No surprises here. It was all there in Project 2025, the right-wing roadmap to governing that Donald Trump denied would have a role in his presidential administration: Education and people of color are the scapegoats for just about everything the president and his Republican Party think is wrong with America. 

We’ve already talked about the danger the administration poses to education funding writ large. Now it’s time to shift and focus on the critical threat it poses to who gets educated and what they learn — and the argument that activists are using to fight back. 

A number of Civil Rights leaders are sounding the alarm about the real meaning of the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles in education. The White House has viciously sought to erase diversity programs and policies everywhere in government and has pressed the same in the private sector with mixed results. 

It’s not a surprise that this was coming for education. Republicans had earlier pushed to remove critical race theory, which they falsely say teaches hatred of America, from K-12 schools (CRT is a concept taught in graduate programs and law schools). That was a precursor to the attack on diversity principles in schooling, which the Education Department outlined in a Feb. 14 letter to educators, claiming that DEI violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection.

According to the letter: 

“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. 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”), smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.”

It goes on to cite the Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision, which essentially gutted affirmative action in education, and has set the stage for waging war on diversity initiatives ever since. Educational institutions that do not comply with the policy face investigation and possible loss of federal funding DOE officials said.

Adhering to the policy in the letter could substantially reduce the number of students of color with access to higher education and prevent students from being exposed in their classrooms to knowledge about the contributions people of color and women have made to American life.

The letter and the instructions enraged Democrats, activists and many people of color.

The National Urban League put out its response to the letter on March 3, signed by some of the most storied names in the modern Civil Rights fight:


Marc H. Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League

Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President, National Action Network

Melanie Campbell, President and CEO, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable

Derrick Johnson, President and CEO, NAACP

Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel, Legal Defense Fund

Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director, Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Maya Wiley, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Shavon Arline-Bradley, President and National Chair, National Council of Negro Women

They called the Department of Education’s claim a “baseless mischaracterization” of federal law and issues a reminder that the Supreme Court decision encourages diversity in education.

“Federal law is clear.” the statement reads. “Schools have a moral and legal duty to ensure that every student has the opportunity to thrive. In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), the Supreme Court reaffirmed that diversity remains a commendable and worthy goal.”

The reaction comes just days after the Senate confirmed former WWE executive Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education. She is assigned the dual tasks of ridding education of diversity initiatives and eventually shutting down the agency, which has been a goal of Republicans since the Reagan administration. It is something she has called a “final mission.”

“Our job is to respect the will of the American people and the President they elected, who has tasked us with accomplishing the elimination of bureaucratic bloat here at the Department of Education — a momentous final mission — quickly and responsibly,” she wrote in a letter to DOE staff.

But in an op-ed published to Newsweek.com, Johnson, the NAACP president, wrote that Trump’s plans to shutter the department will be harmful to Black and Brown students.

“Now more than ever, we need what the Department of Education does. It is the federal agency working to counter the state-led forces that want to restore Jim Crow,” Johnson wrote. “Without the department, these forces could undermine the opportunity and rights of every American not born with, as [former Texas Governor] Ann Richards said, a “silver spoon in her mouth.”

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