The Department of Equity, Inclusion and Employee Wellbeing (EIEW) within UW-Madison’s Office of Human Resources (OHR) has ceased operations, a UW spokesperson confirmed Thursday.
The department, initially staffed with five people, worked to retain people of color and LGBTQ+ people on the UW faculty and staff, and to support the health and wellbeing of faculty and staff members from traditionally marginalized communities. A statement from UW spokesman John Lucas said, “Several EIEW programs are now duplicated by other campus or OHR services.”
“This change reflects UW-Madison’s commitment to reimagining employee support frameworks to make them more integrated with other programs and services and accessible to all,” he wrote in a statement provided to Madison365. “Programming will, where appropriate, be
“We recognize the impact of these programming decisions, both on EIEW employees and colleagues across campus who engaged with these services.,” the statement continued. “These types of decisions are not made lightly; we deeply appreciate the contributions of EIEW staff members and are committed to supporting them throughout this transition.”
The department currently has only two employees, Lucas said. He declined to say whether any staff would be laid off as a result of eliminating EIEW, citing privacy considerations.
The cessation of the department follows the termination in April of monthly informal gatherings for people of color and women of color that EIEW had coordinated since 2022.
In late 2023, the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents agreed to reorient one-third of the diversity, equity and inclusion positions on all UW campuses to focus instead on “student success,” among other DEI-related concessions, in exchange for continued state funding. Additionally, the Trump Administration has attempted to purge DEI from the federal government and threatened federal grant funding of institutions that prioritize DEI.
