Update — Thursday, Aug. 6: OU Marketing and Communication responded to the OU Daily's questions in an email late Thursday morning.
In response to questions seeking to confirm the dissolution of the Division of Access and Opportunity and whether the university will maintain Belinda Higgs Hyppolite’s position, Marketing and Communications reiterated the information provided in the campus-wide email. It wrote both the division’s services and Higgs Hyppolite’s responsibilities will be absorbed by Student Affairs and Academic Affairs.
Vice President Belinda Higgs Hyppolite will resign in December after seven years in evolving roles at the university, and beginning this fall the Division of Access and Opportunity — formerly the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion — will cease to exist at OU.
In a campus-wide email Thursday, the university announced the move as the third item in what it called a series of organizational and operational updates. The email has no statements from OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. or Higgs Hyppolite.
The OU Daily has reached out to Higgs Hyppolite and OU Marketing and Communications with questions about the division’s dissolution, whether Higgs Hyppolite’s VP position will cease to exist and for a statement from Harroz. This story will be updated if they respond.
During Higgs Hyppolite’s tenure, what is now OU’s Division of Access and Opportunity has undergone significant change as universities across the country have responded to legislation dialing back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
The division as it stands this summer is made up of seven services in addition to its offices, including OU’s Accessibility and Disability Resource Center, the OU Testing Center and the TRIO Center, which is designed to serve students with disabilities or those who are first generation or low income.
“With this transition,” the email states, “the university will maintain and enhance the entire suite of services and programs currently housed within the Division of Access and Opportunity to realign them with Student Affairs and Academic Affairs beginning this fall.”
“Dr. Hyppolite will remain in her role through the end of the calendar year to oversee a thoughtful transition and ensure continuity for students, faculty, and staff,” the email continues. “Additional operational information will be shared with employees and campus stakeholders as implementation continues.”
The move is similar to those made by other universities in the Southeastern Conference. The University of Arkansas eliminated its Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in fall 2023, and reallocated all resources and staff to other campus departments, per reporting by Inside Higher Ed. Vanderbilt University decentralized its DEI efforts, moving the university’s identity centers under Student Affairs, per reporting by The Vanderbilt Hustler.
Higgs Hyppolite’s OU background
Higgs Hyppolite was selected as vice president for diversity and inclusion in October 2019 by Harroz while he was serving as interim president.
"Dr. Hyppolite is committed to help lead OU in addressing diversity and inclusion holistically as an entire university community," Harroz wrote in an email when Higgs Hyppolite was selected. "She expresses her vision for this work as a three-pronged approach involving awareness, education and advocacy."
She was formally welcomed into her position in January 2020 as part of the university’s inaugural DEI Week, which included the dedication of the new Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Copeland Hall.
Higgs Hyppolite’s title changed when the office was renamed the Division of Access and Opportunity in March 2024 following an executive order from Gov. Kevin Stitt calling for a formal review of DEI in higher education.
In December 2024, Higgs Hyppolite was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Oklahoma for 2024.
On the first day of the fall 2025 semester, Higgs Hyppolite sent a memo to OU deans, directors and department chairs via the Office of the Provost advising instructors to be cautious in teaching race and gender-related material as federal and state interventions shape approaches to course content in higher education.
“Courses must avoid methods that could be construed as discriminatory or hostile,” the email read. “For example, privilege walks, race- or sex-based assignments, or requiring students to affirm certain beliefs may trigger enforcement action.”
Higgs Hyppolite’s resignation is the second departure of an executive officer at the university this summer. OU Vice President of Marketing and Communications Jennifer Hollingshead resigned in early July after three years at the university to take a position at the University of Texas at Dallas as its new vice president for communications and marketing. The university made no public announcement regarding Hollingshead’s departure until Thursday, four weeks after it was announced internally.
DEI changes at other SEC, Oklahoma universities
The Chronicle of Higher Education has tracked DEI-related changes at OU and other universities across the country as a result of legislation, orders or other state-level and institutional-level actions since 2023.
It shows how other Oklahoma and Southeastern Conference universities have also seen DEI-related changes in the past two years.
In April 2024, Oklahoma State University’s Bias Incidents Response Team was disbanded. Two months later, the University of Central Oklahoma eliminated its Office of Inclusive Community, which housed DEI efforts.
Changes at other SEC schools include:
• The University of Alabama closed its Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and opened a Division of Opportunities, Connections and Success.
• Auburn University closed its Office of Inclusion and Diversity.
• The University of Florida closed its Center for Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement and eliminated jobs including its chief diversity officer.
• Georgia changed the name of its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Office of Inclusion and Belonging.
• University of Kentucky closed its Office of Institutional Diversity and replaced it with the Office for Community Relations, but later dissolved the new office.
• Louisiana State University renamed its Office of Inclusion, Civil Rights and Title IX to the Office of Engagement, Civil Rights and Title IX.
• The University of Mississippi renamed its Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Division of Access, Opportunity and Community Engagement.
• Mississippi State University renamed its Division of Access, Diversity and Inclusion to the Division of Access, Opportunity and Success.
• The University of Missouri closed its Division of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, eliminating the position of vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity after the former vice chancellor’s resignation.
• The University of South Carolina renamed its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Division of Access, Civil Rights and Community Engagement.
• The University of Tennessee renamed its Diversity and Inclusion Committee to the Access and Engagement Committee.
• The University of Texas at Austin closed its Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.
• Texas A&M University eliminated its Office for Diversity.
According to a February 2025 survey conducted by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, chief diversity officers are finding their work to be harder and more stressful than in previous years, per reporting by Inside Higher Ed. Survey answers highlighted budget concerns and political climate as the greatest challenges to DEI work in higher education.
In his August 2024 State of the University address, Harroz said the university’s main goal following Stitt’s executive order was to ensure faculty and staff are additive to the current conversation and not a source of intolerance or anger. He stressed the importance of realizing what the executive order doesn’t touch.
“It doesn't enclose student organizations' and groups' rights,” Harroz said. “It doesn't apply to academic course instruction, it doesn't apply to research and doesn't apply to creative endeavors.”
In late June, Higgs Hyppolite posted on Facebook regarding a book she helped author, “Brave Women at Work: Lessons in Authenticity,” that is now available in hardcover.
“This book is deeply personal to me because it tells the truth about what so many women experience in the workplace,” Higgs Hyppolite wrote. “It is for the woman who has worked tirelessly to prove herself, only to feel overlooked. For the woman who has questioned her worth, held back her ideas, or wondered if she truly belonged at the table.”
Career Center move
The university’s Career Center will also see change, moving in the fall from the Division of Student Affairs to the Office of the Provost. The email states the center will maintain “a dotted line to Student Affairs.”
OU’s “Lead On, University” strategic plan outlines a goal of equipping students for career success, which includes offering a suite of career services that utilize OU’s alumni and external networks.
The email states the alignment will strengthen collaboration between the center and OU’s academic units. Oversight of the Career Center was placed under Brynn Daves, an assistant vice president for Student Affairs, in June 2024 as part of a series of restructuring moves in the division following Stitt’s December 2023 executive order regarding DEI.
“By connecting career services more closely with the academic experience,” Thursday’s email reads, “the university is building a comprehensive career ecosystem that supports students from enrollment through graduation and beyond — positioning OU to become a national leader in student career success.”
