The Department of Education is making big changes to its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. This follows executive orders from President Donald Trump aimed at ending these initiatives in federal agencies and reinstating merit-based opportunities.
Shortly after these orders, the department canceled over $2.6 million in existing DEI training contracts. They also placed DEI staff on administrative leave and disbanded DEI councils. Many documents that referenced DEI have been removed or set aside.
According to a press release, the Department of Education is committed to fighting discrimination based on race while aiming to eliminate harmful stereotypes. They’ve also taken down more than 200 web pages that promoted DEI resources for schools and universities.
Some of the removed pages included topics like “Resources for LGBTQI+ Students” and reports on discrimination based on race or national origin.
In addition to removing these resources, the department disbanded its Employee Engagement Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Council, part of the Office for Civil Rights.
The Department of Education plans to keep reviewing all its programs to identify any that promote a divisive DEI agenda. This includes scrutinizing public sites and media channels for any DEI-related language.
Interestingly, under the Biden administration, the Department had previously spent over $1 billion on DEI initiatives in both higher and secondary education.
This ongoing review signals a significant shift in the approach to educational policies surrounding DEI in the U.S.
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