Until a few years ago, the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s press releases and social media posts regularly touted the accomplishments of faculty and staff who worked to promote diversity, equity and inclusion at the public hospital.
In one example from 2021, the vice chancellor for health affairs, LouAnn Woodward, affirmed the hospitals’ commitment to a range of administrative efforts, centered around the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, to comply with civil rights law and increase minority enrollment.
“Diversity among our workforce and student populations and an inclusive environment are, and must always be, core considerations at the Medical Center,” Woodward said.
Then sometime before the start of this fiscal year, UMMC closed its diversity office.
The public hospital is now refusing to answer questions about when or why that decision was made, if any employees were let go as a result, or what happened to the more than $1 million in funding that once supported the office.
It is unclear if UMMC announced the decision internally; the hospital did not say if it had. Partially redacted faculty senate meeting minutes from 2024, obtained through a public records request, contain no mention of the move, even though the faculty have a committee dedicated to diversity and inclusion.
A March 2024 announcement lists the now-defunct office’s chief diversity officer among new hires at the School of Population Health, indicating UMMC may have shuttered the office around that time.
That’s also when UMMC appears to have scrubbed the office from its website, according to the Internet Archive. The URL for the office now redirects to a web page titled “Diversity and Inclusion at UMMC” which states “throughout UMMC’s three mission areas – education, research and health care – a climate of diversity and inclusion is present.”
Missing from the webpage are the many initiatives the diversity office oversaw, including a professional development certificate.
While UMMC is not the only institution of higher learning in Mississippi to shutter or reimagine its efforts to foster DEI on campus, the public hospital appears unique in its reticence about the decision.
Other institutions in Mississippi have made their plans to revamp DEI offices more accessible. Last fall, the University of Mississippi announced its decision to reinvent its diversity division in a campus-wide email from the chancellor. Earlier in the year, Mississippi State University’s vice president for access, opportunity and success appeared before faculty to discuss the reasons behind the diversity division’s new focus.
In response to questions from Mississippi Today, UMMC’s director of communications provided a written statement with the preface that the hospital would have no further comments.
“While we no longer have that office, our commitment to access and opportunity for all students, faculty and staff remains,” Patrice Guilfoyle wrote in an email. “If we are to effectively address Mississippi’s persistent and daunting health challenges, it will take everyone working together to fulfill our tripartite mission of education, research and patient care.”
Though funding fluctuated, the office was allocated $1,029,143 during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, according to budget documents obtained through a public records request. About a third of the office’s funding came from state appropriations.
Until its closure, it appears the office was led by a member of Woodward’s executive cabinet, a role Woodward created shortly after she was appointed in 2015, according to a press release announcing the hire. The chief diversity officer was charged with creating a strategic diversity and inclusion plan for the hospital.
“Not only did I want this work to be represented and visible at the highest level of leadership, this new institutional role would cover all three of our missions as well as coordinate diversity and inclusion efforts between them,” Woodward said.
The chief diversity officer also oversaw three employees as of fiscal year 2023, according to information UMMC reported to the state auditor that year, including a cultural competency and education manager who ran workshops on topics like health disparities and a program coordinator who worked on the office’s annual award ceremony.
Beyond that, the office also hosted a professional development program and held monthly conversations to foster “dialogue among members of the UMMC community on stimulating topics in pursuit of sharing and understanding experiences, emotions, and different perspectives,” according to a newsletter.
This legislative session, lawmakers have filed multiple bills to ban DEI at state-supported institutions of higher learning, as well as one directed at public and charter schools. Mississippi has not passed such a ban, but lawmakers may be primed to do so on the heels of President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI in the federal government.
UMMC has in the past curtailed programs after receiving pushback from lawmakers.
In 2023, the hospital shuttered an LGBTQ+ focused clinic months after cutting gender-affirming care for trans minors because lawmakers complained.
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