Tag: DEI

  • Rutgers cancels HBCU event to align with Trump DEI orders

    Rutgers cancels HBCU event to align with Trump DEI orders

    The virtual mini-conference sponsored by Jobs for the Future was scheduled for Jan. 30.

    The Rutgers University Center for Minority Serving Institutions announced Thursday that it has canceled an upcoming virtual conference about registered apprenticeship programs as a result of President Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

    “We were very excited to bring the HBCUs and Registered Apprenticeship Mini-Conference to you next week,” said the email sent to registered attendees. “Unfortunately, due to President Trump’s Executive Orders … we have been asked to cease all work under the auspices of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility HUB at Jobs for the Future, which the U.S. Department of Labor funds.”

    Jobs for the Future, an organization focused on helping college and workforce leaders create equitable economic outcomes for students, runs a national innovation hub focused on improving access to registered apprenticeships for women, people of color and other underrepresented groups.

    Located in New Jersey, a blue state for more the 30 years, Rutgers has not faced pressure from state legislators to dismantle DEI. But the cancellation demonstrates the leverage and power the federal government can hold over colleges and universities by threatening to pull funding from programs that don’t comply with the president’s demands.

    It’s just the kind of reaction higher ed policy experts and DEI advocates predicted as a result of the Republican agenda.

    “That wariness and sort of pre-emptive compliance, even absent direct threats from the federal or state government, might be somewhat universal,” Brendan Cantwell, a professor of education at Michigan State University, told Inside Higher Ed.

    “These leaders will be worried about losing their federal funding, which is exactly what DEI opponents want,” added Shaun Harper, a professor of education, business and public policy; the founder of the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center; and an Inside Higher Ed opinion contributor.

    More cancellations are anticipated in the weeks and months to come as the Trump administration continues to issue executive orders. For instance, Trump’s growing team at the Department of Education announced a series of actions Thursday related to eliminating DEI.

    “The Department removed or archived hundreds of guidance documents, reports, and training materials that include mentions of DEI from its outward facing communication channels [and] put employees charged with leading DEI initiatives on paid administrative leave,” agency officials said in a news release. “These actions are in line with President Trump’s ongoing commitment to end illegal discrimination and wasteful spending across the federal government. They are the first step in reorienting the agency toward prioritizing meaningful learning ahead of divisive ideology in our schools.”

    Other actions the department has taken include:

    • Dissolving the department’s Diversity and Inclusion Council.
    • Terminating the Employee Engagement Diversity Equity Inclusion Accessibility Council within the Office for Civil Rights.
    • Canceling ongoing DEI training and service contracts that total over $2.6 million.
    • Withdrawing the department’s Equity Action Plan, which was released in 2023 to align with former president Joe Biden’s executive order to advance racial equity and support for underserved communities.

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  • Trump signs executive order targeting DEI policies at colleges

    Trump signs executive order targeting DEI policies at colleges

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    Dive Brief:

    • President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at colleges and other “influential institutions of American society,” escalating the Republican-led crusade against DEI. 
    • The executive order declares that DEI policies and programs adopted by colleges and others can violate federal civil rights laws and directs federal agencies to “combat illegal private sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, and activities.”
    • Trump’s order also directs each federal agency to identify up to nine corporations or associations, large foundations, or colleges with endowments over $1 billion as potential targets for “civil compliance investigations.”

    Dive Insight: 

    Republicans have railed against diversity and inclusion programming on college campuses for years, with state lawmakers enacting 14 pieces of legislation that restrict or bar DEI since 2023, according to a tally from The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

    Federal lawmakers have likewise targeted DEI programs at colleges in hearings and proposed bills. With Trump’s flurry of recent executive orders, however, the newly sworn-in president has made clear that his administration will ramp up the fight against DEI at the federal level. 

    “Institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion,’” the order states. 

    Jeremy Young, director of state and higher education policy at PEN America, a free expression organization, voiced concerns about the executive order. 

    “It launches a series of investigations into universities for merely having a DEI office or promoting DEI, diversity work on their campus,” Young said. “That, to us, is a pretty straightforward violation of the intellectual freedom of a university to promote ideas of all kinds on its campus.”

