Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi mentioned the Trump administration is ready to limit funds to entities that use diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices — a transfer more likely to affect universities and K-12 schools in addition to others.
“Entities receiving federal funds, like all different entities topic to federal antidiscrimination legal guidelines, should be certain that their applications and actions adjust to federal regulation and don’t discriminate on the idea of race, shade, nationwide origin, intercourse, faith, or different protected traits — regardless of this system’s labels, targets, or intentions,” Bondi wrote within the Tuesday memo.
The lawyer common listed race-based scholarships, hiring for “underrepresented teams,” and creating “protected areas” as among the many prohibited practices.
The memo additionally offers a lot of focused examples of what the administration considers to be an illegal use of diversity programs, arguing they violate civil rights legal guidelines designed to guard from discrimination based mostly on race, intercourse, faith and different traits.
In February, Bondi issued a similar memo saying the Trump administration was ready to carry civil rights circumstances in opposition to non-public corporations for utilizing of DEI.
The expert commentator push comes because the Trump administration has taken a lot of strikes to target universities and cites a lot of examples largely particular to varsity settings.
The Justice Division particularly highlights scholarship applications, saying they “should not goal ‘underserved geographic areas’ or ‘first-generation college students’ if the standards are chosen to extend participation by particular racial or sex-based teams. As a substitute, use universally relevant standards, comparable to tutorial benefit or monetary hardship.”
Past measures immediately designed to advertise range, the memo mentioned entities ought to guard in opposition to actions that could possibly be a “proxy” for DEI.
Among the many checklist of issues the administration says needs to be restricted are asking job candidates to “display ‘cultural competence,’ ‘lived expertise,’ or ‘cross-cultural abilities’ in ways in which successfully consider candidates’ racial or ethnic backgrounds moderately than goal {qualifications}.”
Additionally listed are any questions that ask individuals to “describe ‘obstacles they’ve overcome’ or submit a ‘range assertion.’”
Whereas the memo additionally advises in opposition to applications that elevate girls, it mentioned exceptions should be upheld for athletic settings, particularly targeting transgender athletes.