American University dissolves DEI response team after spending $121 million on related initiatives

The school’s Campus Action Response Team launched in 2024 with no public announcement, and now it has been terminated just two years later.


The university has a lengthy history of DEI initiatives, including a $121 commitment to such programming through its Plan for Inclusive Excellence.

Read Full Article - Campus Reform

By Eli Stephens

Campus Reform

June 17, 2026 



American University in Washington, D.C., recently terminated one of its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives with little explanation that it launched just two years ago.


According to reporting from student newspaper The Eagle, American University’s Campus Climate Action Response Team (CART) was launched in 2024 without a public announcement or campuswide email. By spring 2026, the program had stopped operating entirely.


CART operated under the university’s Office of Inclusive Excellence and was designed to address “campus climate concerns” that did not rise to formal policy violations. The program was intended to provide restorative justice responses, including facilitated conversations and community-level interventions. 


According to the school’s Recognized Student Organization Manual, student organization executive boards could also be required to engage with CART to “design and implement restorative practices” following campus incidents in which the Office of Equity and Title IX or the Office of Student Accountability determined “the organization’s conduct created or contributed to a climate concern.”


[RELATED: Univ of Louisville sociology professor says curriculum mostly unchanged after Kentucky anti-DEI law]


The manual states those measures could include “a formal acknowledgment of harm, a restorative dialogue or circle, and/or initiatives aimed at building trust with affected communities or groups.”


However, reporting from The Eagle claimed that CART never established a physical office, with student reports instead being redirected to the university’s Title IX office.


The program’s apparent dissolution coincided with administrative turnover, including the departure of Assistant Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Amanda Taylor. Only three administrators reportedly remain loosely connected to CART’s former responsibilities, though they no longer operate as a formal response team. 


Several students interviewed by The Eagle said they had never heard of CART before this semester despite American University’s extensive DEI infrastructure. Even the AU College Democrats mistakenly listed CART as an active campus resource in a recent public statement.


Students also expressed skepticism about whether another administrative initiative would effectively address campus conflicts. Some cited broader concerns about trust between students and university leadership.


[RELATED: SUNY Purchase keeps DEI committee targeting ‘systemic bias’]


Despite the program’s inactivity, American University continues listing CART as an available student resource on its website without publicly indicating the initiative has been paused or dissolved.


University officials told The Eagle that additional information about the program’s future could become available within six months.


American University has a lengthy history of promoting DEI initiatives. The school notes on its website that it has received “4 National Awards for Inclusive Excellence” and currently operates “131 cultural and inclusive excellence-focused student clubs and organizations.”


According to a 2024 self-study report, the university also opened Black affinity housing and increased “new tenure-line faculty who identify as faculty of color from 39 percent in 2018 to 56 percent in 2019.”


In 2018, the university announced plans to invest more than $120 million over two years toward diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives through its Plan for Inclusive Excellence. 


American University also has a Diversity and Equity (DIV) course requirement focused on topics including “power, privilege, and inequality” related to race, class, gender, sexuality, and other social hierarchies.


The school’s Research Archive further includes a thesis discussing “anti-white-supremacy” learning spaces for educators, in which the author asserts that “the United States has been and continues to be a racial dictatorship.”


American University has been contacted for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

Where Liberty and Learning Endure

June 29, 2026
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Bankruptcy and Higher Education

June 21, 2026
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Race Preferences Are Falling Nationwide

June 19, 2026
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