‘The damage is done’: Why Trump’s DEI retreat in court may be too late for many colleges
Nearly a year after the Department of Education threatened to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding unless schools and colleges eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the Trump administration abandoned its legal fight against DEI on Wednesday.
In a federal court filing, the U.S. government said it would drop its objection to a federal court order blocking its campaign against DEI in K-12 schools and higher education institutions that it claimed discriminated against white students and employees, leaving in place a lower court finding that the effort violated the 1st Amendment and federal procedural rules.
But a nearly year-long federal campaign against DEI and funding threats has led to widespread overhauls of the nation’s education systems and the elimination of diversity programs; Education experts said this would be difficult to reverse.
On at least dozens of college campuses across the country, websites have been purged of content mentioning DEI or diversity, DEI-related positions have been eliminated or replaced, or students have lost access to culturally themed content. dormitories It focused on Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ students.
“The damage has been done,” said Shaun Harper, a professor of education, public policy and business at USC who is working on a documentary about DEI in universities.
The letter in the middle of the controversy
The dispute centered on federal guidance issued last February that told schools they would lose federal money for using “race in decisions regarding admissions, hiring, promotions, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, awards, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”
The so-called “dear colleague” letter from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights did not create new law, which is Congress’ duty. But he cited how the Trump administration has interpreted existing legal precedents and said the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision overturning affirmative action applies to nearly all educational efforts to promote racial diversity.
The management did not give any reason for the decision to withdraw the objection. The Ministry of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
Education expert says ‘the damage has been done’
Despite the court ruling, education experts said the chilling effect of the White House’s crackdown on diversity has likely permanently changed campus culture.
“We are going to see negative outcomes for students, academic outcomes, retention outcomes… because the resources that have long existed on campuses are no longer available in many places,” Harper said.
A few weeks after the Department of Education letter was published last year, USC deleted the website of its universitywide Office of Inclusion and Diversity and merged it with another operation, rescinded several university and department-level DEI statements, renamed faculty positions and, in one case, removed online references to a scholarship for Black and Indigenous students.
Campuses at the University of California and California State University were more resilient. Officials said they were complying with Proposition 209, a 1997 law that prohibits consideration of race in admissions to public universities. They said they believe other efforts that cater to Latino and Black communities but are not specific to them, such as cultural centers and living-learning dorms, are legal.
The picture across the country was more mixed.
The president of Colorado State University says he will retool its programs on race and avoid taking a “gamble” by challenging Trump. At the University of Cincinnati, the president said he had “very little choice” but to fall in line. For proxies University of Alaska voted To clear DEI from the system. University of Iowa says this will end dormitory communities For Black, Latino, and LGBTQ+ students.
It stifles teachers’ free speech, “causing millions of educators to reasonably fear that their legal or even helpful speech could lead to punishment for them or their schools,” Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher wrote in a court decision last August invalidating the Department of Education’s anti-DEI guidance.
The Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action “absolutely does not prohibit any classroom speech or in any way relate to curriculum choices,” the judge said.
USC education professor Morgan Polikoff said the Trump administration “probably saw the writing on the wall because this is clearly illegal, but more narrowly tailored rules could probably survive in the courts.” “Still, I think they have accomplished a lot in the anti-DEI war by stoking fear about what they can do.”
Little K-12 impact as California schools resist
The Department of Education’s accusation of DEI hasn’t affected California’s K-12 schools all that much. The state defied a separate order from the Trump administration in April that certified 1,000 school districts to end all DEI under threat of federal funding cuts.
The Department of Education had given states until April 24 to collect certification from every school district in the country to verify that all DEI efforts have been eliminated.
The California Department of Education defended its practices in a letter to school district administrators last year, saying, “there is nothing in state or federal law that outlaws general concepts such as ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ or ‘inclusion.’”
CDE also sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education regarding its decision not to comply, saying the federal request was unclear.
Gallagher’s August court decision also rejected public K-12 schools’ anti-DEI request.
what’s next
Democracy ForwardA legal advocacy firm representing the plaintiffs, including the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement Wednesday that the dismissal of the appeal was “a welcome relief and a meaningful win for public education.”
“Today’s impeachment confirms what the data shows: government lawyers are increasingly finding it difficult to defend the lawlessness of the president and his cabinet,” said Skye Perryman, the group’s president and CEO.
Still, while one element of the Trump administration’s stance on DEI appears to have failed, the administration has made numerous other efforts and made some gains in negotiations with individual campuses.
These include an October agreement with the University of Virginia that said it would eliminate DEI programming. The U.S. government has also faced lawsuits, including lawsuits filed by UC professors, over the revocation of diversity-related research grants.
Trump administration investigating UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, and Stanford for allegedly using race in admissions decisions; The schools deny these accusations.
The Justice Department in August sent UCLA a 27-page list of demands demanding $1.2 billion in fines and campus changes to resolve civil rights investigations into the university, including proposals to eliminate any ties to race-related scholarships. Last year, a federal judge blocked the terms of the settlement offer.
This month, the Trump administration appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Times writer Howard Blume and Associated Press Collin Binkley contributed to this report.
