The University of Wisconsin Homecoming Committee came together in Fall 2019 with the hopes of producing a video to get the campus community excited about the upcoming annual event.

But when the video was finally released, some members of this community were left disappointed and confused.

They wondered why they were left out of this representation of campus.

The now-deleted video features students enjoying Ian’s pizza, running on State Street, taking care of plants in a greenhouse and other picture-perfect moments on and around campus.

What the video did not show were the members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a historically Black sorority that was asked to participate and took hours out of their day to do so. Almost everyone in the promotional video posted online was white.

Facing backlash over the clip, UW issued an apology, saying they “stand with students of color and hear their voices.” They partnered with the Student Inclusion Coalition, a student advocacy group formed in response to the controversy, to produce an additional video addressing the concerns of those who critiqued the first release and featuring various students of color who discussed their dreams and past work at the university.

While the second video sought to repair the damage done by the initial one, UW Asian American studies and English professor Leslie Bow says the implications of this situation reach further than just one controversial video or football game. She says it demonstrates the challenge with the affirmation of certain communities at a university — it can occur at the expense of others.

“People don’t realize the idea that we should all be going to football games and dressing in red and cheering is also a form of inclusivity that doesn’t include a lot of populations at UW,” Bow said.

Diversity, equity and inclusion programs, defined by Bow as an institutional recognition that historically marginalized communities have a place within higher education, have been developing since the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. The goal is to promote equitable opportunities for all.

But since at least early 2023, these DEI programs have been broadly scrutinized across the country in both the public and private sectors, universities included. From presidential press conferences to social media posts, the rhetoric around DEI has shifted.

And the tide is turning at UW too, despite its decades-long commitment to DEI.

December deal ‘reimagines’ DEI landscape

The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents passed a deal in December 2023 agreeing to eliminate various diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in exchange for the release of employee pay raises and funding for dorm renovations and a new engineering building.

The deal came after months of negotiation and withholding funding and pay raises. UW was required to reshape one-third of DEI service positions as “student success” roles and cut the Target of Opportunity program, UW’s faculty diversity initiative, according to previous reporting by The Badger Herald.

At a press conference right before the deal was passed, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and UW System President Jay Rothman stressed how the agreement would not cut DEI programs, but reimagine them.

“This absolutely is not getting rid of DEI, but it is a commitment to reimagine parts of it,” Mnookin said. “I think that we should constantly be looking at what’s working well and what isn’t working well and how we can best serve our students, including our underrepresented students, and help them achieve success.”

Conversations around DEI have swelled in the year since the Regents’ deal. Since his January 2025 inauguration, President Donald Trump has signed six executive orders by the time of this article’s publication aiming to dismantle DEI initiatives, including a sweeping order renouncing decades of the federal government’s DEI and accessibility programs.

But this federal-level change only builds upon long-standing discussions in the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Legislative change surrounding DEI at UW and other public universities nationwide began in the Badger state long before Trump was back in office. In July 2023, the then Republican-controlled Legislature passed the 2023-25 state budget with the approval of Gov. Tony Evers, cutting 188 jobs in the UW System related to DEI.

Other legislation restricting DEI has failed to pass or been vetoed in the State Capitol. This includes a bill introduced October 2023 seeking to change race-based requirements in college grants, loans and student-retention plans to apply to “disadvantaged” students on the basis of financial need instead of “minority” students, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Though high-level changes like these have put pressure on universities to change their approach to DEI, UW’s commitment to inclusivity “remains unchanged,” university spokesperson John Lucas said in an email statement to The Badger Herald.

“UW-Madison’s efforts are focused on supporting the belonging, success, and flourishing of students from diverse identities, backgrounds and beliefs,” Lucas said. “This is essential for strengthening our university and ensuring that all students and employees can thrive.”

Lucas added that the university is committed to maintaining holistic support systems that address the academic, personal and professional needs of students and staff.

But UW English professor Ramzi Fawaz said DEI programs, while well-intentioned, often fall short of achieving these goals. Even though they attempt to do something good by providing a more inclusive environment for all, they can only do so much, as they are short-term solutions to long-standing inequities in hiring and admissions.

“It functions as a band-aid that makes people across the political spectrum feel better about themselves, that they have now addressed systemic inequality by hiring a few additional minority or marginalized people,” Fawaz said. “The deeper problems of racism and sexism have not actually gone away, and a simple program cannot solve them.”

Ethnic Studies Requirement stands as success story

While DEI initiatives cannot completely solve systemic issues, in many cases they have served as steps forward toward greater accessibility at UW for people of all backgrounds. Fawaz and UW history professor Cindy I-Fen Cheng championed the establishment of the Ethnic Studies requirement as a victory for the DEI movement. The ESR requires students to take a course on “the culture and contributions of persistently marginalized racial or ethnic groups in the U.S.”

The requirement was first established in 1988 in response to outrage following a racist cardboard cutout caricature of a “native” Black individual placed on the lawn of fraternity Phi Gamma Delta — nicknamed FIJI on campus — as a party was held at the house where guests showed up in blackface. The ESR requirement is currently three credits and students are encouraged to complete the requirement in their first two years of study.

Cheng was part of a committee responsible for reviewing syllabi for courses qualifying as fulfilling the ethnic studies requirement decades after it was established. When the committee was founded, the question was if the requirement should be kept for another 10 years — but over time, it turned to how it could become greater as students and faculty rallied in its support.

