Donald Trump’s crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives may impact college campuses in the near future.
On Thursday, February 13, 2025, members of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee questioned Linda McMahon regarding her nomination to become the next Secretary of Education. During the hearing, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut asked McMahon about diversity, equity and inclusion as it relates to celebrations of heritage and identity in schools.
“If a school in Connecticut celebrates Martin Luther King Day and has a series of events and programming teaching about Black history, are they in violation of a policy that says schools should stop running DEI programs?” Murphy asked.
“Not in my view, that is clearly not the case. The celebration of Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month should be celebrated throughout all of our schools. I believe that Martin Luther King was one of the strongest proponents of making sure that we look at all of our populations, when he said that he would hope that his children wouldn’t be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character, and I think that is the fundamental basis that we should celebrate Black History Month,” McMahon answered.
From there, Murphy followed-up with a question regarding student-led groups highlighting identity. With this question, McMahon was less definitive in her answer.
“West Point has closed down all ethnic clubs. So the Society of Black Engineers can no longer meet because they believe that to be in compliance with this order, they cannot have groups structured around ethnic or racial affiliations. Would public schools be in violation of this order? Would they risk funding if they had clubs that students could belong to based on their racial or ethnic identity?” Murphy asked.
“Well, I certainly today don’t want to address hypothetical situations. I would like, once I’m confirmed, to get in and assess these programs, look at what has been covered,” McMahon answered before Murphy doubled down with his question.
Ultimately, Murphy called McMahon’s inability to provide a definitive answer at the hearing “pretty chilling.” One week later, McMahon’s nomination to become the Secretary of Education was approved by the committee with a vote of 12-11 along party lines.
As McMahon waits for a vote among the full U.S. Senate, the Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter claiming “American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families.”
“Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them—particularly during the last four years—under the banner of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (‘DEI’), smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline,” the letter reads. “But under any banner, discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is, has been, and will continue to be illegal.”
McMahon’s statements coupled with the Trump administration’s desire to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion in publicly-funded institutions has drawn backlash and concern from several education professionals.
“There is legitimate concern that the new administration may seek to restrict student organizations, including registered student organizations, and perhaps even fraternities and sororities with a nondiscriminatory focus on race, ethnicity, gender, religion and other cultural identities that the DOE determines are prohibited,” Paulette Granberry Russell, CEO of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE), said.
The Trump administration’s push against DEI efforts builds upon 2023’s Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard court case. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled Harvard University’s admissions program violated the Fourteenth Amendment, effectively rendering affirmative actions practices unconstitutional. Now, educational professionals are weary that Trump may seek to take the court’s decision one step further and end all programs and initiatives geared toward a specific group.
“In SFFA, the high court ruled specifically on race-conscious admissions, but this letter extends that ruling beyond its original scope and targets financial aid, student support, hiring, DEI programs and campus culture,” Marybeth Gasman, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair at Rutgers University, told The Hill.
“I am concerned that the Trump administration could target student organizations that are racial affinity groups. They will claim they are enforcing ‘race neutrality’ — which makes no sense.”
