Top U.S. business schools (MBA) are scrapping diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies one after another. The climate that emphasized diversity in student bodies and actively collaborated with support groups for racial minorities, women and LGBTQ people appears to be reversing under the second Trump administration.
According to Bloomberg on the 23rd (local time), major U.S. MBA programs have effectively begun abandoning DEI policies as they scale back partnerships with minority groups day after day. Previously, these schools recruited incoming students through support organizations so that people from disadvantaged backgrounds could enter MBA programs, but they announced the end of those programs and signaled they would sever ties with the organizations.
The start of this trend is seen as having become visible in earnest when the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin announced in Jul. that it would withdraw from "the Consortium." The Consortium, founded in 1966, is the largest MBA support organization in the United States and offers streamlined application procedures and discounted tuition to help students from racial minorities such as Black, Hispanic and Native American applicants enter MBA programs. This fall semester, the Consortium recruited a total of 854 incoming students, the largest number since its founding.
After McCombs, other MBA programs also reportedly moved quickly to declare their exit from the Consortium. The University of Virginia's Darden School likewise announced it would suspend participation, citing "enhanced program review," and in Aug., the University of Chicago's Booth School and Northwestern University's Kellogg School were also added to the list of withdrawals.
Behind the shift is the U.S. Department of Education, which has declared a crackdown on DEI policies. In Feb., the department warned in a letter that "universities' DEI activities could be seen as 'broad and offensive racism'" and that "favoring or supporting particular groups violates civil rights law." This aligns with President Trump's moves in his second term to criticize the progressive agenda of political awakening (WOKE) and abolish related policies across the board.
In response, MBA programs are seen as cutting ties with the organizations to avoid lawsuits. According to Bloomberg, groups such as ▲ the Forte Foundation (for women) ▲ Prospanica (for Hispanics) ▲ MLT (for Black, Hispanic and Native applicants) ▲ ROMBA (for LGBTQ people) ▲ the National Black MBA Association (for Black applicants) have collaborated with MBAs for decades, but as exchanges are increasingly cut off, their room to maneuver is narrowing.
In fact, Harvard Business School and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School have recently reversed external partnerships, and the University of Chicago said it "has eliminated more than seven programs."
Some worry that the move could negatively affect the global competitiveness of U.S. MBAs. In the past, talent from diverse backgrounds entered U.S. MBA programs through DEI initiatives and were able to produce innovative results at local corporations, but with that channel effectively blocked, critics say the possibility for innovation to take root has also been cut off. In fact, many Fortune 500 companies are known to value the diversity and experience of MBA candidates in hiring.
Conversely, some see the trend as potentially boosting the core competitiveness of educational institutions. According to Forbes, over the past decade schools and various organizations, including corporations, actively embraced DEI policies, but there have been few reports of meaningful results. Harvard Business Review, on this point, offered the analysis that "when corporations ease mechanical DEI policies, they can actually enhance diversity." This is why some faculty and alumni who were weary of DEI programs are voicing support.
Universities say that even if they scale back programs, they will still recruit students from diverse backgrounds, but it is uncertain whether such efforts will be feasible in practice. A professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School assessed, "With the government wielding the axe, it is a risky situation for schools to take a stance that runs counter to it."