Boston University (BU) is a private nonprofit research and undergraduate university based in Boston, Massachusetts, notable for being one of the first co-ed universities in the United States. In 2025, BU was ranked the 42nd-best national university in the United States. ¹

BU has historically prided itself on its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Following the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawing affirmative action in universities and a “Dear Colleague” letter from the second Trump administration demanding that universities end DEI programs to receive federal funding, BU has significantly scaled back its affirmative-action and DEI programs, despite opposition from faculty. ^{2 3 4 5}

After the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel, protests erupted on BU’s campus in support of both Israel and Palestinians. Pro-Palestinian protests, led by the BU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, resulted in police breaking up an encampment and an op-ed by a Jewish student claiming that BU’s Jewish population (amounting to 23 percent of undergraduates) did not feel safe on campus. ⁶

Overview

Boston University hosts 36,000 undergraduate and graduate students at 17 schools and colleges with 300 fields of study. As of 2026, the school has 300,000 alumni globally ⁷ and a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 students per faculty member.  ¹

In 2026, U.S. News and World Report ranked BU the 42nd-best university in the United States. With an 11 percent admissions rate, BU had the 11th-lowest admissions rate among American universities. ¹

That year, BU’s undergraduate tuition and fees were $71,372 per year, with 43 percent of students receiving need-based financial aid. The four-year graduation rate was 81 percent. ¹

BU is a major research university, with $531 million in research funding in 2025. ⁷

BU is the third-largest private employer in Massachusetts and the 13th-largest employer statewide. In 2018, BU’s fiscal impact on the state was estimated to be $4 billion. ⁷

Founding

Boston University was founded in Vermont in 1839 by abolitionist Methodists as the Newbury Biblical Institute, an all-male institution. In 1867, the school was moved to Boston, Massachusetts and re-founded as the Boston Theological School, which was opened to women. In 1869, the school was renamed to Boston University as it expanded its curriculum beyond theology, though the Boston Theological Seminary was the university’s first department. In 1872, the university opened its second department, the Boston University School of Law. In 1873, it opened its third department, the College of Arts and Sciences, the first fully coeducational liberal-arts college in New England. ^{8 9}

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Boston University claims that its “founding mission was built upon inclusion.” The university prides itself on a history of “inclusion and equity” for its civil rights achievements, including being the first American educational institution to train women in medicine and to grant a woman a doctorate. ²

Second Trump Administration

In February 2025, the second Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to 60 universities, including BU, stating that the federal government would stop providing funds to schools that violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by engaging in racial discrimination. The letter was taken as a directive from the Trump administration to left-leaning universities to dismantle or at least limit their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. ¹⁰ In 2024, BU received $388 million in federal research funding. ¹¹

Boston University responded to the letter by significantly curtailing its DEI programs; over 400 other schools reportedly removed DEI programs. ¹² BU’s Office of Community and Inclusion, which contains the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, was moved under the Office of the President for more direct oversight and restraint by the school’s administration. Victoria Sahani, the associate provost for the Office of Community and Inclusion, was removed from her position and returned to the School of Law faculty. According to a report from the Daily Free Press, numerous faculty members complained about a lack of communication from the administration and multiple DEI programs were “indefinitely paused with no explanation,” including the Emerging Scholars program, which hosts ethnic-minority late-stage doctoral scholars, and the Diversity and Inclusion Stars program. The Daily Free Press also found that the Emerging Scholars program’s website removed all mentions of race and ethnicity. ^{4 5}

In July 2025, BU announced plans to lay off 120 staff members (about one percent of its employees), eliminate 120 vacant positions, and alter 20 positions. The cuts were initiated as part of a plan to reduce the university’s budget by five percent as a response in part to long-term financial difficulties and in part to a potential reduction in federal funding. ¹³

In August 2025, a federal court struck down the Trump administration’s Dear Colleague letter as unconstitutional for imposing new legal obligations on schools by executive order. ¹⁴ In March 2026, the Daily Free Press published a report finding that despite the court decision, BU had yet to reinstate any of the paused or stopped DEI programs, including Diversity and Inclusion Stars, Designing Antiracism Curriculum Fellowship, Faculty Diversity, and the First Nation of Australia Writers Residency. In a February 2026 faculty meeting, BU president Melissa Gilliam claimed that the removal of DEI programs was unrelated to the Dear Colleague letter. ⁵

As of March 2026, BU’s DEI webpage states that the university is “redoubling [its] efforts and commitment to attracting, supporting, and promoting a wide variety of voices and backgrounds at BU.” The page did not mention racial or ethnic minority groups, though it does refer to groups that are “historically underrepresented in the academy.” ³