    At minimum, government investigations could amount to a nuisance, but at maximum, they could lead to lawsuits and actions against colleges, Young added. 

    Young also said the order is designed to sow division in the higher education sector by targeting colleges with endowments worth $1 billion or more. 

    “My hope is that higher education institutions will see this attack on a subset of their members as an attack on everyone,” Young said. 

    Trump’s new order also lacks a clear definition of what it deems as DEI programs or policies, Young said, raising concerns about unconstitutionally vague language. 

    State bills banning DEI similarly don’t have clear definitions, Young said. 

    “They become effectively a license to censor,” Young said. “Any government agency looking at them can claim that something is DEI because there is no actual definition in the order.”

    Trump’s order directs the nation’s attorney general, in consultation with federal agencies, to propose potential litigation against the private sector to enforce civil rights laws. It also orders agencies to identify “potential regulatory action and sub-regulatory guidance.”

    Trump also directed the U.S. education secretary to work with the nation’s attorney general to issue guidance to federally funded colleges within the next 120 days regarding how they can comply with the landmark 2023 Supreme Court decision that struck down race-conscious admissions. Trump’s nominee for education secretary, former World Wrestling Entertainment president and CEO Linda McMahon, is awaiting Senate confirmation hearings for the post.

    Tuesday’s executive order comes after he signed several other directives on the first day of his presidency meant to dismantle DEI efforts within the federal workforce. 

    Tim Walberg, the Michigan Republican who chairs the House Committee on Education and Workforce, lauded the executive actions against DEI. 

    “DEI has bloated education budgets while telling students what to think instead of how to think,” Walberg said in a Wednesday statement. “I commend the Trump administration for dismantling DEI.” 

    Tuesday’s executive order clarifies that instructors at colleges that get federal aid are not prohibited from “advocating for, endorsing, or promoting the unlawful employment or contracting practices prohibited by this order” in their academic courses. 

    But Young said he hasn’t seen any legislation or executive order claiming to restrict DEI that doesn’t also restrict faculty instruction or roles in some way. “We have come to the conclusion that it may be impossible to do that,” Young said. 

    Trump’s order also says it does not prevent colleges from engaging in speech protected by the First Amendment. 

    Young, however, said language like this amounts to a meaningless statement, as the First Amendment supersedes an executive order.  

    “The problem is that the language plainly does violate the First Amendment, and therefore it’s going to be years before the courts adjudicate it and, meanwhile, people have to live under these executive orders,” Young said.

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  • Trump Signs Executive Order Ending DEI Programs Including Affirmative Action

    Trump Signs Executive Order Ending DEI Programs Including Affirmative Action

    by CUPA-HR | January 22, 2025

    On January 22, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The EO directs all federal agencies to “terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements,” to enforce “longstanding civil rights laws,” and to “combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.” The White House also published a fact sheet to supplement the order.

    The EO lists several other executive orders that the Trump administration is revoking. Notably, the Trump EO revokes executive order 11246, titled “Equal Employment Opportunity,” which has required federal contractors to have affirmative action plans since 1965. Additionally, the EO orders the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at the Department of Labor (DOL) to immediately cease “promoting diversity,” “holding federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking ‘affirmative action,’” and “allowing or encouraging federal contractors or subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.” Both of these actions are explained by the EO to streamline the federal contracting process “to enhance speed and efficiency, reduce costs, and require federal contractors and subcontractors to comply with our civil rights laws.”

    The EO also directs each federal agency to include in every federal contract or grant award a term requiring a contractual counterparty or grant recipient to agree that it is in compliance with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws and a term requiring the counterparty or recipient to certify that it does not operate “any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable federal antidiscrimination laws.”

    The EO also includes orders to encourage the private sector to cease DEI programs and initiatives. Specifically, the EO directs the attorney general, in consultation with other relevant agencies, to promulgate a report with recommendations to enforce civil rights laws and encourage the private sector to end DEI practices. The report is required to identify “the most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners in each sector of concern.” It also requires each agency to identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations as a way to deter DEI programs or principles. The EO lists institutions of higher education with endowments over $1 billion as potential targets for the civil compliance investigations.

