The University fosters a campus environment that values and celebrates diversity, and actively works toward creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. Over the past several years, the University has taken important steps to advance campus diversity, equity, and inclusion:
- In 2017, the Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation began investigating the University's historical entanglements with slavery and the Confederacy.
- In September 2020, a statement was released by the Board of Regents that acknowledged and denounced the University's history of entanglement with slavery and racial segregation. The letter also laid out an action plan that included establishing a Names and Places Committee to evaluate the University's past ties to the Confederacy and the underlying white supremacy ideology.
- In August 2021, the University hired its first chief diversity officer, who established the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to support institutional change and foster an equitable and inclusive living, learning, and working environment that allows all community members—students, faculty, and staff—to thrive and flourish.
- In January 2023, the University launched its Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center and became part of the American Association of Colleges and University (AAC&U) national consortium.