Affirmative Action

BU applied affirmative action considerations that favored racial minorities to its admissions and hiring processes until 2023, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared affirmative action policies illegal at universities that receive federal funding. Afterward, BU instituted an “Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Policy” regarding its admissions process, which was overseen by the executive director of equal opportunity, which guaranteed nondiscrimination in its admissions and hiring processes. In September 2024, after the school’s first year without affirmative action, the Black student enrollment rate dropped from nine percent to three percent. ^{15 16}

In October 2024, BU replaced its Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Policy with a new “Interim Equal Opportunity and Title IX Policy” that reaffirmed its commitment to nondiscrimination, but also outlined more detailed policies concerning the school’s responses to “discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.” ¹⁷

Israel-Palestinian Protests

Following the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks on Israel perpetrated by Hamas, the Boston University administration issued a statement: “We are appalled by and condemn the attack by Hamas on the State of Israel and especially the intentional and large-scale targeting of noncombatants.” Some pro-Israel and many pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campus, including graffiti, “vigils, rallies, walkouts, die-ins, and fundraisers.” ⁶

On October 11, the first rally on campus was a vigil held for Israeli victims. On October 18, the BU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine held a vigil for the Palestinian victims of Israel during Israel’s counterattack against Hamas. On October 23, pro-Palestinian students held a walkout and demanded an end to Israel’s invasion of Gaza. ⁶

In September, police were called to the BU campus to disperse a pro-Palestine protest that attempted to establish an encampment around the George Sherman Union building, which the protestors tried to rename the Anas Al-Sharif Union in honor of a Palestinian journalist killed by Israeli protestors. The encampment was co-led by the BU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which called for the BU administration to divest from pro-Israel groups, boycott pro-Israel academics, grant amnesty for students and staff involved in protest activities, and expel Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from the BU campus. The encampment was disbanded within one day. ¹⁸

In November, after “Free Palestine” was spraypainted on the BU Hillel House, the incident was investigated by the police as a potential hate crime. ¹⁹ Later in the month, 250 BU students held a sit-in in support of Palestinians. Seven days later, pro-Palestinian protestors blocked traffic on the BU Bridge. ⁶

In December, pro-Israel students held a protest demanding that the BU administration support efforts to call for Hamas to release Israeli hostages. ⁶

Later in December, Jewish student Amanda Kopelman wrote an op-ed in BU Today claiming that she did not feel safe at BU, had witnessed “blatant Jewish hatred on our campus,” and lacked protection from the BU administration. Kopelman described hiding her Jewish necklace and experiencing a hostile campus environment despite Jews making up 23 percent of undergraduates at BU. Kopelman also unfavorably compared the administration’s meager response to antisemitism to the administration’s exuberant response to alleged anti-Black racism after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, including launching the Center for Antiracist Research. ²⁰

In January 2025, the BU administration announced the establishment of two working groups to “ensure a safe and secure campus,” one focused on Jewish students and the other on Muslim students. ⁶

Environmental Student Organization

Boston University’s Environmental Student Organization (ESO) is a student-run group that promotes environmentalist activism. The group primarily hosts meetings to discuss environmentalism, organizes hiking trips and community service outings, hosts speakers, and screen documentaries. ²¹ The group also attends meetings, leads protests, and advocates for the BU administration to pursue more aggressive environmental policies, including increasing investment in weather-dependent energy sources. ²²

Along with DivestBU, the ESO has been a leader in the campaign to get BU to divest from energy companies involved in fuel energy. The two groups have co-hosted events together to advocate the campaign. ²³ In 2020, BU’s administration announced that it would divest from fuel energy. Despite the announcement, DivestBU launched a protest with complaints that the divestment was not happening fast enough, lacked transparency, and the administration failed to create a “social impact fund” to offset past alleged damages caused by past investments. ²⁴

The ESO has repeatedly advocated at the BU Student Union to establish a “green fee,” which would add a fee to student tuition to fund environmentalist efforts. In 2007, the ESO proposed a $10 green fee. ²⁵

