The U.S. Division of Schooling beneath the Trump administration says that race-based choices in schooling – together with race-based hiring, admissions, and scholarships – are illegal, and any establishment that doesn’t adjust to the division’s antidiscrimination necessities will face lack of federal funding.
“The Department of Education will no longer allow education entities to discriminate on the basis of race,” Craig Trainor, appearing assistant secretary for Civil Rights on the division, advised The Middle Sq..
“This isn’t complicated,” Trainor mentioned. “When in doubt, every school should consult the SFFA legal test contained in the [Dear Colleague letter]: ‘If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race, the educational institution violates the law.’”
Trainor additionally mentioned that “additional guidance on implementation is forthcoming.”
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Trainor’s Expensive Colleague letter states that federal regulation “prohibits covered entities from using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”
“The Department will vigorously enforce the law on equal terms as to all preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies, that receive financial assistance,” in line with Trainor’s letter.
“If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race, the educational institution violates the law,” Trainor wrote.
Colleges have till the top of the month to start complying with the letter’s content material.
In line with Trainor’s letter, “the Department intends to take appropriate measures to assess compliance with the applicable statutes and regulations based on the understanding embodied in this letter beginning no later than [Feb. 28], including antidiscrimination requirements that are a condition of receiving federal funding,” Trainor wrote.
Trainor mentioned in his letter that “the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA), which clarified that the use of racial preferences in college admissions is unlawful, sets forth a framework for evaluating the use of race by state actors and entities covered by Title VI.”
Since 1964, Title VI has existed to ban racial discrimination in federally-funded packages, as said by the Division of Justice.
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“Although SFFA addressed admissions decisions, the Supreme Court’s holding applies more broadly,” Trainor wrote.
“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,” Trainor wrote.
“Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them – particularly during the last four years – under the banner of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (‘DEI’),” Trainor wrote.
“The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions,” Trainor wrote.
“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,” Trainor wrote.
Visiting fellow in greater schooling at The Heritage Basis Adam Kissel advised The Middle Sq. that “the DEI party in education is over.”
“The Supreme Court was quite clear that racial discrimination in higher education is illegal,” Kissel mentioned.
“The U.S. Department of Education has clarified that workarounds and winks, including facially neutral programs that are designed to achieve racially disparate outcomes, violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Kissel mentioned.
Kissel additionally advisable that “the department should quickly issue guidance emphasizing that some provisions of its legacy Title VI regulations are no longer good law.”
“The department’s legacy civil rights regulations are built on toleration of discriminatory ‘affirmative action’ preferences and practices that are no longer allowed,” Kissel mentioned.
Syndicated with permission from The Middle Sq..
