UMD renames Office of Diversity and Inclusion to ‘Belonging & Community at UMD’
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The Brief
The University of Maryland has renamed its Office of Diversity and Inclusion to Belonging & Community at UMD.
The change follows feedback from UMD’s Belonging & Community Survey, which measured campus climate and reported experiences of unfair treatment.
The rebrand comes amid growing scrutiny of DEI programs nationwide, particularly from the U.S. Department of Education.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland has re-branded its Office of Diversity and Inclusion, now calling it "Belonging & Community at UMD."
What we know: The office announced the change in a statement posted to its website this week, explaining that the new name "best reflects the fact that we interact with all of the unique identities in our community" and "align[s] with the work we perform on behalf of the entire campus community."
The office houses several units that address LGBTQ+ equity, bias incident response and support for multi-ethnic and underrepresented students.
The move comes as colleges and universities nationwide reassess how they present their inclusion efforts—especially amid increased scrutiny of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs by the U.S. Department of Education under the current administration.
Dig deeper:
The announcement said the change is tied to feedback from the university’s recent Belonging & Community Survey, which assessed how comfortable students, faculty and staff feel across different areas of campus life. Questions included:
How comfortable are you with the climate at UMD?
How comfortable are you with the climate in your classes/department at UMD?
In the past year at UMD, have you personally experienced any negative or unfair treatment that interfered with your ability to learn, live or work?
What's next:
The university has released an interactive dashboard showing results from the survey at the campus level.
As part of the rollout, links to the office’s staff pages, previously listed under the title "Diversity Officers" and "Diversity and Inclusion Staff" have been temporarily disabled. It remains unclear whether staffing roles or responsibilities are being restructured.
"Stay tuned for additional changes to come," the statement reads. "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."