This article originally appeared in the Money print issue, in stands March 2025. It has not been updated and some information may be out of date.
Beginning on Jan. 20, 2025, the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump, started his second term. One day into the new administration, the president signed an executive order that took away “illegal discrimination” through diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
While this marks the first anti-DEI legislation at the federal level, many colleges around the United States already started to eliminate their DEI programs during 2024. The state of Utah’s public education was impacted by HB261, which was titled the “Equal Opportunity Initiatives” bill.
Due to this bill, the University of Utah began to dismantle its DEI programs, affecting its cultural centers and affinity groups and leaving the future of DEI-related scholarships uncertain.
Restructuring of scholarships
Jesus Loya-Rodriguez, a second-year criminology and psychology student at the U, said he applied for the Chicano Scholarship for the 2024-2025 school year. The scholarship was housed and dispersed through the Center for Equity and Student Belonging (CESB).
“Last year, with different scholarships that were offered through CESB, they would say ‘Hey, if you are of this different background, you should totally apply.’ For example, in my case as a Latinx student, a lot of the Chicano scholarship had to do with specifically if you come from a family of immigrants or if you’re Chicano,” Rodriguez said.
In August 2024, students like Rodriguez who applied for the scholarship were notified that the university would be unable to award the scholarship due to it being non-compliant with HB261.
“I remember getting an email saying, ‘Hey, unfortunately, we’re not able to disperse the scholarship due to legislation,'” Rodriguez said.
The email mentions that the university is “working to determine what changes need to be made” to offer the scholarship in future years.
In 2025, Rodriguez said there have been scholarships similar to the prior Chicano Scholarship offered under the Center for Student Access and Resources (CSAR).
“After HB261, there is this scholarship that is the same one … it’s under CSAR … but they changed the wording significantly,” Rodriguez said. “I thought it was pretty comical just because I’ve already applied for it; it’s just like they had to change the wording a lot.”
Scholarships for the Black community were also impacted by the bill. Sandrine Mimche is a second-year student at the U who is heavily involved with campus through the Black Student Union and is part of the Operation SUCCESS Scholarship. Mimche said this scholarship was housed by the Black Cultural Center.
“When I first applied, the entire point of Operation SUCCESS was to address a disparity in the Black community, and it was housed within the Black Cultural Center,” Mimche said. “There was another scholarship called Generation Next, which was a scholarship specifically to help Black students or marginalized groups, but it was housed in the Black Cultural Center, so Black students get better postgraduate opportunities.”
These scholarships have been restructured to be included in CSAR, listed as cohort programs open to all students. However, Mimche said one scholarship fully disappeared from the scholarship portal. This scholarship was known as the Sankofa Visionary Paths Scholarship.
Mimche said the Sankofa Scholarship was funded equally by money from the BCC and the Union and was tailored for “students who are prominent within the Black community on campus.”
“It was kind of a huge question mark of what to do with the same CSAR scholarship. And unfortunately, that was the main scholarship that got nixed,” Mimche said.
Mimche said the scholarship was removed because the BCC was closed and the funding to support it was no longer available.
Student value of DEI scholarships
Both Rodriguez and Mimche are from historically marginalized communities in higher education and Utah as a whole.
According to Excelencia in Education, 26% of Hispanic adults (at least 25 years old) in Utah had earned an associate’s degree or higher in 2023, compared to 50% of white, non-Hispanic adults.
According to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, Black people made up 2.1% of the Utah population in 2020. The only states in the country with lower percentages are Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
Although Black men in Utah are more likely to hold a bachelor’s degree compared to Black men nationally, the opposite is true for Black women in Utah, 22% of whom have bachelor’s degrees or higher.
Rodriguez said losing the opportunity to help fund his education with the Chicano Scholarship was a disappointing experience.
“When I was rejected, I just remember being like, okay, great. How am I going to fund my university experience for my second year?” Rodriguez said. “Luckily, I am funding my university experience through federal Pell Grants, through FAFSA and scholarship refunds.”
Mimche said many DEI scholarships for Black students helped people gain community. She said an “equality for all approach” may hurt students who need the resources the most.
She also emphasized the value of the cohorts associated with the scholarships. To Mimche, the scholarships are not just about the financial support, but the community associated with it.
Students who are Black are often susceptible to systemic barriers that hinder their education long before college. Fostering community has shown to be effective in addressing systemic barriers and increasing awareness for resources.
