This past week, the Trump administration dropped a “Dear Colleague Letter” that launched a broadside against race-based preferencing and the entire diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) infrastructure in American higher education. It explicitly threatened to cut off funding to any university that uses “race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”
The Department of Education then gave every college and university around the country 14 days to comply, or until February 28, 2025. Shortly before we published this issue, a Federal judge in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocked some provisions.
This is quite serious. In today’s issue, we’ll try to break it down.
What is a Dear Colleague Letter?
A “Dear Colleague Letter” (DCL) is an official guidance document issued by the U.S. Department of Education to schools, colleges, and universities regarding policy interpretations, legal obligations, or best practices. A DCL is not legally binding: it does not create new laws; however, it provides guidance as to how the Department interprets current law, under which there is much leeway.
There have been controversies over other DCLs in the past. In 2011, the Obama administration issued a DCL on sexual misconduct that was criticized for lowering the standards of evidence and removing due process protections. At the time, some conservative legal scholars took a stance that Dear Colleague letters were an unconstitutional infringement on legislative prerogatives by attempting to use the implied threat of funding withdrawal to “enforce” guidance that did not carry the force of law.
So what is serious about this one?
This DCL signals a major shift in Federal civil rights enforcement, citing the 2023 Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard as justification for dismantling race-based preferences in higher education. This move upends decades of legal precedent and takes the position that race-based affirmative action and other preferences for minorities to address historical inequalities is now illegal. Indeed, one of the first Executive Orders of the Trump administration was to repeal Johnson-era EOs that formed the foundation of affirmative action.
Here’s the problem—what the Trump administration is now saying is illegal is so deeply enmeshed within the American higher education landscape that Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education’s Senior Vice President, was quoted as saying “the idea that every institution in this country could meaningfully come into compliance with this interpretation, even if they wanted to, even if they should … is just ridiculous.”
While legal scholars will debate the finer points, the Supreme Court and several lower courts appear to favor a race-neutral interpretation of civil rights law, aligning with the Trump administration’s position. This has ripple effects far beyond higher education: recently, the Fearless Fund, a venture capital firm that sponsored a grant contest for Black women entrepreneurs, lost in court and shut down its program after it was sued for racial discrimination against Hispanic, Asian, Native American and white women.
What might happen next?
We have already seen Columbia take down DEI language from its websites. Presumably, mandatory DEI statements will be removed from faculty hiring processes next—which Harvard has already done, and the majority of Columbia faculty oppose anyway. The DCL interestingly calls out identity-based graduation ceremonies, which Columbia hosts. Some universities have begun shutting down DEI and multicultural affairs offices, while others have tried to hide them. West Point (with which Teachers College runs a joint MA program named after President Eisenhower) immediately shut down their race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation affinity groups, even though the ruling specifically exempted service academies.
It will be very interesting to see how this filters to admissions. When SFFA v. Harvard was decided, some universities (gleefully?) advertised perceived loopholes. For example, Harvard’s joint statement talked about how they would “certainly comply” with the court’s decision that “an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.” Columbia Law School put forth, then quietly retracted a requirement for a mandatory video statement.
A full admissions cycle after SFFA v. Harvard, the jury is still out on its impact. SFFA has challenged some universities, accusing them of still practicing race-based affirmative action by stealth. The DCL explicitly calls this out, saying that universities must “cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends.” The DCL doesn’t prescribe a specific penalty for noncompliance, but there is a web of Federal government pressure building on higher education in general and Columbia in particular.
Change is afoot. Our position is clear: we favor diversity in all of its forms. When the dust settles, we hope to see future faculty that reflect a true diversity of thought rather than ideological conformity. We hope that future students come to learn, grow, and—to borrow from the Low Library frieze—“maintain and cherish from generation to generation” our great institutions instead of glorifying terrorism, and projecting nihilistic fantasies about the “total eradication of Western civilization.”
Finally, Columbia is hiring. We have been ruthlessly critical of the absolute collapse of the discipline process (ten months and counting for encampment and Hamilton occupiers). However, it does appear Columbia is starting to get serious. We hope. The Office of the Rules Administrator is hiring for four critical roles: an Associate Director of Delegate Management, a Rules Investigator, an Executive Assistant, and an Administrative Manager. These roles can only prepare cases to go to the University Judicial Board, which retains the final say. But our Rules are only as effective as the people supporting their enforcement, so we need good people in those seats. We encourage anyone receiving this newsletter to reach out for any questions, apply if interested, or forward to others who may be good fits.
News Roundup
– February 22, 2025. The Daily Pennsylvanian reports on significant cuts to graduate student admissions, reportedly in response to Federal research funding reductions. The decision, which came after some departments had already accepted students, has sparked frustration among faculty who criticize the lack of transparency and its potential impact on Penn’s research mission. One department was forced to rescind acceptances for 10 out of 17 accepted PhD students — which at 60% is close to Columbia’s attempted 65% cut (since walked back).
