Feds target $3.7B in research as DEI crackdown sees success

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(The Center Square) – As colleges and universities scale back diversity, equity and inclusion programs amid federal funding pressure from the Trump administration, supporters of the cuts argue DEI has negatively affected academics and higher education.

Approximately $3.7 billion in federal research funding has been targeted for cuts, disrupting hundreds of clinical trials and research partnerships across multiple institutions. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has proposed suspending 38 universities from federal research partnerships over their DEI hiring practices.

Over 300 colleges and universities have eliminated DEI requirements, closed or restructured diversity offices, removed diversity statements from hiring practices or altered institutional policies, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

At least 175 institutions have removed or restructured DEI offices or centers. Another 95 have eliminated faculty and staff positions, renamed positions or reassigned employees to different roles, the Education Department reported.

Six universities have reached agreements with the federal government to have funding restored or remain eligible for federal funding. Four of those institutions agreed to pay a combined $305 million in legal settlements to the federal government.

The administration has also sought a $1.2 billion fine from the University of California.

Beginning in 2025, the administration threatened to withhold federal funds from Harvard University and other institutions, citing concerns involving campus protests over the war in Gaza, diversity programs and transgender policies.

Universities have challenged several federal funding decisions in court, with judges blocking some of the administration's efforts.

A Massachusetts federal judge blocked the administration from cutting approximately $600 million in teacher-training funds. The judge found the U.S. Department of Education's effort to target programs connected to diversity, equity and inclusion to be "arbitrary and capricious."

The impact of DEI policy changes varies across institutions and states.

In Texas, public universities must comply with state prohibitions on DEI initiatives. Texas State University states that it follows Texas laws restricting diversity, equity and inclusion activities at public institutions of higher education.

The university's policy prohibits maintaining DEI offices, hiring DEI personnel, requiring DEI statements or preferential consideration, granting demographic employment preferences and mandating DEI training.

Georgetown University's Office of Student Equity and Inclusion describes itself as a principal leader and resource for student development, programming and collaboration related to student diversity, equity and inclusion.

University of California, Los Angeles' Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion states that it leads strategies to advance equity, diversity and inclusion, protect civil rights and uphold dignity throughout the university community.

Some institutions have also changed the names of DEI departments, replacing the terminology with words such as "belonging." Education analysts say some of these renamed offices continue to perform similar functions through programming and training, despite the name change.

Timothy Minella, director of higher education at the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, argued that renaming departments does not necessarily change their underlying practices.

“It is the same DEI programming, the same DEI training, but just with a different label,” Minella told The Center Square. 

Minella said he views the administration's efforts to restrict DEI programs as a positive development, arguing that universities should prioritize education over ideological instruction.

“What DEI really is, is discrimination,” Minella said. 

Minella noted universities have increasingly adopted a particular interpretation of American history that portrays the country as systemically oppressive.

“This way of teaching history does not give justice to the complexity of our history,” Minella said. “We need to get back to education, not indoctrination.”

He also raised concerns about students graduating without a sufficient understanding of foundational civic concepts.

“Students graduate with zero understanding of, and this gets into the civics component, of really important concepts, for instance, federalism,” Minella told The Center Square. 

Jonathan Butcher, acting director of the Center for Education Policy and Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, said the actions taken by the Trump administration are necessary to enforce the law. 

“If the Civil Rights Act in 1964 is not being enforced at the state level, then it does become the federal government's responsibility to make sure that those laws are enforced,” Butcher told The Center Square. 

Butcher added that DEI in turn discriminates while attempting to diversify. 

“Diversity is something that Americans may appreciate. Equality under the law is the requirement,” Butcher said. 

Butcher said that some DEI practices can result in racial quotas and raised concerns about the effects of campus policies on students with differing political views.

“Students are afraid to speak up in class,” Butcher said. “I don't want anybody who has a particular political disposition to be censored on campus.”

In terms of censorship, the University of Illinois, Chicago has highlighted concerns about what it describes as a campaign of censorship affecting higher education, according to a study by PEN America, a nonprofit human rights organization.

“Censorship is, sadly, now an intractable reality on college and university campuses, with serious negative impacts for teaching, research, and student life,” Amy Reid, program director of Freedom to Learn at PEN America, said in a statement.  

“With threats of formal sanctions and political reprisals coming from both state and federal governments, campus leaders and faculty feel they have no choice but to comply, and are increasingly acting preemptively out of fear,” Reid added. 

Reid argued that government involvement in higher education is expanding beyond individual DEI programs.

"Politicians are expanding a sweeping web of political and ideological control over higher education in American campuses, reshaping what can be taught, researched, and debated to fit their own agenda," she said. "That's dangerous for free thought in a democracy."

The Center Square reached out to PEN America but was unable to interview the organization because of scheduling conflicts.

The Center Square also contacted multiple organizations that support DEI practices, including the National Association for College Admission Counseling, but did not receive a response.