For Marcela Rodriguez-Campo, the former head of Nevada State University’s Community, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI) Office, the office’s closure in May has been a long time coming. 

Since last August, she said, school leaders had been discussing terminating the office as well as a now-canceled first generation college access program called Neplantla, contending they were not serving enough students. 

But Rodriguez-Campo, who has since resigned because she disagrees with the school’s direction, said the data does not back up that claim. 

“Some of these [cohort] programs are serving, on their own, 80 to 100 students. We're a pretty small campus. That's a pretty large proportion,” she said in an interview with The Nevada Independent. 

The elimination of the school’s DEI program is a significant move for a campus composed of more than 75 percent “historically minoritized” students. During Rodriguez-Campo’s three-year tenure alone, the office hosted more than 50 programs annually, held a statewide diversity summit, and trained anywhere from 100 to 150 faculty per year on inclusivity, she said. Rodriguez-Campo said that she felt that the office’s elimination would have a disparate impact on Latino students, who make up  about 40 percent of the school’s population. 

Nevada State is one of several Nevada colleges to change, rebrand or shutter their diversity programs amid increasing federal scrutiny of DEI programs, which have become a target under the administration of President Donald Trump, who called them “absolute nonsense.”

DEI initiatives, which have come in forms such as workforce development to cultural sensitivity training, have become popularized in recent years as a means of creating a more equitable environment by highlighting the needs of historically marginalized groups. The Trump administration, however, has used it as a catch-all for different diversity programs, such as race-based scholarships and gender-neutral bathrooms.  

Earlier this year, the Department of Education issued (now-blocked) guidance targeting DEI programs at federally funded colleges. In July, the Department of Justice threatened to strip federal funding from schools with certain diversity, inclusion, and equity practices.” 

Since the start of the Trump administration, hundreds of schools nationwide have seen changes to their DEI programs, according to reporting from The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

The College of Southern Nevada (CSN)  this year renamed their “Office of Diversity” to the “Office of Civic and Cultural Engagement,” and in February, UNLV —  among the nation’s top five most diverse universities — scrubbed documents from its website that provide guidance on hiring diverse candidates. In March, UNLV was among more than 50 universities placed under investigation for alleged racial discrimination in academic programs or scholarships. 

Since the office’s closure at Nevada State, students angered by the shuttering have launched an Instagram account and pushed back against Neplantla’s closure at Board of Regent meetings. Leonardo Montoya, a former cohort member of Nepantla, said at a March meeting that DEI programs are “essential to retention and graduation.”

In a statement to The Nevada Independent, Nevada State said the elimination of the office was part of a larger restructuring effort that began in 2022 with an in-depth analysis of existing programs in order to “streamline operations, increase inter-departmental cooperation, and maximize limited resources with the utmost positive impact.” 

“As part of these efforts, some offices and programs were reorganized to further a model that is focused on well-rounded, student-centered success,” the office wrote. “To maximize efficiency and impact, programs that hosted similar interventions, such as advising and student programming, were integrated.”

A statement provided to The Nevada Independent by UNLV said that the school is in the process of replacing its former Office of Diversity Initiatives with a broader effort “focused on advancing campus wide initiatives to build a climate of engagement and collaboration.”

Details are still being finalized, they said, but initial plans include coordinating the effort within UNLV’s Division of Human Resources.

UNR, the state’s flagship university, has not distanced itself from the DEI moniker. It still has an agency called the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

The university said in a statement that it “remains steadfast in its commitment to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and diverse learning environment for all students, faculty, and staff” and “will continue to review our policies and programs to ensure compliance with applicable laws while preserving the goals of access, opportunity, and support for students.” 

Impact of DEI changes

Nevada State said in a statement that no positions were eliminated as a result of restructuring. 

But Rodriguez-Campo said she is aware of more than a dozen Nevada State staff members whose departures appear to be related to the elimination of DEI programs. About half of those are Latinas.

“When folks have tried to speak up or raise their concerns or advocate for students, the institution has not received that feedback well and has pushed out many faculty and staff,”  Rodriguez-Campo said. Reporting from the Nevada Current also found that faculty members have felt pressure to not denounce cuts at Nevada State. 

Joe Hassert, a communications professor at CSN and committee chair for the school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, said that he felt many of the changes at the college, such as renaming their multicultural student center to “The Den,” were not needed and certainly did not originate from student complaints about diversity programming. 

“I don’t think this was motivated by anything at the grassroots level, or by any demands from our students or the community that we serve. I think this dealt more with compliance than anything else,” said Hassert, who clarified that he was speaking in his personal capacity and not on behalf of CSN or any affiliated groups. 

CSN said in a statement to The Nevada Independent that the renaming of the DEI office was “more than just a name change.” The change reflects a broader shift in the office’s mission, CSN wrote, and “makes clear that the office is here to serve all members of our campus community.”

Sondra Cosgrove, a history professor at CSN and former faculty senate chair, said she isn’t worried about the rebranding of the school’s DEI office, especially as the office has gone through several iterations.

“We do a lot of, ‘Are you registered to vote, do you know what a down ballot race is? Do you know why the primary is important?’” Cosgrove said. “We do a lot of that, but that's not reflected if you just call us the DEI office.” 

Additional federal cuts or punishments for continuing DEI programs could have a profound impact in Nevada. More than half of the state’s public colleges are defined as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (schools comprising at least 25 percent Hispanic students) and as of last fall, 65 percent of students in the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) were “historically minoritized,” according to an NSHE dashboard. 

NSHE Chancellor Matt McNair said in a statement that “every student should feel safe, supported, and able to thrive on our campuses. Legal requirements and the language we use to describe our work evolve over time, and NSHE and its institutions continue to evaluate programs and practices to ensure our work remains consistent with state and federal law.” 

‘We can't operate without that that money’

The Trump administration has already stripped local colleges of millions of dollars, taking particular aim at grants supporting Hispanic and minority students. UNLV, Nevada State University and CSN lost a combined nearly $18 million in September after the administration scrapped a minority grant program. 

In August, the administration canceled CSN’s Student Support Service grant, which had provided $300,000 in funding for more than 200 students annually. Its termination led to the cancellation of the school’s TRIO program — which provided advice, college workshops, financial aid and scholarship support to more than 3,000 low-income, first-generation college students and students with disabilities since 2000.

According to an NSHE audit, nearly more than 50 percent of NSHE’s funding comes from non-state supported sources, including federal grants and student fees.

Hassert, the CSN professor, said that he feels that renaming the school’s DEI office was mostly an attempt to avoid losing additional federal funding rather than a grassroots push. 

“It really got the attention of our campus leaders,” he said about grant terminations. “We can't operate without that money.”

The majority of CSN’s campus is composed of low-income students (nearly 50 percent of students are Pell Grant eligible because of their household income). Cosgrove said she is worried that federal cuts could affect students who need it the most. State funding for students in higher education – she pointed out — is already strained.

“What I worry about, is if you're taking shots at DEI, and it's taking money away from my poor students — that I have a problem with,” Cosgrove said.