{"id":108888,"date":"2025-02-21T11:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T19:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/21\/law-schools-respond-to-the-executive-threatening-to-cut-federal-funding-over-dei\/"},"modified":"2025-02-21T11:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T19:03:08","slug":"law-schools-respond-to-the-executive-threatening-to-cut-federal-funding-over-dei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/21\/law-schools-respond-to-the-executive-threatening-to-cut-federal-funding-over-dei\/","title":{"rendered":"Law Schools Respond To The Executive Threatening To Cut Federal Funding Over DEI"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Department of Education\u2019s recent \u201cDear Colleague\u201d<\/a> letter threatened all schools that fail to whitewash their curricula with having federal funding snatched from them. And while it\u2019s nice to see schools take stands for diversity, being on the right side of history usually doesn\u2019t pay the bills quite like falling in line. Law schools have already begun scrubbing mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from their websites to stay in the federal funding running. Bloomberg Law<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

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Law schools including Cornell Law School, Vanderbilt Law School, and the University of Virginia School of Law have axed the word \u201cdiversity\u201d from their community-focused webpages. The Antonin Scalia Law School took down its diversity page entirely.
\u2026
Schools are facing a Feb. 28 deadline to ensure their DEI policies, initiatives and programs do not violate federal law or risk their federal funding, according to a Feb. 14 letter<\/a> from Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights at the Education Department.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Now that is a photo-finish deadline \u2014 it\u2019s the classy way of saying \u201cget this diversity shit wrapped up before Black History Month ends.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We will see varied approaches to the government\u2019s DEI ban over time. It may live on under different names; for example, what was once Vanderbilt\u2019s \u201cOffice of Diversity, Equity and Community\u201d is now their \u201cOffice of Culture and Community.\u201d Is culture their tongue-in-cheek nod to diversity and equity, or will the modus operandi change with the name? If the former, good luck with getting grants. If there is an actual change, how will Vandy\u2019s culture and community change over time? If it continues to look how it does, will they risk the proxy suits the DOE was teasing? Time will tell.<\/p>\n

Law Schools Are Dropping \u2018Diversity\u2019 From Their DEI Branding<\/a> [Bloomberg Law]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: The Department Of Education Finally Dropped The \u2018No DEI By Proxy\u2019 Shoe We Were All Waiting For<\/a><\/p>\n

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s<\/a>. \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim,\u00a0a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor<\/a>, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com<\/a>\u00a0and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Law Schools Respond To The Executive Threatening To Cut Federal Funding Over DEI<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Department of Education\u2019s recent \u201cDear Colleague\u201d<\/a> letter threatened all schools that fail to whitewash their curricula with having federal funding snatched from them. And while it\u2019s nice to see schools take stands for diversity, being on the right side of history usually doesn\u2019t pay the bills quite like falling in line. Law schools have already begun scrubbing mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from their websites to stay in the federal funding running. Bloomberg Law<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Law schools including Cornell Law School, Vanderbilt Law School, and the University of Virginia School of Law have axed the word \u201cdiversity\u201d from their community-focused webpages. The Antonin Scalia Law School took down its diversity page entirely.
\u2026
Schools are facing a Feb. 28 deadline to ensure their DEI policies, initiatives and programs do not violate federal law or risk their federal funding, according to a Feb. 14 letter<\/a> from Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights at the Education Department.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Now that is a photo-finish deadline \u2014 it\u2019s the classy way of saying \u201cget this diversity shit wrapped up before Black History Month ends.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We will see varied approaches to the government\u2019s DEI ban over time. It may live on under different names; for example, what was once Vanderbilt\u2019s \u201cOffice of Diversity, Equity and Community\u201d is now their \u201cOffice of Culture and Community.\u201d Is culture their tongue-in-cheek nod to diversity and equity, or will the modus operandi change with the name? If the former, good luck with getting grants. If there is an actual change, how will Vandy\u2019s culture and community change over time? If it continues to look how it does, will they risk the proxy suits the DOE was teasing? Time will tell.<\/p>\n

Law Schools Are Dropping \u2018Diversity\u2019 From Their DEI Branding<\/a> [Bloomberg Law]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: The Department Of Education Finally Dropped The \u2018No DEI By Proxy\u2019 Shoe We Were All Waiting For<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s<\/a>. \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim,\u00a0a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor<\/a>, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>\u00a0and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Education\u2019s recent \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letter threatened all schools that fail to whitewash their curricula with having federal funding snatched from them. And while it\u2019s nice to see schools take stands for diversity, being on the right side of history usually doesn\u2019t pay the bills quite like falling in line. Law schools have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Williams-150x150-5SeCDS.jpeg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}