Tulane University’s Office of Gender and Sexual Diversity shut down recently as a part of an ongoing effort by the university to ensure compliance with recent orders from the Trump administration. 

Tulane’s Queer Student Alliance Executive Board emailed QSA members on Thursday, March 20, alerting them that the office no longer exists. The email stated that former OGSD-specific programs will fall to the Carolyn Barber-Pierre Center for Intercultural Life.

The OGSD was founded in 2012 to foster a climate of respect and support for diverse sexualities, genders and cultures on Tulane’s campus. Tulane’s Queer Student Alliance is the oldest continuously operating gay and lesbian organization in Louisiana and previously operated under the OGSD.

According to the email, QSA will still receive the same budgeting, but the organization no longer falls under the oversight of the OGSD. Titles of former OGSD staff members are being shifted to reflect these updates.

“As leaders of an organization dedicated to Tulane’s LGBTQ+ population, this news is devastating to us, though hardly shocking given the current state of affairs. Despite this new obstacle, we will continue to do our very best to foster a sense of community and belonging for Tulane’s LGBTQ+ students,” the email said. 

Tulane spokesman Mike Strecker said that the OGSD has always been a part of the Carolyn Barber-Pierre Center for Intercultural Life and that “all of its services, programs and support will continue.”

“This restructuring is part of our ongoing effort, as outlined in the recent university-wide message, to ensure that every unit of the university remain[s] equally accessible and supportive of all and that we continue to follow our Core Values, which include building a community in which everyone, regardless of their backgrounds, has an equal opportunity to achieve their dreams and contribute to our mission,” Strecker said.