Clemson University is a public land-grant university in South Carolina. ¹ It is the second-largest university in South Carolina with a total enrollment of nearly 30,000 as of March 2026. ²

In March 2025, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it would be investigating Clemson University alongside 44 other schools, for potentially violating Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The investigation was announced following the Trump Administration’s ban on DEI initiatives and due to concerns that Clemson’s DEI programs had discriminated on the basis of race. ³

Background

Clemson University is a public land-grant university in Clemson, South Carolina. It was founded in 1889 through a bequest of Thomas Green Clemson, an engineer and artist who married former Vice President John Calhoun’s daughter, Anna Maria. ⁴ In his will, Clemson left the former plantation, Fort Hill, and Calhoun’s family home to the state of South Carolina to be used for the creation of what is now Clemson University. ⁵

Initially named the Clemson Agricultural College, Clemson began as an all-white and male military college that opened in July 1893 before becoming coeducational in 1955 and desegregating beginning in 1963. It was renamed to be Clemson University in 1964. ⁴

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives

As of March 2026, Clemson University College of Education website reports having a “commitment to inclusive excellence” initiative that is aligned with its “core value” of “serving underperforming schools and underserved communities.” Its website states that its inclusion initiatives led to new degree programs. ⁶

In 2019, Clemson University began offering a Strategic Inclusive Excellence Certificate (SIEC) available to faculty, staff, and graduate students. The program was offered under the Division of Inclusion and Equity before it later changed its name to the Division of Community, Belonging, and Access. In a December 2020 post, the program stated that it was designed to help students advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at Clemson University and included courses on the “foundational concepts” of DEI. ⁷

In January 2024, Clemson University College of Education published an article detailing how it has received funding for its research in support of its DEI initiatives. It reported that associate professor Faiza Jamil received a $200,000 grant from the William T. Grant Foundation. The funding was in support of a research project to create a database that tracks the relationship between the diversity of teachers and academic outcomes to advocate policies that result in the hiring of teachers based on diversity initiatives. ⁸

Clemson also reported its assistant professor Kristen Duncan received a $50,000 grant from the Spencer Foundation to research relationships between Black teachers and students, focusing on the perspectives of Black teachers when discussing racial issues. ⁸

Women’s Leadership Advocacy

In March 2022, Clemson University published an article advocating that schools increase the number of women in leadership positions based on research by Angie Carter and Cynthia Sims. Carter and Sims led Clemson’s Trailblazers women’s leadership preparation program at Clemson, researched the role of gender in leadership positions, and served in the University’s Transforming the Institution through Gender Equity, Retention and Support (TIGERS) Advance project, which was funded by the National Science Foundation. In the article, Sims argued that it is harder for women to obtain leadership positions and even harder for women who are ethnic minorities and promotes using the identity politics concept of intersectionality to view gender issues. Carter and Sims also propose that women struggle to obtain leadership positions because of beliefs held by both men and women that women should not be in leadership positions, and they use the programs they work in to dispel such beliefs. ⁹

Call Me MiSTER Program

As of March 2026, Clemson University College of Education Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models (Call Me MiSTER) program is listed under the college’s educational initiatives and under its “commitment to inclusive excellence.” The program’s website states that it admits applicants irrespective of their race, ethnicity, or gender. ^{10 6}

DEI Controversy

In March 2025, the U.S. Department of Education announced it was investigating 45 colleges including Clemson University for potentially violating Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for having race-exclusionary policies due to its participation in The Ph.D. Project. The project seeks to increase the participation of ethnic minorities in business, and Clemson collaborated with the program to recruit ethnic minority doctoral candidates. Clemson University reported that due to the Trump administration’s January 2026 executive order to terminate “discriminatory programs,” it would be reviewing “positions, practices and initiatives” for compliance and removing all DEI programs. ³

In September 2025, Clemson University reported that it would be sunsetting multiple commissions as a result of the Trump administration’s executive orders banning federally funded DEI programs. ³ The announcement came one day after the conservative Heritage Foundation published a report titled “Uncovering Radical Efforts to Disguise DEI” that Clemson’s Division of Community, Engagement, Belonging and Access functions as a “DEI office.” The report also noted that Clemson operated student commissions based on identity groups, including an Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Commission, a Commission on the Black Experience, a Commission on Latino Affairs, a Lavender Commission for LGBTQIA+ people, and a Commission on Women that aligned with the banned DEI initiatives. ¹¹

In response to accusations that Clemson made the decision to sunset the programs in response to the Heritage Foundation’s report, Clemson associate vice president of communications Joe Galbraith reported to Inside Higher Ed that the decision to sunset the programs came a week before the report was published. ¹²

As of March 2026, Clemson’s website shows that the Division of Community, Engagement, Belonging and Access is operational and does not indicate that it is hosting any DEI initiatives. ¹³

Middle East Issues

Anti-Israel Protests

In May 2024, Clemson University students and community members attended a protest organized by Upstate Voices for Palestine on Clemson University’s campus. ¹⁴ It was reported that over 40 protestors attended, demanding that Clemson University disclose its investments in Israel and opposing any support for Israel due to the Israel-Hamas war. Protestors were reported to have promoted claims that Israel has committed a genocide against Palestinians and reportedly chanted the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” ¹⁵

Partnership With Israeli Universities

In March 2025, Clemson University announced a partnership with Israel’s Sapir University and Hebrew University in an event hosted by former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R). Through the partnership, the universities collaborated on water management, crop development, and agricultural practices. Haley added that the partnership also serves as symbol of strong U.S.-Israel ties. Haley also reported that the partnership originated from a visit she made to Israel and Sderot, an Israeli town located near the Gaza Strip that was targeted in the October 7 terrorist attacks, and after meeting with Sderot Mayor Alon Dividi, it was decided a partnership between local agricultural universities would be an effective way for the U.S. to support Sderot following the attack. ¹⁶

Leadership

Former bank executive Kim Wilkerson is the chair of Clemson University’s board of trustees. She previously served as the chair of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and Columbia Chamber. She worked for Bank of America from 1980 to 2023, having worked as a market executive, managing director, and South Carolina president. ¹⁷

Notable members of Clemson University’s board of trustees include former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R); Louis Lynn, president of ENVIRO AgScience; E. Smyth McKissick III, chairman of Alice Company; Robert Peeler, senior manager for Waste Management; Mark Richardson, owner of MAR Real Estate; William Smith Jr., CEO of Red Rock Developments; and Joseph Swann, retired president of Automation Power Systems. ¹⁸

Robert H. Jones is as of March 2026 the interim president for Clemson University. Jones previously headed the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech and Auburn University. He also worked as Dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University and then as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at Clemson University before being named interim president. ¹⁹

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11. Butcher, Jonathan and Gonzalez, Mike. “Uncovering Radical Efforts to Disguise DEI.” Heritage Foundation. September 2, 2025. https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2025-09/BG3925.pdf.
12. Knott, Katherine. “Clemson Ends Several Faculty and Staff Affinity Commissions.” Inside Higher Ed. September 4, 2025. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/09/04/clemson-ends-several-faculty-and-staff-affinity-commissions.
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15. Moss, Savannah. “’You support genocide’: Clemson University students hold protest against stance on Israel.” AOL. May 4, 2024. https://www.aol.com/support-genocide-clemson-university-students-232321894.html.
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