Several hundred students marched Thursday to the administration building at the University of Maryland to protest the firing of a popular diversity officer in one of the largest demonstrations at the College Park campus since the Vietnam War era.

Protesters rallied in support of Cordell Black, associate provost for equity and diversity at Maryland’s flagship state university. Black willlose his job at the end of the academic year to help the university cut costs in a difficult budget year, university officials said.

Black oversees the university’s Office of Equity and Diversity. He is to be replaced by a part-time administrator. As a tenured professor, he can stay on the faculty.

The mood during the demonstration suggested that many students fear that the school is quietly retreating from its commitment to racial and cultural diversity in a desperate re-sorting of priorities brought on by a funding crisis. State support to U-Md. has eroded by at least 10 percent in the recession.

People on the grassy expanse that serves as the university’s front lawn erupted in chants of “Bring back Black” and “No justice, no peace,” although they stopped short of occupying the administration building. Instead, protesters filled the front steps, applauded speakers on bullhorns and taped handwritten appeals to walls and columns.

“We gather here today in response to the alleged budget crisis that the administration uses to buttress the removal of Dr. Black from his position,” said Amber J. Simmons, president of the university’s Black Student Union. “The same budget crisis that allowed for a quarter of a million dollars to be spent on rebranding the school,” Simmons said, referring to a recent public relations campaign.