The Trump administration gave schools a DEI ultimatum – then walked it back

USA Today

04-03-2025

The Trump administration gave schools a DEI ultimatum – then walked it back A top Education Department official denied the implication that the agency has shifted its guidance about racial diversity in schools. 'There has been no walk back,' he said.
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Trump wants Education secretary to 'put herself out of a job'
President Donald Trump told reporters that Linda McMahon, his nominee to lead the Education Dept., should eventually "put herself out of a job."
In mid-February, the Trump administration told tens of thousands of K-12 schools and colleges they had until Feb. 28 to comply with a sweeping and vague order to root out diversity, equity and inclusion on their campuses.
Over the weekend, the U.S. Department of Education issued new guidance softening that mandate and reversing course on some of its broadest requests.
In a 'frequently asked questions' document posted Saturday morning after the deadline, the department's Office for Civil Rights walked back its directive, saying not all DEI initiatives actually violate the initial instructions.
A program or policy isn't unlawful just because it uses the terms 'diversity,' 'equity' or 'inclusion,' the new federal guidance says. Cultural and historical observances – including Black History Month and International Holocaust Remembrance Day – won't be discouraged either.
Perhaps most notably, the Education Department acknowledged the federal government doesn't have the power to dictate school curriculum.
In a statement to USA TODAY on Monday, Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said the 'frequently asked questions' document issued over the weekend and the initial directions provide guidance on the law.
He denied the implication that the Education Department had altered its policies.
'There has been no walk back,' he said.
Feb. 14 mandate
Top agency officials sowed confusion nationwide when they announced last month that the Trump administration's new interpretation of longstanding civil rights laws prohibited schools reliant on federal funding from considering race in a broad array of decisions related to American schooling. Included in the mandate were choices about 'admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.'
Read more: Trump gave schools 2 weeks to ban DEI. Lawyers say it's not that simple.
Osamudia James, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, said the point of the order was to 'scare and chill' schools.
'Every dollar you spend litigating these issues is money that does not go to supporting students who need it,' she said.
In the weeks since, universities have shuttered DEI offices, scrubbed websites and ceased supporting some marginalized student groups. K-12 school districts from Kentucky to Montana have opened compliance audits into their practices.
A prominent teachers union sued the Trump administration challenging all the changes last week.
Ray Li, an attorney in the Education Department's civil rights office during the Biden administration, called this weekend's clarification of its guidance a 'retreat back to some legal standards.' It contrasts sharply, he said, with the administration's initial posture, which he called 'really troubling.'
'Hopefully, schools take that information and realize that just because something deals with race doesn't mean it violates the law,' he said. 'Even this administration recognizes that.'
Can students write about race in college essays?
The revised guidance resolved a lot of the befuddlement among school administrators. But many still have questions about the types of policies and programs that could put them in the crosshairs of the federal officials under President Donald Trump's leadership.
For example, colleges don't know how to word their admissions essay questions. When the Supreme Court outlawed race-conscious admissions in 2023, Chief Justice John Roberts left room in his majority opinion for applicants to write to universities about their racial backgrounds.
'Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise,' he wrote.
The Education Department, on the other hand, has taken a more extreme view about students being forthcoming in their essays. On Saturday, the agency said schools that 'craft essay prompts in a way that require applicants to disclose their race are illegally attempting to do indirectly what cannot be done directly.'
Jonathan Feingold, a legal scholar at Boston University, said those interpretations of the Supreme Court's ban on race-conscious admissions are part of a broader conservative strategy.
'There is an effort to rhetorically overstate the holding,' he said, 'so that institutions are overcomplying.'
Common DEI initiatives are still legally defensible, he and other law faculty wrote in a memo to college presidents on Feb. 20.
Education Department launches 'EndDEI' portal
Since Trump took office, the federal Education Department has taken several steps to punish agency staffers and the schools they oversee for promoting diversity.
The most recent example came Thursday when the department launched a new online portal called EndDEI.Ed.Gov. The webpage's purpose, according to an announcement, would be to encourage students and teachers to 'submit reports of discrimination based on race or sex in publicly-funded K-12 schools.'
Read more: After monthlong pause, Trump admin resumes investigating disability complaints at schools
However, the agency's civil rights office has long suffered from limited staffing and an increasing workload. Amid buyouts and the threat of a 'very significant' workforce reduction across the Education Department, it's unlikely that the division's capacity to investigate complaints will improve anytime soon.
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [e-mail]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.