On February 14, 2025, Craig Trainor of the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent a “Dear Colleague” Letter to US educational institutions threatening to potentially take away federal funding to any school that discriminates against students based on race, color, or national origin. The letter states that any US school that receives federal finical assistance is at risk of losing that assistance if they violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution, and other relevant authorities. The letter accuses US educational institutions of discriminating against students based on race in recent years which they claim includes, “white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families.”
This refers to the 2023 Supreme Court Case, Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard that the letter references later on. The case ruled that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions processes violates the Equal Protection Clause and deemed it illegal to consider race during the admission process.
One of the main programs the letter states are discriminatory and can no longer be done without the taking away of federal financial assistance are Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs or DEI’s because, as Trainor states, “they teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not.”
DEI programs in schools can include scholarships for particular racial groups, diverse curriculums, DEI training programs, affinity groups, etc.
Many institutes are possibly at risk of losing federal funding if the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights deems they fail to hold up, “nondiscrimination obligations.” For many schools, federal funding is absolutely necessary for the welfare and success of the school and it’s students and staff as it helps pay for tuition, room and board, books, supplies, transportation, etc.
According to the letter, anyone who believes that a covered entity has unlawfully discriminated may file an optical character recognition, or an OCR. Schools are urged to take the letter as a warning at the cost of federal funding.