Mimche said programs like Operation SUCCESS help fill in gaps in knowledge among underrepresented groups of students.
“If Black people are systemically in this cycle of poverty, and they’re not necessarily working ‘white collar’ jobs, they don’t know how to write a resume,” Mimche said. “They don’t know how to interview, how to network, how to create a LinkedIn.”
Scholarships that were given to Black students often came from the George Floyd Memorial Fund. Mimche said this fund previously supported the BCC.
Mimche and Rodriguez said the state’s DEI policies have left marginalized students questioning if the U is for them.
“It’s just sad to see … when we had our BSU high school conference, there are not many students there that want to go to the U,” Mimche said. “They would rather go to a place where they feel appreciated.”
Merit vs DEI
In the past year, more and more Americans have been looking at DEI through a negative lens, with an increase in workers holding the view that DEI is a bad thing, according to the Pew Research Center. The idea of meritocracy, which refers to “the notion that anyone who works hard can become prosperous,” is a widespread belief in the US. Some critics view DEI as being opposed to meritocracy.
Mimche said many people have a misunderstanding of what DEI means, interpreting it as a removal of merit and focus on quotas.
“I think diversity, equity, inclusion ensures that people have the chance to receive some positions, but doesn’t guarantee anything,” Mimche said. “For example, I think people that work in those HR roles within diversity, equity, inclusion would say, ‘We don’t have any Black people. This person’s resume is amazing. Why are we discarding it? Let’s give this person an interview’ … I think those spaces are more so used to ensure that people are getting a chance rather than a guarantee.”
Rather than lowering standards for employees, companies with DEI programs have demonstrated greater performance. For example, a 2023 report found that companies with the most diversity had a 39% higher likelihood of outperforming financially in comparison to those with the least diversity.
Mimche said privileged groups benefit from certain resources that marginalized communities lack.
“There are certain opportunities I see overqualified women and people of color get passed up for, and so when you do talk about meritocracy, I think … there’s also a sense of nepotism at play and fair networking at play,” Mimche said.
Rodriguez said DEI programs help create an “equal playing field for all.”
“I feel like their method of trying to create an equal playground for different students is, in my opinion, very unproductive,” Rodriguez said. “I mean, there was never a problem before HB261. If anything, it was mainly a problem of people of higher socioeconomic status [having an advantage].”
Mimche and Rodriguez said although HB261 changed how scholarships look, it did not change their function. They said the requirements for these scholarships were not just identity but focused on actions to build up communities and leadership.
Mimche shared her experience applying to the Operation SUCCESS scholarship before HB261 was implemented.
“The Black people that received these scholarships did not receive it because they’re Black,” Mimche said. “For Operation SUCCESS, that was the longest writing piece I’ve ever had to write for a scholarship … I wrote a long essay about Shirley Chisholm. I also wrote a long essay about missing and murdered Indigenous and Black women. I talked about how I’ve always been a community-based person.”
Current existence of DEI scholarships
While DEI is an umbrella term for numerous things, it includes disabilities and veteran support initiatives. Currently, there are DEI scholarships for people with disabilities and veterans through the U’s Academic Works portal.
Mimche said DEI is something that is vast and covers many people.
“I think those resources [for veterans and people with disabilities] are really important, but they are technically under the DEI statute,” Mimche said. “To me, diversity, equity, inclusion is meant, at least in programs that were here offered by the U, they were meant to offer resources and programs and cohorts for students that essentially were an underrepresented group on campus.”
The Daily Utah Chronicle reached out to the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid and the Center for Student Access & Resources at the U about the restructuring of DEI scholarships but did not receive comment by the publishing time.
In an @TheU article published in February 2024 addressing the impacts of HB261, a statement on the impact on scholarships is included. It states that “privately funded scholarships dedicated to supporting students from traditionally underrepresented groups may continue,” as well as scholarships for Indigenous students who have tribal membership.
The future of DEI at the U
The future of DEI has become unpredictable due to the federal administration. Executive orders have moved towards abandoning a lot of these programs. In terms of Utah, during the 2025 legislative session, there have been no amendments to HB261.
Mimche said broadening the language of scholarships will make it so that less of the people who need resources and support receive it, allowing marginalized communities to be left behind.
“I think it kind of removes the point of some of these scholarships,” Mimche said. “Because I think the point of some of these scholarships was to address or alleviate issues, or address issues or help people within the community that don’t have those resources.”
