President Donald Trump’s administration has taken aim at diversity, equity and inclusion (D.E.I.) programs in both the federal government and private institutions through executive orders. While the exact implications of these actions remain to be seen, they carry the potential to affect life at Northwestern.
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the Department of Education announced on Feb. 14 that it would consider all race-conscious policies and programs illegal, threatening to cut off federal funding for institutions that do not comply with the order within 14 days. Acting Assistant Secretary of the OCR Craig Trainer announced in a letter that this decision interprets the 2023 Supreme Court decision in President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina – which overturned affirmative action in college admissions decisions – more broadly.
University President Michael Schill said in an email to the Northwestern community on Feb. 19 that University administration is analyzing what the Trump’s administration’s actions mean for Northwestern. He stated that Northwestern receives federal funding in the form of student financial aid and research grants and that leaders will work with the community to enact potential changes.
“As we take actions to protect our University community, we remain committed to making decisions consistent with our core academic values and principles,” the letter said. “These include our mission to attract and support exceptional students, faculty and staff from a wide variety of backgrounds, perspectives and geographies who will learn from one another and contribute to research that changes the world.”
Trump’s administration has expressed vehement opposition to D.E.I. programs, and one of his first executive orders banned them in the federal government. In his inaugural address, Trump stated his commitment to ending the policies that “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.”
Northwestern professor Julie Lee Merseth, who studies racial and ethnic politics in the United States, said Trump’s actions so far have been in line with his overall platform.
“We’re all feeling a certain amount of political shock at the pace and intensity at which he’s going after diversity, equity and inclusion programs,” she said. “This is exactly what the Trump campaign said they were going to do and what Project 2025 said they were going to do.”
At institutions like Northwestern, Merseth said, D.E.I. efforts shape the campus in a wide variety of ways: they influence who is at the University, what courses get taught, what topics get covered and how students feel about being at the school. It’s essential to understand the purpose of D.E.I. programs to understand what we would lose without them.
“D.E.I. programs are meant to support the mission of education that values diversity in experiences as part of critical thinking and analysis and how we learn together,” Merseth said.
Cathy Ndovu, the Associated Student Government (ASG) Co-Executive Officer of Justice & Inclusion, works to ensure students have the resources they need, encourage their belonging on campus and thrive academically and socially. Her role is to help develop equality and acceptance in ASG and at Northwestern.
“When people have access to resources and there’s an equal playing field for everyone in terms of jobs, school, et cetera, then what happens is that we see workplaces and schools and systems that reflect the population better,” Ndovu said. “And that has a more positive impact for everyone.”
As someone involved in Northwestern’s D.E.I. efforts, Nvodu said she was overwhelmed by Trump’s administration’s actions, but not unprepared. Since many of his orders are being challenged in court and the Northwestern administration is committed to retaining resources for students, she said, fear should not be the first reaction.
“Part of the strategy is to make everyone scramble,” Nvodu said, adding that her own strategy is to think critically about the policies. “Is this policy going to stick, and if that is the case, [we take] it piece by piece and [see] where it is that we need to make changes, and how can we do so in a way that prioritizes our students’ needs and concerns.”
While the specific effects of Trump’s administration’s policies remain to be seen, they could have broader implications for how the public thinks about D.E.I., Merseth said. In the past few decades, the public has been encouraged to think of diversity as a positive good, but Trump’s administration frames D.E.I. efforts as generating more discrimination rather than fighting against it. Top government officials are even claiming they violate civil rights laws.
“The current anti-D.E.I. efforts of the Trump administration potentially have very long-term impacts because they’re helping to solidify changes in how everyday people are thinking about the value of diversity,” Merseth said. “And that’s not easy to change back quickly.”
