After setting a deadline of Feb. 28 for all American schools to remove references of diversity, equity and inclusion, the U.S. Department of Education has finally offered clarity.
Three days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, the department began to eliminate DEI by identifying more than 200 webpages to remove.
The Office of Civil Rights within the DOE protects American students from discrimination. In more than three pages, Acting Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor wrote to educational institutions to clarify DEI.
Trainor’s letter sought to reiterate “existing legal requirements under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,2 the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.”
“In recent years, 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. These institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia. For example, colleges, universities and K-12 schools have routinely used race as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring, training and other institutional programming. In a shameful echo of a darker period in this country’s history, many American schools and universities even encourage segregation by race at graduation ceremonies and in dormitories and other facilities,” Trainor wrote.
According to Trainor, American educational institutions “have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon “systemic and structural racism” and advanced discriminatory policies and practices.”
Discriminatory practices included DEI, which the DOE now considers illegal and Trainor’s letter serves as notice to all educational institutions.
“DEI programs, for example, frequently preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not. Such programs stigmatize students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes. Consequently, they deny students the ability to participate fully in the life of a school,” Trainor wrote.
Trainor said the the DOE “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. All students are entitled to a school environment free from discrimination. The department is committed to ensuring those principles are a reality.”
Before outlining the steps educational institutions should take to remove DEI, Trainor wrote that the DOE will enforce compliance. Educational institutions are to ensure policies align with existing civil rights law, cease all efforts “to circumvent prohibitions prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends,” and stop using third parties as a way to “circumvent prohibited uses of race.”
Lack of compliance jeopardizes federal funding.
“Our goal as a school division is to give students what they need,” Waynesboro Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Ryan Barber said.
According to Barber, Waynesboro Schools works to meet students and their families where they are coming from and that “is really what it all comes down to.”
Barber said that the federal government can make DEI a divisive conversation, but that Waynesboro Schools will not do that.
Waynesboro Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff Cassell said that the school system will continue to support parents and students. The school system has no immediate plans to remove DEI references.
“As the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Waynesboro Public Schools, my role is to ensure that every student, staff member and family feels valued seen, and supported. Diversity, equity and inclusion is important in creating an inclusive school system where all students have equitable opportunities to succeed. By fostering a culture of belonging, we strengthen not only our schools but also our broader community, ensuring that Waynesboro is a place where diversity is celebrated and every voice matters,” said Kendra Jones Carter.
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Rebecca Barnabi
