photo // Rafael Tortolero
AN UNUSUAL VALENTINE’S DAY NOTE. A Feb. 14 letter from the Department of Education to all educational institutions receiving federal funds advised that they must terminate all race-based diversity, equity and inclusion programs. IU has not yet published a statement in response.

By: Mira Costello

Editor-in-Chief

On Feb. 14, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to all educational institutions receiving federal funding. Signed by Craig Trainor, the ED’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, the letter called for schools to cease race-based diversity initiatives in all “aspects of student, academic, and campus life.” It stated that the ED would “take appropriate measures to assess compliance” with the letter beginning no later than Feb. 28, and that institutions failing to comply could lose federal funding.

Specifically, the communication advises that schools must ensure compliance with existing civil rights laws, “cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means” and cease the use of third-party entities to circumvent prohibited uses of race.

A representative from IU’s department of communications and marketing did not respond to requests for comment on the letter by the time of writing. At the time of publication, neither IU nor IU South Bend has released an official statement regarding the university’s position on the ED guidance or plans for compliance or noncompliance. 

Uncertainty still remains as universities await further guidance from the ED Office for Civil Rights. As noted in reporting by the Indiana Daily Student, the letter does not have the force of law, but it could be followed by a separate, legally binding executive order or regulation. In the meantime, other universities have issued statements expressing a variety of responses to the letter.

University of Michigan President Santa Ono published a statement noting that the impact of the letter was still being assessed, and that additional communications from the ED could change the university’s response. University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold wrote a letter informing constituents that the university “has initiated an immediate, chancellor-led comprehensive review of potentially relevant activities on each campus” to ensure that all campus programs comply with the directives. According to The Daily Targum, Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway wrote that the university will review policies to balance Rutgers’ diversity priorities with the federal guidance. 

Locally, Ivy Tech Community College preemptively ended all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) related programs and positions, which will close officially on March 12. In a statement, Ivy Tech President Sue Ellspermann – who also served as Lieutenant Governor under Mike Pence – said the college must comply with federal guidelines as an institution relying primarily on the Indiana General Assembly and federal grants to fund operations on its 45 full campuses and 26 satellite campuses, including one in South Bend. 

Ellspermann wrote that employees affected by the cuts will “be encouraged to apply for open positions” and “given outplacement services,” and told students, “be assured; we will stay the course.” Her letter included promises that Ivy Tech’s core values of “empathy, integrity, and accountability” would continue to inform their practices. 

Reagan Ayala, an IU South Bend alumna who now works as an administrative coordinator for Ivy Tech, said they are disappointed in the college’s decision.

“Instead of working to find a way to keep or update their existing DEI policies when the time comes, they decided to essentially give up before the government spoke,” Ayala said. “For so many students, especially at a community college, DEI work can mean everything to their college experience.”

Ayala added that DEI includes more than race and gender, extending to cover religion, family circumstances, age and more. 

“Not having an office that is able to give those students external resources and advocate on their behalf is going to negatively affect hundreds if not thousands of students,” they said.  

The Feb. 14 letter to educational institutions came amid an array of other executive and administrative actions seeking to end DEI practices across the government at the federal level as well as in individual states. Indiana Governor Mike Braun signed an executive order Jan. 14 referencing the 2023 Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard – which ruled that race-based affirmative action programs violate the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment – as the basis for eliminating DEI practices from all executive branch agencies in the state. 

Executive Order 25-14 provides that no state funds, property, or resources may be used for the following: DEI positions or programs that “grant preferential treatment” based on race; training or programming that endorses “preferential treatment of one person’s race, color, ethnicity or national origin, over that of another person’; requiring government applicants to submit a DEI statement or providing preferential treatment for submitting one; or “mandat[ing] any person to disclose their pronouns.”

The order says executive state agencies must review DEI positions and programs to ensure compliance with the SFFA decision by April 30. It also closed the state Chief Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity Office. 

The SFFA ruling was also a key component of the letter from the Department of Education, and it also referenced Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin in federally sponsored programs. It calls DEI a “banner” covering illegal racial discrimination, and it decisively concludes that the consideration of race is illegal in admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid and scholarship, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies and “all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

Trainor’s letter specifically mentions that some colleges “encourage segregation by race at graduation ceremonies and in dormitories and other facilities”, likely referring to optional activities held in addition to all-inclusive programs, which often pop up as “affinity graduations”: celebrations dating back to the 1970s allowing LGBTQ+, Black, Latino, disabled and other students to acknowledge the achievements of students that share their identities.  

The guidance also stipulates that schools may not use “non-racial information as a proxy for race” or “eliminate standardized testing to achieve a desired racial balance or to increase racial diversity.”

The letter included a referral to the Office for Civil Rights discrimination complaint form, noting that recipients could report incidents of unlawful discrimination – presumably referring to DEI practices – at covered institutions. The form can be found at ocrcas.ed.gov. Those interested in sending feedback about the guidance to the Office for Civil Rights can email [email protected]. 

The Preface will continue to publish updates on this developing story as new guidance is issued and IU charts a path forward. 

“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.”

— U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights letter to schools, Feb. 14