Remember not so long ago when Americans were told they were racists and that Diversity, Inclusion and Equity (DEI) policies at colleges and universities were needed to correct historic wrongs against people of color?
Well, in reaction to President Trump’s new policies, universities around the country are quietly eliminating or reducing their DEI offices before they lose federal funding or face fines for racial discrimination.
And that’s exactly what DEI is: reverse discrimination based on race. It used to be called “affirmative action,” but the U.S. Supreme Court struck down race-based admissions in higher education in 2023. Justice Clarence Thomas, the nation’s second black justice, rightly called affirmative action “rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes.”
Federal civil rights law already prohibits the use of race-based preferences. So, DEI was illegal from the get-go.
In an abrupt about-face, the University of Virginia board voted earlier this month to immediately shut down its DEI office and all campus DEI programs. This was not done to comply with the Supreme Court ruling banning racial preferences, or it would have happened two years ago. The only reason UVA decided to take this step now was the Trump administration’s warning that any universities that continued to use DEI would face investigations with the possible loss of federal funding.
Other schools, including Ohio State, East Carolina, University of Cincinnati, University of Michigan, University of Washington, University of California, University of Arizona, Brown, Columbia and Cornell are also suddenly reevaluating their DEI programs after the U.S. Department of Education announced that it is investigating more than 50 colleges and universities over the use of racial preferences in admissions and scholarships and even campus segregation.
A Feb. 14 letter from the department’s Office of Civil Rights warned that it “will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions. 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.”
This 180-degree shift was not the result of an introspective look at the ramifications of DEI, particularly on high-performing Asian and white students who were being passed over for admission and scholarships solely based on their race in favor of other, less qualified individuals who had the “right” racial background. Nor was it the Ivory Tower’s acquiescence to federal law, which they had been violating with impunity.
This is all about the money. These hypocrites will do anything to keep the federal cash flowing into their coffers – including throwing their own policies, personnel and supporters under the bus.