The group was on hand to learn from key business figures including Dr. James Mwangi, Chief Executive Office-Equity Bank of Kenya.
E. Paul Dunn, a senior vice president at Northern Trust, a financial services company that has offices in five Equity Office buildings, said his real estate choices were determined by price and location, not the national program.
Ruff and Matthew Balano, director of the school's office of equity and inclusion, did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
The school created a special office of equity and diversity and administrators pledged to provide more preventive training for staff and students and increase recruitment of low-income and minority students.
Once completed, the merger will increase Equity Office's holdings to 380 office buildings consisting of 95.5 million square feet nationwide.
The purchase is part of a strategy by Equity Office to expand in the New York market.
"When Sam steps into the prime decision-making role," said Timothy H. Callahan, a former chief executive of Equity Office, "no one is better able to be strategic.
The company, Mr Dell's family office MSD Partners, private equity backer Silver Lake, and the Singapore state investor Temasek will provide equity up to $50bn of bank debt will be used to finance the takeover.
In April, just two months after Mr. Macklowe bought the Equity Office properties, Moody's Investors Services, the bond rating agency, said it planned to readjust how it rated commercial-mortgage-backed bonds to better reflect their risk.
Equity Office is undergoing a management shake-up.
