To stay in line with a UNC System policy that gutted diversity and equity initiatives, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke redesigned its website this year and created a subcommittee to assess the school’s compliance efforts.
The university system recently released the 2025 compliance reports from its 17 campuses. Many of the biggest changes were outlined in last year’s report after the UNC Board of Governors approved the policy in May 2024. But the latest reports show schools’ continual efforts to scrub diversity and equity from their curriculum and messaging.
UNC Pembroke said last year that it rescinded its Inclusion and Diversity Policy and dissolved the Office of Student Inclusion and Diversity and the Inclusion and Diversity Council. Two jobs were eliminated: director of student inclusion and diversity, and the American Indian liaison to the chancellor.
Two other jobs were realigned. The role of associate director for inclusion education became the associate director for student engagement, and the administrative support associate for student inclusion and diversity became the administrative support associate for the Brave Resource Center.
Cutting diversity and equity programs might have seemed especially poignant at UNC Pembroke, which U.S. News & World Report ranked the most diverse regional university in the South this year. The school, which has undergone numerous name changes, was founded in the 19th century to train Native American teachers. Robeson County, where the campus is located, is home to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and many Tuscarora people.
Jennifer McCarrel, a spokesperson for UNC Pembroke, said Wednesday that Chancellor Dr. Robin Gary Cummings and the chief of staff were out of town and unavailable to comment for this story.
In its 2025 report, UNC Pembroke said its website is now “compliant” after a redesign that launched in July. “Greater controls over access and content creation have been enacted to ensure compliance regarding items such as mission statements for programs, curriculum, and objectives,” the report says.
The school removed “any training and job description language” that conflicted with the UNC System policy, and it removed “any conflicting email listservs,” according to the report.
During a July meeting, UNC Pembroke Dr. Robin Gary Cummings shared with school leaders “a new training resource on media interactions developed by University Communications and Marketing,” the report says.
UNC Pembroke also hosted a mandatory training session led by the school attorney last fall and a follow-up session on Aug. 6 for faculty, the athletics program, and the marketing and communications programs.
The school’s board of trustees also established an equality policy certification subcommittee to ensure compliance with the UNC System’s guidelines. The group is chaired by Pembroke attorney Ed Brooks, a member of the board of trustees.
UNC System students protested the elimination of diversity and equity initiatives last year. Some members of the system’s board of governors said the old policy was part of a liberal agenda and was unfair to all students.
President Donald Trump has made it a priority to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs from schools and universities. Last month, a federal judge in Maryland said the U.S. Department of Education’s threats to cut federal funding from schools with DEI programs violated the law.