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UTC will close several campus centers to comply with DEI ban

Staff photo / Participants hand out desserts during the Black History Month Kickoff Celebration on Feb. 1, 2022, in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Office of Multicultural Affairs in Lupton Hall. The office is being dissolved. Staff photo / Participants hand out desserts during the Black History Month Kickoff Celebration on Feb. 1, 2022, in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Office of Multicultural Affairs in Lupton Hall. The office is being dissolved.

By Shannon Coan, Mason Edwards September 26, 2025 8 min read

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will close several campus centers to comply with new state laws that bar public institutions from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

UTC’s Center for Women and Gender Equity, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Office of Student & Family Engagement and the Prism Center — which supported LGBTQ+ students — will be closed, the university said in an email to the campus community Friday.

The centers will merge into a new Center for Student Leadership, Engagement and Community.

“At UTC, our goal is to make education attainable by ensuring every student has the opportunity to access resources designed to help them learn, grow and thrive,” the email said. “We are committed to excellence that ensures every student, regardless of background, feels they belong, they matter and they can succeed.”