Despite the University of Michigan’s commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), student activists are still not satisfied with the college’s efforts, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Since launching its 10-year DEI plan in 2016, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has spent at least $85 million of initial funding with 163 people employed to advance the institution’s commitment to recruit a “diverse community” and “create an inclusive and equitable campus climate,” according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Though the institution’s DEI efforts are one of the most ambitious in the country, black students are saying the school still is not meeting their needs, claiming they feel like “spokespersons” for their race. (RELATED: Harvard University Is Hosting A Race-Based Music Program, Civil Rights Complaint Alleges)

Through the 2021-2022 school year, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor’s black enrollment fell to 3.9%, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. In response, the Black Student Union, a student group on campus, created a report detailing the university’s shortcomings and how it can begin to emphasize “anti-blackness” and restructure the “flaws of DEI that systemically neglect Black students.”

“DEI at the university, as it currently stands, is structurally flawed,” the Black Student Union wrote in its report. “85 million dollars was spent on DEI efforts and yet, Black students’ experience on campus has hardly improved. DEI is not and will never be effective until the needs of the most marginalized students are centered.”

The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor agreed to make revisions to “DEI 2.0,” the next phase of the institution’s initiative, based on the Black Student Union report, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. In a survey of the institution’s students, fewer are satisfied with the school’s DEI efforts in 2021 than were in 2016 when the initiative began.

A university analysis shows that since beginning its DEI efforts, the school has increased the diversity of its students and faculty, added more diversity-based curriculum to its classes and grown its student population from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has also implemented other diversity-based initiatives such as offering free tuition to low-income students, constructed a $10 million multicultural center, launched a tutoring program for low-income families and put faculty through an inclusive practice training, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Despite the DEI efforts, a student at the institution told the Chronicle of Higher Education that the university feels “oppressively white.”

“When I feel more grounded, that’s when I can go out and interact with others,” the student told the outlet. “When I don’t feel grounded, I stay in my room and my grades suffer.”

Another student noted that even though the multicultural center is open to all students, she feels that white students should note that it “was founded as a result of Black activism, as a safe space for Black students,” the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. A University of Michigan at Ann Arbor graduate student wrote to the state Board of Regents in 2022 about the multicultural center, stating that “white student organizations [are] kicking black and brown students out of spaces within [the multicultural center] because their white organizations reserved the space.”

The letter stated that white students were “colonizing” in the multicultural center which was meant to be “a Mecca for students of color,” according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Across the nation, higher education institutions are pushing diversity efforts in their faculty and student recruitment processes; the University of California at Berkeley ranked its job applicants based on their commitment to furthering DEI within the institution and their research. The Indiana University School of Medicine updated its standards in May 2022 to require staff looking to be tenured to “show effort toward advancing DEI.”

Tabbye M. Chavous, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, makes an annual income of $380,000, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor Office of DEI did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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