The UC announced Wednesday that it will no longer require diversity statements as part of hiring processes.

The University has asked job applicants to explain how they would contribute to diversity, equity and inclusion at the university since the 2000s, according to the Los Angeles Times. However, after criticism of DEI policies from the Trump administration, the university will no longer be requiring such statements.

“Today, the UC Board of Regents directed the University to eliminate any required diversity statements for new hires,” said Janet Reilly, the board’s chair, in an emailed statement. “While the University has no systemwide policies requiring the submission of diversity statements as part of employment applications, some programs and departments have used this practice in the past.”

Diversity is currently one objective of the UCLA Faculty Search Process, according to the UCLA Equity, Diversity & Inclusion website. UCLA Media Relations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how UCLA’s hiring objectives or policies will change at the campus level.

University guidance stating that promotion and recognition will be based in part on efforts to further diversity and inclusion remained live on the UCLA Academic Senate website as of 10:40 p.m. Wednesday evening.

“Contributions in all areas of faculty achievement that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging should be given due recognition in the academic personnel process, and they should be evaluated and credited in the same way as other faculty achievements,” the UC Academic Personnel Manual states.

Katherine Newman, the UC provost and executive vice president of academic affairs, said in a Wednesday letter to campus leaders that requirements to submit diversity statements may cause potential recruits to focus their applications on areas not related to their qualifications.

“To be clear, stand-alone diversity statements will no longer be permitted in recruitments,” she said in the letter. “However, consistent with federal and state law, the University should, and will, continue to provide due recognition to prospective or current employees who wish to share how they have contributed to inclusive excellence.”

President Donald Trump instructed the federal government to dismantle DEI programs in an executive order signed Jan. 20, the day he took office. In the order, Trump referred to such programs as “illegal and immoral discrimination programs.” 

Craig Trainor, the acting U.S. assistant secretary of education for civil rights, said in a Feb. 14 open letter that the department will withhold federal funding from institutions that he alleges are discriminating under the guise of diversity programs.

“Discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is illegal and morally reprehensible,” Trainor said in the letter. “For example, colleges, universities, and K-12 schools have routinely used race as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring, training, and other institutional programming.”

The Trump administration has also threatened to withhold federal funding from universities which they say allow “illegal protests.” The administration has already canceled grants and funding worth $400 million from Columbia University, where pro-Palestine protesters have held demonstrations – including an encampment – since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Palestinian political political party and militant group Hamas.

During a Wednesday press conference, the UC Faculty Association expressed concern that the University will bend to pressure from the Trump administration. Faculty members said during the press conference – which was timed to coincide with the UC Board of Regents’ meeting at UCLA – that withholding funding was an attempt from the Trump administration to control University policies.

[Related: Pro-Palestine protesters, UCLA Faculty Association protest during regents meeting]

A group opposing affirmative action in college admissions decisions also sued the University on Feb. 3, alleging that the University gave preference in admissions to Hispanic and Black applicants. The lawsuit is yet to reach a conclusion.

The move is the second major change to University hiring policies announced to coincide with the UC Board of Regents’ March meeting. UC President Michael Drake previously said the University will freeze hiring across its ten campuses because of economic pressures facing the University.

Drake did not mention the diversity statements change at the meetings and no mention of the policy change was listed in the agendas for the meetings, which are taking place at the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center.

[Related: UC implements systemwide hiring freeze following federal, state threats to budget]

Although the University has previously been sued for its use of diversity statements, the lawsuit was tossed out in January 2024, according to the New York Times. 

Reilly also said in her statement that the University remains committed to diversity.

“Our values and commitment to our mission have not changed,” she said in the statement. “We will continue to embrace and celebrate Californians from a variety of life experiences, backgrounds, and points of view.”

Contributing reports by Alexandra Crosnoe and Natalia Mochernak, Daily Bruin staff.