The Department of Education in a two-day operation ended 70 diversity, equity, and inclusion grants totaling $373 million, according to President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency.
"In the last 48 hours, the Department of Education terminated 70 DEI training grants totaling $373M," DOGE wrote Friday in a post on X, which is owned by Elon Musk, tasked by Trump to lead DOGE. "One trained teachers to 'engage in ongoing learning and self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism and develop asset-based anti-racist mindsets.'"
DOGE has canceled several streams of DEI funding in education, including $9.7 million for the University of California at Berkeley to develop "a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills," according to the New York Post.
Trump on Inauguration Day issued an executive order demanding that all federal agencies eliminate DEI personnel and programs, which the order described as "illegal and immoral."
The Department of Education on Friday sent a warning letter to academic institutions receiving federal funding to discontinue DEI programs in 14 days or risk losing its funding, stating that such policies are in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It also cited the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ruled the use of racial preferences in college admissions is unconstitutional, as setting "a framework for evaluating the use of race by state actors and entities covered by Title VI."
"The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation's educational institutions," the letter stated. "The law is clear: Treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.
"All students are entitled to a school environment free from discrimination. The Department is committed to ensuring those principles are a reality."
Trump campaigned on scrapping the Department of Education, and reportedly said earlier this month that he told Linda McMahon, his nominee to lead the department who is awaiting Senate confirmation, to "put herself out of a job."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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