion that served those same students.

The school in St. George shuttered both its Center for Inclusion and Belonging and its LGBTQ+ Resource Center.

There had been specific coordinators in those centers for Latinx, undocumented, Asian American, Pacific Islander and LGBTQ+ students. Those staff have now been moved to roles in the school’s new Office of Student Engagement & Leadership, as well as the Student Resource Center.

The school’s chief diversity officer position has been reassigned to other “administrative responsibilities on campus.”

Weber State University

The Ogden school has also taken a hardline, far-reaching approach.

It eliminated eight cultural centers. Those had existed for the following student groups: Black, female, LGBTQ+, Indigenous, Latino, Pan-Asian, Pasifika and undocumented. And it has disbanded the overarching Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

The school will move forward with one generalized Division of Student Access and Success. At that center, there will be coaches available to all students to help them navigate the university from financial aid to required classes.

The previous position for vice president of equity and inclusion at Weber State will be shifted to overseeing the new student success division.

Weber State will keep its center for students and families that are “military-affiliated.” It used to be focused only on veterans but was expanded prior to HB261 to any students or spouses of someone in the military.

The school will additionally retain its center for students with disabilities.

Salt Lake Community College

The community college — which has the most diverse student body of any public higher education institution in the state — shut down its Office for Institutional Equity, Inclusion and Transformation and its Office of Multicultural Affairs.

It has opened a new resource office called Student Engagement, Experience, and Achievement for general academic advising. Most staff have been reassigned there.

SLCC has said that it will continue to hold cultural celebrations and recognize heritage months.

The college also intends to keep its Dream Center for students who are immigrants.

Snow College

The smallest public college in the state dissolved its Diversity & Inclusion Office. And it has erased the website for its Multi-Cultural Center.

Snow College’s Student Connection Center will take on the role of providing resources to all students, as well as planning cultural celebrations.