UM recently instructed organizations to remove all “discriminatory” language from names and promotional materials in compliance with a new Department of Justice policy.
This memorandum for federal agencies was made to “ensure that recipients of federal funding do not engage in unlawful discrimination,” according to the DOJ website.
Black in Business and The Latina Project — two programs not registered with the Committee on Student Organizations (COSO) — have both been impacted by the policy. Prior to this year, both were listed on the Miami Herbert Business School’s special programs webpage.
As a result of the policy, Black in Business has been renamed Belonging in Business (BIB) and The Latina Project is no longer listed on the special programs page.
Jaell-Ann Auguste, president of BIB and junior at UM, said that discussions about changing the organization’s name had been in the works since last semester. But BIB only received an official 24-hour notice to adapt to the new policy.
“We had one day to either change the name or BIB couldn’t function as a program,” Auguste said. “No more funding, no more rooms we could reserve, no more running the program.”
If UM refuses to comply with the DOJ policy, the University is at risk of losing federal and state funding, which largely impacts financial aid, research and the UHealth program.
“In order to remain in compliance, the University continues to review potential impacts to our community and to higher education institutions across the country,” the University of Miami said in a statement to The Hurricane. “As noted in a message to the campus community earlier this year, the University ‘fully supports the entire community of world-class students, educators, researchers, clinicians and dedicated administrative staff, whose talents reach into neighborhoods across the globe.’”
So far, name changes have been limited to organizations that are not a part of COSO. COSO organizations are required to have bylaws outlining that all students are welcome to join.
“Right now, COSO-recognized organizations are required to be open to all students and hold a non-discriminatory policy in their constitutions,” said Samantha Weissman, the external vice chair of COSO. “Every single organization has this listed in their constitution as it is part of COSO’s guidelines.”
Weissman explained that the Student Activities & Student Organizations team said COSO-recognized organizations are not currently at risk of having their names or mission statements changed. However, she said the future remains unclear for organizations associated with the Multicultural Student Affairs office or not affiliated with COSO.
Although BIB does not have an official bylaw welcoming all students, Auguste said that BIB has always accepted students who were not Black. She said BIB never had a policy about turning students of other races away, but that non-Black students choose not to join.
“If a white person sees one of the other business orgs and then see [BIB] which does the exact same thing but is focused on [helping Black students] with the resources and connections they lack … because of their race, they’re going to go to the other program,” said Auguste. “People see that it isn’t appropriate for them to be a part of the cohort and take away from other people’s connections.”
46% of UM’s incoming students self-identifying as a person of color, two percentage points more than the year prior. 8% of UM’s students are international.
Weissman feels that organizations on campus should be able to proudly educate others about their culture.
“I think what’s going on is truly very sad for a lot of students on campus. They’re scared, they’re fearful, they feel silenced, they are confused, they don’t know what to do and they are not given the platform to showcase their culture and their identity,” said Weissman. “Every student organization on campus should feel valued, heard and accepted.”
This new policy is one of many DEI-focused policies that the Trump Administration has implemented. In February, President Donald Trump passed an executive order requiring that federally funded education institutions eliminate race and gender-based programs.
As a result, more than 50 organizations across UM’s campus worked together to demand that UM acknowledge the elimination of DEI resources, reinstate resources and have an open discussion with the community.
While Auguste said she was not given a list of words to specifically avoid, BIB was told they had to remove “Black” from the name of the organization, remove all DEI language and not specify a race in the program.
“A title is very powerful. When you look at a title and when you say it with your own mouth, that’s what gives it power,” said Auguste. “I feel like having to change it stripped the power away, in a sense.”
Regardless of the name change, Auguste says BIB is still going to serve its original purpose: showing Black people that they do have a place in the business world.
“There aren’t a lot of us in business and there’s even more of us who feel like we don’t belong in business, which is what this program was about and what it is going to continue to be about — to show that people who look like us, we can be in business too,” said Auguste.
In the meantime, Weissman said that all organizations are encouraged to emphasize that “all are welcome” on social media fliers and other promotions so that UM is not forced to shut down the program due to it not being open to everyone.