The University dissolved its Office for Inclusion, Belonging and Intergroup Communication (IBIC) on July 11, laying off its director, Ester Sihite, and one part-time employee. Some of the office’s programs and one staff member were absorbed into the Office of Student Engagement (OSE).

The approximately 35 student employees of the office were notified of the news in an email from Assistant Vice Provost for Inclusion, Community and Integrative Learning Samuel Santos on June 12. Santos explained in the email that “ongoing fiscal challenges” were a factor in making the decision. 

“The reorganization decision was made to preserve and strengthen core elements of student life while anchoring and integrating them within a broader portfolio focused on student wellbeing and engagement,” Santos wrote in an email to The Daily.

The IBIC office, which was established in 2016 as the Diversity and First-Gen Office, led workshops and consultations across the University about identity, belonging and difference. The office also hosted programs such as the Peer Facilitation Program and sponsored the academic courses PSYCH 103F: “Intergroup Communication Facilitation” and LEAD 152: “Dialogue Lab: Exploring and Cultivating Our Capacity to Engage Across Difference.” 

The mission of the office was to build capacity for dialogue across differences and help community members feel belonging, according to Sihite, who has been director since 2022. From 2022 to 2024, the IBIC office led over 60 workshops and projects, and engaged over 1,300 participants, according to an IBIC pamphlet. 

Sihite told The Daily that she learned the IBIC office would be dissolved and she would be laid off in a June 11 meeting with University administration. She added that the reasoning behind the decision was not conveyed clearly to her. The way the decision was communicated was one of the most “distressing” aspects of the news for Sihite.

“I didn’t get any information about what was happening, that there was going to be some type of a [reorganization], and that one person was staying on,” she said, referring to OSE Operation Assistant Director Zayna Seyedi. “I was basically just told, ‘We’re sunsetting the office, and today’s your last day.’ That was it.”

Sihite said she hopes that “there will be a clear picture of what it means to withstand the current times and all of the political realities, the financial realities, the institutional realities, while also tuning into the needs and interests of students who want to be better citizens of the world and more reflective and more including members of the Stanford community.”

Student employees with summer positions at the IBIC office were relocated to the OSE for the summer. The University plans to continue the Peer Facilitation Program and Faces of Community under the OSE, according to Santos. 

“These programs will continue to be vital components of our campus community, providing students with meaningful opportunities for dialogue, connection and learning,” Santos wrote. 

Sihite remains wary about whether these programs will stay the same. 

“As a program that seeks to build a sense of belonging and community among new Stanford students, I just hope that there really is shared power in [Faces of Community] and that it remains a space where there’s helpful, constructive and also free expression of what current Stanford students want to share,” she said.

Former lead peer facilitator Jenna Ali ’25, whose summer fellowship was relocated to the OSE, is working this summer with Seyedi to determine the role of peer facilitators next academic year. According to Ali, administrators are not sure if it will be possible to continue the Peer Facilitation program and there is no clear plan for transitioning IBIC programs to the OSE.

“None of us thought that was going to happen,” Ali said. “It was really sad in the moment.”

In hindsight, Sihite says there was “writing on the wall” that hinted at changes to the IBIC office. While Sihite was conducting the “Certificate in Critical Consciousness and Anti-Oppressive Praxis” program in December 2023, the University unpublished the website and reviewed the curriculum in response to a complaint it recieved. The University did not respond immediately when asked for comment on this.

The dissolution of the IBIC office comes amid national attacks against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and higher education. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to end DEI programs across federally funded agencies in January. He has specifically targeted Ivy League universities, reducing research funding and threatening to remove the visa status of international students. Earlier this year, Stanford removed DEI information from its websites and cut its budget due to reduced federal funding. The University stated in June that they are not engaging in special negotiations with the White House, unlike other universities.

Prior to the decision, IBIC office employees had been concerned that the office would be shut down due to Trump’s anti-DEI mandates, according to Ali. Ali speculated that the decision is correlated with the Trump administration’s mandates and that the University is dissolving programs that could put its funding in jeopardy. She added that the decision could also mean a shift in University priorities away from DEI. 

The University did not comment on whether or how much of the funding for IBIC would be redirected towards other student programs.

The IBIC office also has not been permitted to fill a full-time position that has been vacant since October. However, Sihite said that nothing indicated to her that the office would completely cease to exist.

Ali, who has worked for IBIC since her sophomore year, said the office was a significant part of her Stanford experience. She emphasized the importance of the community the office had created. 

“A lot of people who did experience workshops through the office really liked it, and we had built such a great community amongst the students and the professional staff,” Ali said.

Last year, the IBIC office conducted a bias training for Stanford Tour Guides prior to their annual hiring cycle. Tour guide student manager Olivia Jessner ’25, M.A. ’26 reported that the training was very successful, left positive impacts on participants and led to discussions that continued throughout the year.

“IBIC led the bias training in a very professional manner and in such a way that encouraged a lot of buy-in and active participation from the guides who were there, no matter their background,” she said.

She expressed disappointment over the closure of the office, as Stanford Tour Guides was hoping to make the IBIC bias training an annual tradition. 

“I don’t know what we will do in the absence of the organization,” she said. 

Former lead peer facilitator Ashwin Prabu ’25, who was also a teaching assistant for LEAD 152, said he was very sad to hear about the closure of the IBIC office, as he had developed very strong relationships with co-workers, received “incredible” mentorship and got the chance to grow as a leader and make a difference on campus. 

“IBIC was truly a rare space of belonging and putting in that effort to dialogue and bridge-building and bringing people together to have those difficult conversations,” Prabu said. 

He heard the news in the midst of senior celebrations and said it felt “odd” learning of the office’s closure as he prepared to leave Stanford.

“We did so much celebration with IBIC and I was excited to pass the baton and see the future of the office,” he said. “Because… I was part of the inaugural program, my cohort really built these programs from the start. I felt so proud that we really built something.”

The University’s commitment to belonging and engagement have not changed, according to Santos, who highlighted the continued work of the OSE in Greek life and Stanford’s eight Centers for Equity, Community and Leadership.

“The university’s commitment to an inclusive and welcoming campus remains steadfast under this reorganization,” Santos wrote. 

“Having an office like the IBIC office was a really cool part of Stanford that made it stand out as a place of inclusion… and I feel like having programs like that is not that common at many universities,” Ali said. “So I just feel like, personally, it’s going to be a loss overall for Stanford that there won’t be a specific space for that anymore”

Prabu said it is especially important now for intergroup dialogue in a safe and organized way, at a time of heightened political division.

“[Stanford] really becomes a home to its students and when you spend so much time in a place, it is really important to make sure you feel included, you feel like you belong and you feel like you have community,” he said. 

For former lead peer facilitator Sosi Day ’25, IBIC’s goal of understanding each unique person is important to continue pursuing now, amid “times of great division and dehumanization.” 

“Without it, we will lose sight of each other and continue to follow hatred and anger,” Day said. “Losing the official space limits the formal possibilities for outreach and scope, and I think rebuilding those frameworks will be our community’s biggest challenge now.”

This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Zayna Seyedi’s name and to add context regarding the removal of the Anti-Oppressive Praxis program.