The Trump administration wants colleges to end DEI programs. But what do those programs do?

A letter earlier this month from new U.S. Department of Education leaders sent shockwaves through K-12 and higher education institutions. In a Feb. 14 "Dear Colleague" memo, the department directed schools to stop using race to admit students or for any other consideration, including scholarships, housing, and "all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life."

The department said it would enforce compliance at the end of February and punish institutions by withholding federal funding.

In the face of uncertainty, some Southern California college educators are waiting for leaders of their campuses to give them clear direction as to whether diversity programs and efforts will be curtailed or shut down — or whether the institutions will resist the Trump administration’s directions in court.

“There are a group of us across institutions, especially in California, who are saying it's time to actually double down on doing diversity, equity and inclusion work,” said Liane Hypolite, a professor of educational leadership at Cal Poly Pomona. “This isn't the time to just comply … out of fear."

Providing data on how students feel

The letter paints diversity programs in a stark light.

“These institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia” and led to discrimination, including of white and Asian students, the department said.

Diversity programs, supporters say, help the targeted students and the population at large.

The USC Race and Equity Center, for example, offers campus climate surveys, said executive director Jessica T. DeCuir-Gunby.

Those surveys can be taken by students or employees to “assess what's going on, see how everybody's feeling," she said. "And then based upon that, we'll, you know, write up a summary and give it to the leadership and let them know, this is what's going on in your institution.”

The goal is to improve inclusion of people of different races, ethnicities, religious, sex, and gender in schools and the workplace.

Graduating students take their seats at the Fresno State Chicano/Latino Commencement Celebration in the Save Mart Center in Fresno on May 18, 2024.

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“Everyone in academia is taking this letter very seriously,” DeCuir-Gunby said. “We are looking to leadership to help us to better understand their interpretations of the letter.”

USC spokesperson Lauren Bartlett said the university is studying the letter.

Spaces for culturally specific activities

The Department of Education letter says “many American schools and universities even encourage segregation by race at graduation ceremonies and in dormitories and other facilities.” It’s calling for those policies to stop.

Campus employees say cultural centers fall within that claim. Many colleges and universities have taken steps to create and fund cultural centers based on student groups’ race, ethnicity, sex, or gender.

“[Cultural centers] end up being these spaces where students can find refuge that they often cannot find on the rest of their college campus,” said Hypolite of Cal Poly Pomona. “They are places where students get connected to services. They actually welcome in, for example, culturally relevant therapists that might work in the counseling center, but students don't feel comfortable going there."

That helps students' social and emotional well-being, she said, which raises the likelihood that they’ll stay enrolled in college and earn their degrees.

“I just haven't seen that kind of really solid communication saying, essentially, ‘We stand with our most marginalized students right now,’ which is what our students need to hear,” Hypolite said.

Dr. Cornel West speaks at a Juneteenth event.

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Cal State University

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CSU Chancellor Mildred García did email CSU employees about a week before the U.S. Department of Education letter that the Trump administration’s executive orders would not change the school's commitment to students.

“I write to assure you that, in this moment, the CSU will do what all great institutions — and great people — do in times of uncertainty and change. We will turn to and uphold our core values. We will honor our purpose. We will fulfill our mission,” García wrote.

The California Community College chancellor’s office did not specify how it will respond to President Trump’s directives.

“We are encouraging college leaders to continue their critical work in alignment with state and federal laws, regulations, and our shared goal of expanding educational opportunities, strengthening student pathways, and supporting workforce development to meet California’s economic needs,” said Melissa Villarin, a spokesperson for the California Community Colleges chancellor's office.

A way to meet the federal government’s own requirements

Biola University in Southeast L.A. County is a religious school; its mission is to offer a “biblically centered education, scholarship and service — equipping men and women in mind and character to impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The university's board of trustees approved a theological statement on diversity in 2019, which among other things states: "Unity without diversity ceases to be unity and becomes uniformity, and diversity without unity ultimately becomes either radical tribalism or individualism."

It’s also trying to become a Hispanic-Serving Institution, a federal designation that comes with requirements to help Hispanic students in order to tap into federal funds.

How Biola's plans align with the new federal directive remains to be seen.

“Biola is reviewing how this letter's requirements will affect the institution…” said university spokesperson Sarah Dougher. “Biola is still determining what exactly on campus will be affected.”

"There's a fine line between removing programs that are considered to be discriminatory by race and removing programs that speak to a cultural or ethnicity support for students," Cynthia Jackson Hammond, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, told NPR in an interview last week.

How will top university leaders respond?

The California Department of Education and the State Board of Education issued a joint statement Friday saying that the law hasn't yet actually changed: "Executive orders and memos cannot modify or override statutory requirements or regulations or unilaterally impose new terms on existing agreements."

But they did suggest that colleges and universities "consult legal counsel regarding the impact of any potential federal actions."

Leaders of the University of California and California State University systems have not announced whether they will comply with or challenge the Trump administration directives. Together, those universities enroll more than 750,000 students.

“As this type of action is unprecedented, we are consulting with the California Attorney General and higher education partners across the country to better understand the statewide impact of this letter,” said CSU spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith in an email.

In some instances, California State University’s top administrators have followed policy changes carried out by University of California leaders.

Though UC President Michael Drake said in a video message Thursday that the university's mission and values have not changed, UC leaders have not specified how they will respond to the Trump administration's directives.

“The Dear Colleague letter issued by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) provides guidance on the Department's interpretation of existing anti-discrimination laws and does not name any specific institution,” said UC spokesperson Omar Rodriguez.

“It indicates how OCR intends to enforce these legal requirements,” he said via email. He also noted that state law already restricts the use of race in college settings. “Given the UC’s compliance with Prop 209, we do not use race-based preferences in our practices.”

The stakes are high. How colleges and universities react to this order could shape generations to come.

“There's no other entity that is more influential in shaping American society and arguably the global society than the [U.S.] college and university,” said Eddie R. Cole, who researches the history of higher education at UCLA. “Nobody knows what to do and no one wants to do something preemptive."

Here's the full letter from the U.S. Department of Education