1. “Overview.” Boston University. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/boston-university-2130.
2. “Notable History.” Boston University. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/diversity/about/notable-history/.
3. “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” Boston University. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/grad/dei/.
4. Cheung, Karyna; Abrams, Nicole; Cramutola, Chole; Datta, Aayushi; Scott, Bailey; Swearing, Madyline. “‘The silence is deafening’: Boston University community reacts to DEI changes, national pressure.” The Daily Free Press. May 2, 2025. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://dailyfreepress.com/05/02/12/212852/the-silence-is-deafening-boston-university-community-reacts-to-dei-changes-national-pressure/.
5. Datta, Aayushi; Abrams, Nicole. “Boston University not changing course with DEI programs after anti DEI directive declared unlawful.” The Daily Free Press. March 5, 2026. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://dailyfreepress.com/03/05/16/218494/boston-university-not-changing-course-with-dei-programs-after-anti-dei-directive-declared-unlawful/.
6. “Israel-Hamas War: Campus Reacts and Responds.” Boston University. March 22, 2024. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2024/campus-responds-to-israel-hamas-war/.
7. “Boston University Basics.” Boston University. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/federal/for-policymakers/boston-university-basics/.
8. Bouranova, Alene. “A Deep Dive into BU’s Past.” Boston University. July 1, 2021. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/boston-university-history-class/.
9. “Category: Campus.” Boston University. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/timeline/category/campus/page/24/.
10. “Dear Colleague:” Department of Education. February 14, 2025. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.ed.gov/media/document/dear-colleague-letter-sffa-v-harvard-109506.pdf.
11. Unglesbee, Ben. “Boston University to lay off 120 staffers amid budget challenges.” Higher Ed Dive. July 8, 2025. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.highereddive.com/news/boston-university-staff-layoffs-120-budget-federal-funding/752499/.
12. Cutler, Sonel; Baiocchi, Aisha; Gretzinger, Erin; Hicks, Maggie; Dutton, Christa; Smith, Jasper. “Tracking Higher Ed’s Dismantling of DEI.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. February 10, 2026. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.chronicle.com/article/tracking-higher-eds-dismantling-of-dei.
13. Unglesbee, Ben. “Boston University to lay off 120 staffers amid budget challenges.” Higher Ed Drive. July 8, 2025. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.highereddive.com/news/boston-university-staff-layoffs-120-budget-federal-funding/752499/.
14. “Federal Court Judge Vacates Department of Education’s “Dear Colleague Letter” Relating to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Implications for Higher Education Clients.” BIPC. August 27, 2025. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bipc.com/federal-court-judge-vacates-department-of-educations-dear-colleague-letter-relating-to-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-implications-for-higher-education-clients.
15. Riley, Neil. “Boston University forming task force after “concerning” drop in Black student enrollment.” CBS News. September 13, 2024. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/boston-university-black-student-enrollment-affirmative-action/.
16. “Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Policy.” Boston University. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/policies/non-handbook-version-equal-opp-affirm-action/.
17. “Interim Equal Opportunity and Title IX Policy.” Boston University. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/policies/interim-equal-opportunity-and-title-ix-policy/.
18. Cristantiello, Ross. “Police respond to pro-Palestine encampment at BU.” Boston.com. September 16, 2025. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/09/16/police-respond-to-pro-palestine-encampment-at-bu/.
19. Glass, Molly. “Graffiti at BU Hillel Being Investigated as Possible Hate Crime by BUPD, Suffolk County DA.” BU Today. November 9, 2023. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2023/graffiti-at-bu-hillel-being-investigated/.
20. Kopelman, Amanda. “POV: The Price of Silence: How BU Is Failing Its Jewish Students.” Boston University. December 13, 2023. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2023/pov-the-price-of-silence-how-bu-failed-its-jewish-students/.
21. “Environmental Student Organization.” Boston University. March 16, 2026. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://www.bu.edu/earth/community/student-organizations/environmental-student-organization-eso/.
22. “BU weighs green costs against benefits.” The Daily Free Press. December 9, 2008. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://dailyfreepress.com/12/09/00/26582/bu-weighs-green-costs-against-benefits/?utm_source=chatgpt.com.
23. Lerner, Haley. “Panelists urge students to take action against climate change.” The Daily Free Press. April 18, 2018. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://dailyfreepress.com/04/18/22/146439/panelists-urge-students-to-take-action-against-climate-change/.
24. Chen, Phoebe. “Divest BU demands transparency, quick action in a protest following BU’s divestment announcement.” The Daily Free Press. October 19, 2021. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://dailyfreepress.com/10/19/00/182124/divest-bu-demands-transparency-quick-action-in-a-protest-following-bus-divestment-announcement/?utm_source=chatgpt.com.
25. “ESO proposes Green Fee again.” The Daily Free Press. November 23, 2007. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://dailyfreepress.com/11/23/00/41476/eso-proposes-green-fee-again/?utm_source=chatgpt.com.