With President Donald Trump’s recent proclamation to take down Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs across the country, the debate has sparked in education over whether the federal government can control what is taught in universities, and if so, to what extent.
Colleges, for as far as history dates, have been about being on the forefront of learning and innovation. They are known as hubs of intelligence and activism and have often resulted in massive social change. In the 1960s, college students took the stage, organizing sit-ins and protests across the United States to tear down the wall of segregation seen around every corner. Again, in the 1970s, students marched and protested for the United States to leave the war in Vietnam, and were again successful.
Protests like these have continued over the past 50 years and have pushed for equality not only in the United States but also in places like South America, Palestine and Ukraine. Though they have done much good for society, it seems many feel like they are not acceptable and are a disruption to learning. President Trump’s attack on DEI initiatives is putting colleges that promote this free thought in serious jeopardy.
Currently, over 50 universities are being investigated for failing to comply with Trump’s end to DEI initiatives, according to Collin Binkley, a reporter for AP News. This investigation claims that these programs are responsible for “race-based preferences” in their admissions, specifically stating that Black, Latino and Native American students are the ones being preferred.
However, this claim is very misleading.
The point of DEI initiatives is to ensure that any minority — regardless of race, gender, creed, sexuality, religion, etc. — is not discriminated against when applying and to make sure that they have an equal footing in the process. DEI initiatives have not resulted in schools being forced to take “less qualified candidates,” as many have been led to believe; rather, they are to ensure fair and proper treatment of all students.
This blatant attack on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives is raising ethical and financial concerns within schools. Public universities are being forced to comply with these new policies, and if they do not, they will lose all of their state and federal funding. Where college was once a place of free thought, it is now becoming a way of controlling thought to fit the current government ideology.
Private universities are not so safe either. President Trump has recently frozen $1 billion in funding for Cornell University and another $790 million for Northwestern. The White House is citing “civil rights violations” to be the cause, though I’d take that with a grain of salt. Similarly, a few weeks ago, Columbia was told it would be losing $400 million in grants for allowing students to protest in solidarity with Gaza. If that wasn’t enough, the president has also suspended $175 million in funding for the University of Pennsylvania for allowing a transgender athlete to compete for their swim team in 2022.
These attacks against colleges across the country are something to worry about. Colleges were once a melting pot of different thoughts, opinions and ideas. They allowed students to think freely and express themselves as they see fit. However, these blatant attacks on DEI initiatives show that the current government has its own agenda for what college should look like. It’s pushing a narrow way of thought, behavior and image, and punishing the universities that don’t agree with them.
College is meant to be a haven of learning and a place where students can grow and mature as people. Allowing the federal government to take away that opportunity by limiting curricula, forcing certain agendas and silencing any opposition cannot be tolerated. Though stripping the freedom of thought was once an idea that seemed dystopian, it’s now a reality that must be urgently addressed.
