AIM Investigation Prompts Immediate Suspension at UMKC, Kansas City Star Reports
August 28, 2026
UMKC suspends employee after undercover right-wing group targets diversity efforts
By Kacen Bayless | Updated August 28, 2026 5:36 PM
The University of Missouri-Kansas City suspended an employee this week after a conservative media group published an undercover video featuring two employees talking about diversity efforts.
The university announced the suspension on social media Thursday in response to a post from Corey DeAngelis, a national school choice activist. The university’s statement did not identify the name of the suspended employee or give a reason for their suspension.
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” UMKC wrote on its official X page. “This employee has been suspended immediately.”
The video came from Accuracy in Media, a conservative organization that has used hidden cameras to film individuals talking about diversity at colleges across the country. The group published an article Tuesday featuring secretly-recorded conversations with two employees at UMKC.
The university’s decision has sparked a backlash from some students and civil rights leaders, who say the move signals another step backward in the ongoing fight over diversity.
“This was an undercover attack,” said Gwen Grant, the president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City. “And then the college’s reaction is to suspend the employee? That just gives them more ground to continue to do these types of things.”
The controversy comes amid a broader crackdown on diversity efforts in Missouri and across the country. While rarely defined by critics, conservative opponents have attacked diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives in government agencies, colleges and corporations.
DEI and other diversity efforts are typically organizational programs that seek to promote fair treatment among all individuals, particularly among historically underrepresented groups. But conservatives, including President Donald Trump, claim they treat white people unfairly.
In the spliced-together video, one employee talks about how the university did not have a central diversity office, but added that “it’s not like it’s not being done.” Another employee spoke in the video about the university’s efforts to support LGBTQ students.
“As we frequently see, the law means nothing to the radicals who run our universities,” a narrator says in the video over ominous music.
Universities in Kansas, Missouri and across the nation have clamped down on diversity efforts as the Trump administration takes aim at similar programs nationally.