    Finally, the EO directs the attorney general and secretary of education to issue guidance to state and local educational agencies and institutions of higher education that receive federal dollars or participate in the Title IV federal student loan assistance program regarding “the measures and practices required to comply with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.”

    The EO will have widespread implications for federal contractors in the higher education community. CUPA-HR will share further developments on this EO as they are released.



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  • Trump Signs Executive Order Ending DEI Programs Including Affirmative Action

    Trump Signs Executive Order Ending DEI Programs Including Affirmative Action

    by CUPA-HR | January 22, 2025

    On January 22, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The EO directs all federal agencies to “terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements,” to enforce “longstanding civil rights laws,” and to “combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.” The White House also published a fact sheet to supplement the order.

    The EO lists several other executive orders that the Trump administration is revoking. Notably, the Trump EO revokes executive order 11246, titled “Equal Employment Opportunity,” which has required federal contractors to have affirmative action plans since 1965. Additionally, the EO orders the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at the Department of Labor (DOL) to immediately cease “promoting diversity,” “holding federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking ‘affirmative action,’” and “allowing or encouraging federal contractors or subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.” Both of these actions are explained by the EO to streamline the federal contracting process “to enhance speed and efficiency, reduce costs, and require federal contractors and subcontractors to comply with our civil rights laws.”

    The EO also directs each federal agency to include in every federal contract or grant award a term requiring a contractual counterparty or grant recipient to agree that it is in compliance with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws and a term requiring the counterparty or recipient to certify that it does not operate “any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable federal antidiscrimination laws.”

    The EO also includes orders to encourage the private sector to cease DEI programs and initiatives. Specifically, the EO directs the attorney general, in consultation with other relevant agencies, to promulgate a report with recommendations to enforce civil rights laws and encourage the private sector to end DEI practices. The report is required to identify “the most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners in each sector of concern.” It also requires each agency to identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations as a way to deter DEI programs or principles. The EO lists institutions of higher education with endowments over $1 billion as potential targets for the civil compliance investigations.

    Finally, the EO directs the attorney general and secretary of education to issue guidance to state and local educational agencies and institutions of higher education that receive federal dollars or participate in the Title IV federal student loan assistance program regarding “the measures and practices required to comply with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.”

    The EO will have widespread implications for federal contractors in the higher education community. CUPA-HR will share further developments on this EO as they are released.



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  • Indiana governor issues executive order eliminating DEI

    Indiana governor issues executive order eliminating DEI

    Indiana governor Mike Braun signed an executive order Wednesday eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion in all state agencies and replacing it with what he’s calling “MEI”—merit, excellence and innovation.

    The order requires all executive branch state agencies to uphold the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard, which prohibited the consideration of race in college admissions, noting that “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it” and that equal protection applies “without regard to any differences of race, of color, or of nationality.”

    Under the order, government offices cannot use state funds, property or resources to support DEI initiatives, require job candidates to issue DEI statements or “mandate any person to disclose their pronouns.” State agencies must review their individual programs and policies for compliance by April 30 and provide a written report to the governor by July 1.

    The order also closes the government’s Office of the Chief Equity, Opportunity and Inclusion Officer, which was created in 2020 under Braun’s predecessor, Governor Eric Holcomb.

    This makes Indiana the second state this year to eliminate DEI by executive order, following West Virginia.

    Among the other executive orders Braun signed during his first week as governor was one requiring the state personnel office to review all job postings and eliminate degree requirements for positions where they’re not necessary.

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  • West Virginia Executive Order on ‘DEI’ unconstitutionally limits university classroom discussions.

    West Virginia Executive Order on ‘DEI’ unconstitutionally limits university classroom discussions.

    West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order yesterday to eliminate certain diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in state agencies and organizations that receive state money. While the state may limit certain programs or activities of state agencies, the executive order is written so broadly that it applies to classroom instruction in higher education. As such, the executive order violates the First Amendment and must be rescinded or amended to make clear that it does not affect what’s discussed in college classrooms. If the order is not rescinded or amended, West Virginia’s public institutions must protect faculty academic freedom rights and make sure that classroom teaching is not affected. 

