Hours into his second term, President Trump banned diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across the federal government, eliminated a number of programs related to race and gender, and declared that there were “two sexes.”
On Tuesday, the new administration sent a memo directing that all diversity staff in federal agencies be placed on paid leave and eventually laid off, according to CBS News. The memo also told agencies to ask employees “if they know of any efforts to disguise these programs through coded or imprecise language.”
The flurry of executive orders and policy revocations so far, a sign of the new Trump administration’s priorities, sends a message about opposition to DEI that could prompt colleges to act preemptively, some higher-ed experts say.
Trump’s actions come as Republican state lawmakers and colleges in red states have eliminated or altered diversity offices, programs, and jobs on campuses.
With federal funding on the line — millions in student financial aid, as well as lucrative contracts and research grants — more colleges could be motivated to revisit their DEI efforts, said Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America.
“It seems very plausible that higher-education institutions will pre-comply, even before the Department of Education or the National Science Foundation writes it into specific projects,” Patel said. “Universities will adopt the spirit of the executive order.”
While the Trump administration has not yet signed an executive order specifically directed at higher education, Trump did end White House programs focused on advancing educational equity and opportunities for Hispanic, Native American, and Black students. The administration also rolled back efforts supporting tribal colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions.
Spared was the White House’s program focused on historically Black colleges, which Trump supported during his first term; in 2017, he signed an executive order to move the HBCU program into the White House from the Education Department.
Emmanual A. Guillory, senior director of government relations at the American Council on Education, said executive orders and revocations are common for new presidents. Former President Joe Biden signed 160 executive orders during his administration, many of which aimed to undo the 220 executive orders from Trump’s first term.
Even though Trump just got rid of several programs focused on students of color and minority-serving institutions, “it doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be a forthcoming executive order with some different language,” Guillory said. “Every president is going to have their stamp on things.”
How the executive orders will be implemented, Guillory said, will be most important.
“Right now, what has been signed doesn’t necessarily, we believe, have a direct, hard impact,” he said. “But what comes after will matter.”
Guillory added that the American Council on Education is prepared for the new administration: “We are looking forward to working with the new political appointees.”
Meanwhile, an executive order asserting that the government will only recognize “two sexes” took aim at Title IX protections for transgender students that were championed by the Biden administration. (Those protections are enshrined in federal regulations, but a court blocked their enforcement this month.)
Trump’s order directed the forthcoming U.S. attorney general to issue guidance that Title IX does not require “gender identity-based access to single-sex spaces,” and barred federal funds from being used “to promote gender ideology.”
Trump also issued nearly a dozen executive orders on immigration, including efforts to limit birthright citizenship and require the Department of Homeland Security to fingerprint all undocumented immigrants. Trump’s pledges to crack down on immigration have created uncertainty and confusion for the country’s 400,000 undocumented college students — many of whom benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA — and 1.1 million international students.
Trump also revoked a Biden-era policy that effectively shielded undocumented immigrants from arrest while inside educational institutions, churches, and hospitals. On Tuesday, more than 20 states and cities sued over the executive order on birthright citizenship, a right enshrined by the 14th Amendment.
“The biggest change might be that foreign students and immigrants (or their children) enroll less frequently, putting strain on the institutions that rely on them when enrollments are dropping among the native-born,” Harry J. Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University, wrote in an email.
Trump’s actions on DEI reflect a broader shift in the public’s perception of diversity-related programs, Holzer said. Colleges have increasingly come under scrutiny for race-conscious hiring practices, for instance, with critics saying such efforts are discriminatory and limit free speech.
“DEI practices have made many students and faculty afraid to express moderate or conservative views,” Holzer said. “But Trump’s practices could now make progressives and people of color more fearful. Free expression is harmed either way.”
