Penn Shuts Down DEI Website in Response to Executive Order

As the most recent in several actions to eliminate mentions of equity initiatives, policies, and practices on University websites, Penn has wiped the main Diversity and Inclusion website.

The website, now called “Belonging at Penn,” shut down all of its content on February 14th, including demographic information, student affinity groups, and details about academic inclusion initiatives. A brief three-sentence statement regarding Penn’s “commitment to equal opportunity” can be found on the updated website.

“We have initiated a review of our programs in this area to ensure that they are both consistent with the new federal government guidance and Executive Orders, federal, state, and local law, and our values,” the website reads. “We remain committed to providing a respectful and welcoming environment to our faculty, staff, and students.”

A University spokesperson had been asked for comment.

Brighid Dwyer, who currently serves as the vice dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, has been renamed the vice dean for Academic Excellence and Engagement. 

The removal of the central DEI page marks the University’s most notable response to the executive order issued by President Donald Trump, a 1968 Wharton graduate, which mandates the elimination of initiatives that could potentially violate civil rights laws at federally funded institutions like Penn.

In a number of DEI website takedowns throughout the University, the School of Arts and Sciences was the last undergraduate school to remove its diversity, equity, and inclusion webpage. Additionally, Penn removed DEI websites for programs and schools, such as Penn Athletics, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Wharton School, and the School of Nursing.

The same was true for graduate programs and schools, such as the Wharton Doctoral Program’s pages on Diversity in Doctoral Education and Scholarship and Diverse Community and the Graduate Group in Genomics and Computational Biology. As a way to emphasize their “commitment to equal opportunity,” the Penn School of Dental Medicine renamed their webpage and said that they had “initiated a review” of their efforts.

Additionally, Penn Diversity deleted the list of DEI-related administrative and co-curricular programs. Some programs, like Penn Libraries, have completely shut down their DEI webpages, while others, like the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Engineering School’s diversity pages, have either changed their names or redirected to new websites.