– February 22, 2025. The Spectator reports that climate activists from “Planet Over Profit” interrupted New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s keynote speech at Columbia Law School, demanding he divest the city’s pension funds from BlackRock and reinvest in “cleaner money managers.” The protesters criticized Lander for his partial pledge to divest from fossil fuels, chanting slogans and displaying banners urging immediate action. Lander, who is running for NYC mayor in 2025, defended his record but dismissed the protest as “basic rudeness.” This appears to be a violation of the Rules of University Conduct and potentially university policies as well. We will be watching closely to see if the protestors are held accountable.
– February 21, 2025. The Harvard Crimson reports that at an Institute of Politics event, former Acting Health Secretary Eric D. Hargan argued that recent NIH funding cuts would have minimal long-term effects on research, though he acknowledged short-term instability. The moderator, Harvard Medical School professor Michael E. Chernew, a personal friend of NIH leader Jay Bhattacharya, “suggested that the 15 percent cut was simply an opening offer from the government. He added that the NIH were looking at ways to reshape research processes, which ‘has the potential for disruption.’”
– February 21, 2025. The Vatican and Columbia University have launched a Commission on Sovereign Debt to propose reforms for sustainable economic, social, and environmental development. Led by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, the commission will address the debt crisis in developing nations, exacerbated by high-interest monetary policies, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. The initiative builds on past debt relief efforts, emphasizing the need for systemic financial reforms to prevent future crises and ensure investments in healthcare, education, and climate adaptation. Pope Francis has prioritized debt relief for the 2025 Jubilee, advocating for an ethical framework in international finance to promote fairness and justice.
– February 21, 2025. The Spectator reports that Columbia University Interim President Katrina Armstrong and Provost Angela Olinto met with Israeli Minister of Education Yoav Kisch to discuss combating antisemitism on campus and strengthening academic collaboration between Israel and the United States. Kisch surprised many by praising Columbia’s actions on antisemitism. He further emphasized the importance of firm action against antisemitism and expanding research partnerships, while students and faculty raised concerns about campus safety, academic bias, and the university’s handling of protests. The discussion also touched on increasing Israeli academic exchanges and establishing a Columbia Global Center in Tel Aviv.
– February 19, 2025. The Spectator wrote this week about Columbia changing DEI statements on Columbia websites after executive orders regarding doing away with DEI. Websites previously called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the School of General Studies, and the School of International and Public Affairs, along with edits to additional pages. The School of Social Work took down its “anti-racism mission statement” from its site too. The Multicultural Affairs office released a statement on January 23 reading, “Diversity and inclusion are not only central to the student experience, they are key components to learning and development. Multicultural Affairs recognizes that identity, social responsibility, allyship and equity must be addressed at multiple interconnected levels to best support students’ various developmental stages.”
– February 18, 2025. The Chronicle of Higher Education published an op-ed this week by Daniel Diermeier, chancellor of Vanderbilt, and Andrew D. martin, chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis, arguing that universities need to reject “creeping politicization” and return to core principles. They argue that the public coming to view universities as “just another ideological combatant in the daily political struggle” is dangerous for American national security, democracy, and economy. The general public’s confidence in American higher education has sunk to an all-time low. By “muddling its focus on excellence,” the authors explain, a school limits its power to give a life-changing education where a student learns how to think freely, critically, and precisely, thereby bringing invention and fresh ideas to the national economy and to their city or town. The authors suggest a primary way to recorrect this ideological sprawl is to focus on hiring and admitting only the absolute best students, faculty, and staff, “without regard to any political litmus tests.”
– February 18, 2025. The West Side Rag reports that some Morningside Heights residents are legally fighting Columbia to force the school to reopen its campus gates and give back access to the 116th Street passageway that cuts campus from Broadway to Amsterdam Avenues, as shown in a lawsuit filed last month. The suit claims that the school’s action of shutting down its gates contradicts the Americans with Disabilities Act by impeding the access of senior citizens and making it harder for them to navigate their immediate neighborhood, also contradicting the 1953 agreement that zoned “College Walk” as a public-use space. “Security measures have included locked gates, barricades, and a requirement that anyone entering campus must have a Columbia ID or a university-issued QR code granting permission.” The residents are asking for a verdict saying that it’s illegal for the school to close its main walkway to the public and for damages paid for “financial harm as a result of the closure.”
– February 17, 2025. The New York Times published an article about the Education Department giving schools two weeks to get rid of race-based programming. This prohibition will apply to scholarships, hiring, and other activities. This is a continuation of the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that found race-based admission unconstitutional. Even offering certain services to certain subsections of students only would be grounds for “punishment.” The Education Department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, Craig Trainor, said that many scholarships designed to go to black and Latino students, were at the expense of “white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds.”