Cheng expressed pride in the student-led effort to create the Ethnic Studies Review Committee of 2016-17, which pushed for the expansion of the requirement from three to six credits, according to previous reporting by The Badger Herald. Almost a decade later, the ESR has yet to be expanded and remains a one-course necessity for graduation.

Last semester, when Fawaz taught a course on Arab-American literature and popular culture, he was impressed by the diversity of his student body, consisting of a mix of Arab-identifying and non-Arab-identifying individuals who were equally interested in learning more about Arab culture.

“The ethnic studies requirement works so well because it isn’t saying to people, ‘you have to do this, you have to do that’,” Fawaz said. “It’s saying, ‘We would really like to draw you into the history and life and world of people that you exist alongside in this nation.’”

Cheng echoed Fawaz’s sentiment, saying she finds joy in her students’ openness to learning about different cultures. When she began offering the first consistent Asian American history courses at UW, her classes quickly grew from 25 students to close to 300 over a few semesters.

Cheng believes her courses can help students from underrepresented backgrounds understand why they are in America in the first place and reflect on the experiences of their ancestors.

“For some of my students, this might be the very first time where they see themselves as the main character in a story,” Cheng said.

Student leaders push for continued progress

The university has made strides in its prioritization of DEI with the maintenance of the ESR and other initiatives, such as cultural identity centers on campus through the Multicultural Student Center’s hubs for Black, Indigenous, Latine and Asian Pacific Islander Desi American students.

But the greater UW System has struggled to represent the beliefs of its students in its recent decision-making, Cheng said.

The Board of Regents’ December 2023 budget deal eliminating various DEI programs may have passed 11-6, but Cheng said this could be a choice unrepresentative of students who were not invited to play any role in the vote.

“I’m not sure if it [the vote] actually captures and represents the actual needs and desires of the student body,” Cheng said. “I think that’s a larger issue, right? Are they [the Board] acting on their own accord, or are they acting as representatives of something?”

The Board consists of 18 members, 16 of whom the Governor appoints, subject to confirmation by the State Senate. Of these 16 members, 14 serve staggered seven-year terms. Two UW students are appointed for two-year terms, one being a non-traditional student.

Associated Students of Madison, the official student governance body at UW, issued a call to action criticizing the Board deal before it was passed.

“This deal tarnishes the student experience across Wisconsin campuses in its entirety, pushing important conversations out of our classrooms, residence halls and student spaces,” the statement read.

ASM Chair and Student Body President Dominic Zappia — who defined DEI from a student’s perspective as making sure every student has equal opportunities to thrive and succeed at this university — said ASM still feels empowered to do meaningful work but has found it harder to hire for positions or perform other essential functions due to nationwide pushback surrounding DEI.

For example, Zappia said he doesn’t know if President Trump is going to continue trying to withhold federal funding until ASM eliminates certain programs or positions. This has a direct impact on students as it makes ASM unable to provide financial support in some areas through grants or student services, or the Student Services Financial Committee as a result of inadequate staffing.

“There’s increased pressure everywhere at the university, and we’re [ASM] not excluded from that,” Zappia said.

While pushback toward DEI at public universities in the U.S. like UW has been felt, it generally comes from those not part of an educational system, Zappia claimed.

“A lot of people who have strong — usually negative — opinions of DEI are not students,” Zappia said.

ASM has a Justice, Equity & Belonging Committee which Zappia said is responsible for providing student support and advocating for students from underrepresented groups.

As a member of the JEB committee, ASM Diverse Engagement Chair Haia Al Zein is working to institute more gender-neutral bathrooms at UW and establishing a center for Middle Eastern and North African students on campus.

“The next task for ASM is to help students understand what DEI means for their classmates and what it means for themselves,” Al Zein said. “I am trying my very best to encourage people to join positions in ASM, people of color as well, to have their voices heard, because sometimes our voices aren’t heard as well as others. It’s really important to put yourself in the room. Put yourself in rooms you’re not really directed to, but you have to find yourselves.”

Zappia added that the committee is working to ensure students are kept in the loop and involved in decisions about how DEI exists at UW and how that may change.

Steadfast supporters brace for uncertain future

Should the university continue to steer away from DEI, Fawaz suggested it pursue equal support of its humanities and STEM departments to ensure the well-rounded education of all students. He stressed the significance of the empathy, generosity and open-mindedness taught in liberal arts or humanities courses and how these are just as important as the technical competencies taught in the sciences.

“If you want to create a world where there is no need for DEI, then you need to educate young people in a full range of the human experience,” Fawaz said. “They need to learn about everything, from scientific discovery to inequality and oppression to human creativity.”

Fawaz said the concern that certain forms of education matter more than others is another form of internal bias. Showing equitable support to humanities departments on campus could mean increasing funding and hiring more staff in those areas, he added.

The idea that teaching some subjects related to DEI is immoral or less intellectually rigorous than others hasn’t changed since Bow started teaching in the ‘80s, she said. But this modern iteration of the “cultural wars,” she called them, seems more dangerous.

“I’ve seen these things happen before,” Bow said.

Zappia hopes to see students and faculty at UW collaborate to respond to the current political climate surrounding DEI. He would like to see the university consult with shared governance before making any significant changes.

As uncertainty lingers and governmental and private positions and their hiring systems have been terminated across the country, Zappia advised students to remember they can make their voices heard and advised them to find community and take care of each other.

“Speak up,” Zappia said. “Speak up, take action and try.”

Editor’s Note: Haia Al Zein is a contributing reporter with The Badger Herald. In the context of the story above, Al Zein spoke only in the capacity of her role with the Associated Students of Madison.