The most consequential Presidential Executive Order for American higher education may be the one signed the day after Trump’s inauguration titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit Based Opportunity.” While similar to the directive the day before called “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences,” the January 21 Order is more broad, more focused on restoring an ethic of individual character and competence, and, critically, requires federal contractors to certify compliance with DEI bans. This should mean that a school administrator can be held accountable if schools flout Trump’s anti-DEI policies to quietly continue identity politics business as usual. Looks like Trump’s team won’t stand for that.
The Order’s first section on Purpose explains:
“Illegal DEI… policies violate the text and spirit of our long-standing federal civil rights laws… and also undermine our national unity as they deny, discredit, and undermine American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoiled system. Hard-working Americans who deserve a shot at the American dream should not be stigmatized or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex.
The second section then states:
“It is the policy of the United States to protect the civil rights of all Americans and to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work. I therefore order all executive departments and agencies to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements.
The Order also directs agencies to combat DEI discrimination in the private sector.
Section three rescinds multiple executive orders promoting identity politics and “diversity” from prior administrations, including one from 1965, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, authorizing affirmative action. Other revoked policies date from the Clinton, Obama, and Biden years. […]
— Read More: amgreatness.com
