Diversity

The annual Black Student Alliance Invitational has introduced prospective students to the Black experience at Duke University through overnight visits, networking events, and mentorship opportunities. Now, the university has discontinued the event, some four decades after its creation.

In August, President Trump ordered colleges and universities to collect data on students' race after he raised concerns that institutions were using applicants' personal statements and other proxies to consider race in admissions. A federal judge has halted this effort, saying the demand was rolled out in a “rushed and chaotic manner.”

The scholarship program in question is available to African American and Black students who reside or attend school in a congressional district represented by a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. According to the American Alliance for Equal Rights, this program violates Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

“This isn’t just a program; it’s a movement to ensure every Black student has the resources, connections and support system not just to survive but absolutely thrive,” said Yvette McCutchen, head of the new African American Student Retention Initiative at Davenport University.

Last year, the DOE initiated an investigation into 45 higher education institutions for partnering with The Ph.D. Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students from underrepresented racial backgrounds in their efforts to pursue doctoral degrees in business. The DOE claimed those partnerships discriminate on the basis of race. Thirty-one of those universities have now agreed to end their collaboration with The Ph.D. Project.

“We cannot, and must not, attach race-based conditions when allocating taxpayer funding,” says U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “This is another concrete step from the Trump Administration to put a stop to DEI in government and ensure taxpayer dollars support programs that advance merit and fairness in all aspects of Americans lives.”

A new report from the Legal Defense Fund and Thurgood Marshall Institute analyzes several areas of college admissions processes where race, class, and gender biases can be baked into decision-making and outlines ways to make college admissions more fair for students of all backgrounds.

Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton recently sent a memo to the system's presidents that outlines restrictions for how faculty members can discuss topics relating to race, gender, and sexual orientation in their instruction. Faculty that do not comply with his requirements may be subject to disciplinary action.

“Banning DEI policies in higher education directly contradicts their fundamental purpose: to eliminate barriers to equal opportunity and create more equitable academic institutions,” the report authors write. “Without these programs, systemic disparities are likely to persist and widen, thereby reinforcing inequities in education, employment, and social mobility.”

To comply with the Trump Administration's demands to end DEI-related programs in higher education, the University of Alabama has eliminated Nineteen Fifty-Six, a student-run magazine covering Black student life and culture. The university has also suspended Alice Magazine, another student-run publication regarding fashion and wellness with an emphasis on women.

“The office will help ensure that Rutgers remains an institution that unequivocally rejects discrimination in all its forms and provides those who experience misconduct with meaningful support and clear pathways to resolution,” says President William F. Tate IV.

The Legal Insurrection Foundation, a conservative nonprofit organization, has filed two civil rights complaints against the University of Central Arkansas and the University of California, Los Angeles, respectively. The group claims both universities have promoted discriminatory scholarships, including several awards allocated for African American students.

Overall, 46 percent of U.S. adults support measuring race in federal research, while 33 percent oppose it. Asian and White adults are more likely to support the federal government collecting race-related data, while Black and Hispanic adults are more likely to oppose it.

Some $350 million in grant funding initially allocated for Minority-Serving Institutions – including Predominately Black Institutions – will be redirected to other programs “that do not include discriminatory racial and ethnic quotas,” according to the U.S. Department of Education. Notably, these cuts do not affect federal grant programs allocated for historically Black colleges and universities.

Heterodox Academy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for increasing “viewpoint diversity” on college campuses, has examined more than 10,000 faculty job ads to analyze the prevalence of requests to include DEI-related materials in faculty applications.

“Across all institution types, [stakeholders] need high-quality data about how students across all racial groups are appraising and experiencing classrooms and out-of-class environments,” the authors write. “Simply conducting climate assessments and having the data are not enough – practitioners must use what they learn to strategically inform policymaking, practice, and curriculum.”

If agencies and institutions use current reporting standards that group all multiracial students into a single category, Black students' reported representation of U.S college students would reflect about 13 percent. However, if multiracial students were counted within each race category they identified with, Black students' representation would jump to 19.7 percent.

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School has closed its Office of Equal Opportunity and Engagement. Additionally, the law school is no longer accepting applicants for a scholarship program named for its first Black woman graduate, Sadie Alexander.

Black first-year student applications submitted via Common App grew by 12 percent over the past year. During the 2024-2025 season, Black students represented 14.8 percent of the total applicant pool - a 0.8 percentage point increase from 2023-2024.

“Our hope is that this policy agenda will serve as a rallying point to increase momentum for positive, holistic change,” write the authors of the report from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. “These challenges are not new, and we remain resolute and hopeful that change can and will be achieved.”