On Feb. 14, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights’s acting assistant secretary, Craig Trainor, declared illegal all race-conscious programs and policies, including “hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.” He threatened to investigate and withdraw federal funding for any institution that did not comply within 14 days.
- Inside Higher Education reports that in a Dear Colleague letter: “Trainor outlined a sweeping interpretation of the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which struck down affirmative action. While the decision applied specifically to admissions, the Trump administration believes it extends to all race-conscious spending, activities and programming at colleges.”
Yesterday, Florida’s Education Commissioner Manny Diaz applauded DOE “for taking a stand against racial discrimination and stereotyping in education.”
- Diaz wrote, “Under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida has been a leader in ending policies that discriminate based on race and encourage racial stereotyping amongst students.”
He cited the Stop WOKE Act of 2022 and Senate Bill 266 (2023). “Florida leads the nation in education, which has included ending policies of racial preferences and discrimination, and we stand ready to assist any state working to comply with the directive from USDOE.”
THE DIFFERENCE
The changes made in Florida were done by bills debated and passed by the Florida Legislature. The Trump Administration is doing this through executive orders and policy decisions made by bureaucrats.
The irony is the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda for Education – which UWF Trustee Adam Kissel helped craft as a visiting fellow on higher education reform – proposes that FDOE enforce civil rights laws only in the courts, eliminating important administrative tools to address discrimination. The Heritage Foundation wants to end using federal funding as a hammer to enforce policies.
Kissel has criticized how FDOE depends on accrediting agencies to determine if universities and colleges should receive federal funding.
- In 2023, Kissel co-wrote a paper, “The Politicization of Higher Education Accreditation,” for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Austin, Texas. He accused accreditors of abusing their authority to create accreditation standards that “promote or require diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and … stop conservative or even neutral reforms at U.S. colleges and universities.”
The Trump administration isn’t waiting for Congress to pass laws or for accreditation changes to purge our higher education institutions of programs he dislikes.
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