Colleges, K-12 schools ordered by Trump administration to abolish DEI or face funding cuts
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- The U.S. Department of Education has told schools and colleges to eliminate DEI programs or risk losing federal funding.
- The decision covers race-related programs including financial aid, culturally themed dorm floors and graduation ceremonies.
- Educators are scrambling to interpret the scope of the policy.
The U.S. Department of Education has given colleges and schools with race-specific programs — including financial aid and racially themed dormitory floors and graduation ceremonies — until the end of the month to abolish them or risk losing federal funding as educators scrambled over the holiday weekend to interpret the sweeping scope of new guidelines.
The “dear colleague” letter from the department’s civil rights division and addressed to K-12 and higher education leaders lays out a new federal anti-discrimination enforcement policy that extends beyond the use of race in admissions, a practice barred since 2023 by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The guidelines, signed by acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor, said schools using “race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life” were in violation of anti-discrimination laws and legal precedent set in the high court’s affirmative action case.
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“The department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this nation’s educational institutions,” the letter said. It later adds that federal education authorities will “vigorously enforce the law on equal terms as to all preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies, that receive financial assistance.”
The letter singles out “white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families,” as victims of discrimination. It did not mention other types of school programming that appeal to nonracial groups, such as women-only residence halls, dorm room floors or programs for LGBTQ+ students or religious communities.
A spokesman for the department did not reply Sunday to a request for comment.
California received about $16.3 billion in total federal funding last year for its 5.8 million K-12 public school students, according to Education Data Initiative, which compiles information from government sources. The figures include education-related spending outside of the education department, such as school meal programs and Head Start for preschoolers. The letter did not say if the decision applies to funding that comes from beyond the department.
At the college level, more than $1.5 billion is allocated each year from the department to California students through Pell Grants, which do not have to be repaid and are given to students with low family incomes. In addition, more than $1 billion more is distributed throughout the country through other programs supporting low-income students.
The letter did not specify what type of federal funds for schools and colleges are at risk.
Education and legal experts said Sunday the department’s guidance targets not only practices in which scholars agree that the use of race is illegal — admissions and hiring — but also those that are commonplace and often not controversial. They include scholarships aiding under-represented racial minorities, culturally themed dorm room floors and optional graduation ceremonies for Black, Latino, Native American and other college and high school groups.
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Shaun Harper, a USC professor of education, public policy and business, said the message — a sharp turn from educational civil rights enforcement under President Biden — is “guaranteed to have a chilling effect.”
He also questioned whether the Department of Education’s letter, which cites the affirmative action case for a “framework” that “applies more broadly” beyond admissions, is legally sound.
“The Supreme Court did not outlaw race-conscious campus programs and resources. Instead it ruled that race can’t be used as a factor in determining admission,” Harper said. “Hence, the dear colleague letter is interpretive overreach.”
California’s Proposition 209, approved in 1996, barred all public educational institutions in the state from considering race in admissions. Private institutions, such as USC and Stanford, were also banned from the practice after the recent Supreme Court affirmative action ruling.
But other race-related campus programs have been widely in place for years at K-12 schools, colleges and universities.
At UCLA, the Black Bruin Resource Center launched in 2020 to “uplift, support, and inspire the UCLA Black and African Diaspora Community.” The campus also has a LatinX graduation — formerly Raza graduation — that started in 1973. At Cal State L.A., there’s the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Student Achievement Program. Since 1972, USC has held its Latine Graduate Celebration. Websites for each say they are open to all students.
The department’s notice called such graduation ceremonies “shameful.”
In a statement, the University of California indicated Sunday that it was not concerned about running afoul of the department.
The letter “provides guidance on the department’s interpretation of existing anti-discrimination laws and does not name any specific institution,” the statement said. “It indicates how OCR [Office of Civil Rights] intends to enforce these legal requirements. Given the UC’s compliance with Proposition 209, we do not use race-based preferences in our practices.”
In a statement released Monday in response to the letter, the California State University Office of the Chancellor, which oversees the 23-campus system, called the department’s action “unprecedented.”
“We are consulting with the California Attorney General and higher education partners across the country to better understand the statewide impact of this letter,” the statement said.
Spokespeople at USC and Stanford could not be reached for comment.
Morgan Polikoff, a USC education professor, said he viewed the Trump administration’s move as a “pretext to go after universities.” The letter, he said, went “far beyond” the Harvard affirmative action case ruling. “But if it gets universities to change policies out of fear, they can accomplish a lot even if the argument of the dear colleague letter doesn’t hold water.”
Edward Blum, founder of Students for Fair Admissions — the organization that won its affirmative action lawsuit against Harvard two years ago in the Supreme Court ruling — said the department’s message was an opening salvo in potential legal fights.
“This letter is likely a prelude to a forthcoming series of detailed directives that will identify discriminatory policies and programs that will be challenged in federal court by the Education Department,” Blum said. “Public and private educational institutions that have adopted policies that they consider race-neutral may soon have those policies declared as illegal race proxies.”
A day after a probe was opened into the CIF for allowing transgender athletes to play girls’ sports, a federal judge blocked President Trump’s executive orders restricting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youths.
K-12 schools and higher education institutions have been on alert since President Trump’s inauguration over a host of issues affecting education, including executive orders on immigration enforcement and the role of transgender students in sports.
The president nominated former Small Business Administration administrator and wrestling executive Linda McMahon to be his education secretary and directed McMahon — whom the Senate has not confirmed — to “put herself out of a job.”
Trump said he wants to eliminate the department. McMahon, during her confirmation hearing last week, said she and Trump “will be working with Congress” to carry out that mission by “presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with and our Congress to get on board with.”
If the department is dismantled, some of its functions may be transferred to other federal departments, including civil rights enforcement moving under the Justice Department.
During her hearing, McMahon largely avoided giving specific answers about diversity, equity and inclusion while being questioned by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
“We are getting back to more segregating of our schools, instead of having more inclusion in our schools,” McMahon said. “When there are DEI programs that say that Black students need separate graduation ceremonies, or Hispanics need separate ceremonies, we are not achieving what we wanted to achieve with inclusion.”
Murphy mentioned that a West Point U.S. Military Academy Black engineers organization disbanded after a Trump executive order eliminated DEI in the federal government. He asked McMahon if public schools would risk funding over similar DEI programs structured around ethnic or racial affiliations.
“I certainly today don’t want to address, you know, hypothetical situations. I would like, once I’m confirmed, to get in and assess these programs, look at what has been covered,” McMahon said.
The Department of Education released its DEI letter the next day.
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