    If you are a faculty member whose teaching may be impacted by Executive Order 3-25, FIRE is here for you.

    Provision 1.b. sweeps in an enormous amount of expression protected under the First Amendment protected expression at West Virginia’s universities and colleges. It provides: 

    [No] entity receiving state funds, shall utilize state funds, property, or resources to . . . Mandate any person to participate in, listen to, or receive any education, training, activities, procedures, or programming to the extent such education, training, activity, or procedure promotes or encourages the granting of preferences based on one person’s particular race, color, sex, ethnicity, or national origin over that of another.

    This language violates the First Amendment, reaching college classroom instruction and discussion. It is viewpoint-discriminatory, prohibiting faculty from sharing any material that “promotes or encourages” a view while allowing them to criticize that viewpoint. And while other states’ anti-DEI efforts have included language that might protect discussions in university and college classrooms, West Virginia’s does not — instead, it applies to any agency receiving state funds. West Virginia’s public universities cannot both comply with the executive order and their obligations under the first Amendment. 

    Governor Morrisey should rescind or amend the Executive Order to make clear that it does not affect higher education classroom instruction. 

    Whatever authority states might have to regulate other state agencies (including K-12 education and non academic higher education programming), the university classroom context is different. The First Amendment protects the right of faculty members at public universities and colleges to discuss pedagogically-relevant material in their courses, even if that material is offensive to students, colleagues, the public, or lawmakers. As the Supreme Court held in Keyishian v. Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York (1967), state officials cannot use the law to impose an “orthodoxy over the [college] classroom,” where students learn “through wide exposure to that robust exchange of ideas,” not “authoritative selection,” wrote Justice William Brennan.

    FIRE has defended this important right across the ideological spectrum in courts across the country, successfully suing over Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” and maintaining an ongoing challenge against California’s requirement that faculty incorporate ‘anti-racist’ viewpoints into their classroom teaching.

    Executive Order 3-25 violates those First Amendment rights. Under Executive Order 3-25:

    • A law professor teaching constitutional law cannot present Supreme Court opinions arguing in favor of race-conscious admissions at universities and colleges, including the dissenting opinions in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College or the plurality or majority opinions in Bakke and Grutter.
    • A college professor cannot recount other arguments in favor of affirmative action or racial preferences, which remain legal in many other circumstances outside of the university context.
    • A professor discussing reparations — including proposals recently introduced in the United States Senate — can only criticize reparations, but could not present arguments in favor, even if they want to dissect those arguments.
    • A history professor would have to think twice before presenting materials relating to historic immigration policies that limited immigrants by national origin, as that might “promote” preferences based on national origin.
    • A political science professor cannot present materials arguing in favor of continuing to limit Selective Service (i.e., the military draft) registration requirements to men, or limiting combat roles to men, as those arguments would “promote” preferences based on sex.

    Diversity, equity, and inclusion statements FAQ

    Issue Pages

    Vague or ideologically motivated DEI statement policies can too easily function as litmus tests for adherence to prevailing ideological views on DEI.


    Read More

    Worse still, it is impossible for an educator to know what might “promote or encourage the granting of preferences” with regard to a particular student. For instance, since students reading the Supreme Court decisions in Bakke and Grutter may find their arguments convincing, even teaching about these landmark cases would risk violating the executive order. This cannot be reconciled with the First Amendment and academic freedom rights of West Virginia students and professors.

    The plain language of the provision clearly conflicts with West Virginians’ constitutional rights. Governor Morrisey should rescind or amend the Executive Order to make clear that it does not affect higher education classroom instruction. If you are a faculty member whose teaching may be impacted by Executive Order 3-25, please contact FIRE: https://thefire.org/alarm.

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  • Republicans Continue Their Crusade Against CRT And DEI Initiatives (Forbes Breaking News)

    Republicans Continue Their Crusade Against CRT And DEI Initiatives (Forbes Breaking News)







    Higher Education Inquirer : Republicans Continue Their Crusade Against CRT And DEI Initiatives (Forbes Breaking News)




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