AAVMC Renames DEI Committee

The American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges has renamed its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee to the Committee on Thriving Academic Communities.

Approved during the May 2026 AAVMC Catalyze meeting, the change also includes rebranding the organization’s long-running DiVersity Matters initiative as the Thrive Initiative. While AAVMC leaders insist the organization remains committed to inclusion and community wellbeing, critics argue the language shift mirrors a broader national trend of moving away from explicit discussions of race and representation.

The veterinary profession has historically struggled with racial diversity, despite significant demographic shifts in gender representation. Women now make up the majority of veterinary students and much of the veterinary workforce, a transformation that itself was driven by decades of equity-focused efforts and institutional change. Advocates say that reality demonstrates why DEI initiatives matter — and why removing race-conscious language raises concern.

Supporters of DEI efforts worry that replacing direct references to diversity and equity with broader concepts such as “belonging” or “thriving” risks making racial inequities less visible and harder to measure.

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t address it,” has become a common concern among advocates who fear institutions may continue inclusion work in name while backing away from accountability around race, access, and representation.

The policy changes have already affected veterinary education. The American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education (COE) announced it would no longer require veterinary colleges to report on or comply with accreditation standards specifically tied to DEI language.

AAVMC Chief Organizational Health Officer Lisa Greenhill, EdD, MPA, framed the renaming as an evolution rather than a retreat. Greenhill has argued that the work itself is continuing, even if the terminology changes.

“There’s been a lot of emotion around the language,” she said during AVMA Convention 2025. “The work is not changing. The need is still there.”

Still, many educators and advocates remain skeptical. They note that changing titles, committee names, and accreditation language may reduce institutional willingness to collect demographic data or openly discuss racial disparities in admissions, hiring, retention, and leadership representation.

Latonia Craig, EdD, who formerly served as AVMA’s chief DEI officer and now holds the title chief of veterinary engagement and belonging, acknowledged that the field is recalibrating how it communicates these efforts.

“We’re learning as DEI practitioners that we could have been better, overall as a field, at explaining why this work is important,” Craig said.

The reframing toward “belonging,” “engagement,” and “psychological safety” reflects a strategy many institutions are adopting as they navigate legal uncertainty and political scrutiny. Yet critics argue those terms can sometimes function as softer substitutes that avoid directly naming systemic inequities tied to race and other historically marginalized identities.