Georgetown University divided its former Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity & Affirmative Action (IDEAA) into two respective offices, the university announced Feb. 5. 

The Office for Equal Opportunity Compliance (OEOC) — which will maintain the same mission as IDEAA, according to the office’s website — and the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, which aims to support the values of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at Georgetown, replaced IDEAA, a university spokesperson confirmed to The Hoya. In the last year, universities across the country have altered their policies on DEI following the Trump administration’s January 2025 executive order targeting DEI programs.

Rosemary E. Kilkenny, the vice president for DEI and the chief diversity officer, said the new offices reaffirms the university’s commitment to DEI as part of its Jesuit values. 

“While we have bifurcated the name of IDEAA to the Office for Equal Opportunity Compliance (OEOC), and the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, respectively, nothing has changed in the compliance processes,” Kilkenny wrote to The Hoya. 

“The retention of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion name signals a reaffirmation of our institutional commitment to our Jesuit values and our mission stays the same,” Kilkenny added. “Both offices will continue to serve all members of our community by ensuring a welcoming and inclusive environment, and our policies and practices will remain consistent with non-discrimination and other applicable civil rights laws.”

Before Feb. 5, IDEAA’s mission was to ensure university compliance with non-discrimination and equal opportunity laws by developing DEI policies, investigating and responding to discrimination, coordinating accommodations requests and offering bias training, according to the former office’s website as of Jan. 1.

“During these exceptional times, it is critical that we continue to make our environment welcoming and inclusive for every member of our community,” IDEAA’s former website read. 

That sentence no longer appears in the new OEOC website.

OEOC plans to offer the same resources as IDEAA, including guidance for filing discrimination complaints, a bias reporting system, Title IX compliance and various accommodations, according to its website. The Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion will oversee OEOC.

Darius Wagner (CAS ’27), Georgetown University Student Association’s (GUSA) president, said that when he learned about the change, his first concern was confirming the university’s motivation behind the split.

“I immediately wanted to figure out, sort of the motivation, why this action was made,” Wagner told The Hoya. “Because time and time again, we continue to insist to the administration that we should not be changing any values to capitulate to demands of the federal government ever.” 

Wagner said he approached the university’s board of directors to ensure Georgetown would not compromise its commitment to DEI programs.

“At the board of directors meeting, that was one of my main points to emphasize, we cannot capitulate, because that is a fundamental threat to our Jesuit values and our city, because our academic freedom and independence is their bottom line, and if we capitulate, then we fundamentally compromise that,” Wagner said.

Janel George, the director of the Racial Equity in Education Law and Policy Clinic at the Georgetown University Law Center, said embracing DEI fosters accessibility at educational institutions. 

“When institutions embrace diversity, when they embrace equity, when they embrace inclusion and accessibility, it sends a clear message to those students who may fall into those different categories, whether it’s students with disabilities or students who are underrepresented in the institution’s population,” George told The Hoya. “It sends a message to them: ‘Here, there’s space for you that you will ensure that you are supported in this institution.’”

In September, The Hoya reported that Georgetown had changed or removed DEI language on several university websites since February 2025, including pages for the School of Foreign Service, the McDonough School of Business and various affinity groups. A university spokesperson said at the time that the university retained its commitment to a diverse community.

Wagner said the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce DEI programs and policies do not align with Georgetown’s values.

“You see from the cultures that we all share on campus, this is sort of the bedrock of our university, and you know, it’s principle and our Jesuit values,” Wagner said. “There is no amount of data, no amount of words you can say to talk about the value that diversity brings to universities.”

Meher Jain (SFS ’29), GUSA’s director of diversity and community development, said the Trump administration’s threats to DEI undermine higher education. 

“It is disheartening to see what’s the coming of American education, what it used to be, what it could be and what it is now,” Jain told The Hoya. “There are so many students, even on our campus alone — I can’t imagine all over the U.S. — that are feeling frightened of the state of the United States, and it’s definitely affecting many people’s education.”

Wagner said future changes to DEI policies based on the Trump administration’s recommendations would threaten the university’s mission.

“There is no way, shape or form that Georgetown can assume that and giving into any demands of the federal government will be best for our university,” Wagner said.

This article was updated Feb. 13 to correct attribution.