Education impacted by President Trump’s second term
President Trump’s orders to dismantle the Department of Education. Ken Klippenstein | Creative Commons
President Donald Trump stepped into his second presidential term and quickly impacted diversity, equity and inclusion or ‘DEI’ education projects. His administration has eliminated grants and entire grant programs affecting numerous organizations and schools that rely on federal funding.
On February 14, the U.S. Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague letter to all K-12 school districts, colleges and universities, instructing them to end the use of race-based considerations.
The letter outlined areas that would be affected, including “admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”
Institutions that fail to adhere to the letter have been warned they could face significant budget cuts. A Dear Colleague letter is not law, rather it is guidance on the president’s priorities.
On February 21, the president of Saddleback College, Dr. Elliot Stern, sent an email updating all staff on the status of the Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter.
“First of all, the discrimination we are ordered to cease in the Dear Colleague letter is discrimination already banned in the State of California under Prop 209,” Stern stated. “Indeed, if one takes the time to examine all the prohibitions and examples of discrimination in this letter from OCR, one would struggle to find anything we do at Saddleback that is prohibited in this terse missive. We don’t have race-based admissions or hiring policies or practices.”
On February 24, two federal judges made separate rulings that temporarily stopped the Trump administration from going ahead with any plans to roll back DEI initiatives and make significant cuts to federal funding, as reported by the American Council on Education.
On February 28, the U.S. Department of Education set a deadline for all schools—including K-12 institutions, colleges and universities—to eliminate race-specific programs, once again threatening budget cuts for any organization that does not comply.
Many professionals in the education sector are experiencing significant repercussions from these decisions. State education agencies, universities, districts, schools and research organizations need to quickly pivot the support they provide to students and communities.
A post from President Trump regarding peaceful protesting. Truth Social | Screenshot
The most recent update in the educational field came on March 4 when President Trump released a statement on Truth Social, stating that any colleges or universities that allow protesting on campus will have any type of federal funding revoked.
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