Photo: Alamy
The Trump administration has set a deadline for public schools and universities to end diversity initiatives or face losing federal funding.
The Education Department sent a memo on Friday giving schools 14 days to end practices treating students or workers differently due to race.
“Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education, said in the letter.
“The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent,” the letter added.
Last week, the Education Department announced a $600 million cut in grants for organizations that train teachers, citing concerns that the programs promoted “divisive” concepts such as DEI, critical race theory, and social justice activism.
The new guidance aims to eliminate race as a factor in areas including financial aid, housing, graduation ceremonies, hiring and promotion. It also directly targets college admissions, suggesting that some institutions have attempted to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling against race-based admissions.
In his first week in office, Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday called Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Perferencing.
The executive order emphasized, “Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.”
As confirmed by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the Trump administration orders all DEI federal personnel to close down their DEI operations and offices. She said, “President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit-based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin. This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds. Promises made, promises kept.”
Charles Ezell, the Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, issued a memorandum confirming all federal employees in DEIA offices have until 5:00 pm EST on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, to leave immediately. In addition, all DEI social media accounts, websites, and DEI related programs must be deleted, RSBN previously reported.