Ohio State’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion was founded in 1970, following more than a year of protests against racial discrimination on the university’s campus. Nearly 55 years later, it was shut down. Along with the Office of Student Life’s Center for Belonging and Social Change, the university discontinued ODI, a department dedicated to promoting on-campus diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Feb. 27. The decision came in light of several federal and statewide legislative decisions — particularly Ohio Senate Bill 1, which aims to ban DEI programs in higher education — university President Ted Carter Jr. said in an email Feb. 27. “Here in Ohio, a bill barring DEI is also making its way through the legislature, and the Attorney General of Ohio – our statutory counsel – has advised us that his office concurs with the federal government’s position regarding the use of race in educational activities,” Carter said.