When does a win not feel like a win? When one team gives up, before the game is over.
That’s one interpretation of what has happened at many colleges and universities on the subject of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Many schools bowed to the Trump administration, which alleged that the programs discriminated against white students. So they dropped (or markedly tamped down) DEI programs without a fight.
That’s why this week’s court victory by those who favor DEI felt far from satisfying to some of those who believe groups that suffered discrimination should be allowed special programs to try to level the playing field.
The reactions came after Trump’s Education Department this week said it would drop its appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked its campaign against DEI in K-12 schools and higher education institutions. That left in place a lower court finding that said the effort to block DEI programs violated the 1st Amendment and federal procedural rules that protect students and schools, as my colleague Jaweed Kaleem reported.
“The damage is done,” said Shaun Harper, a professor of education, public policy and business at USC who is working on a documentary about DEI at universities. “We will see negative outcomes for students, academic outcomes, retention outcomes… because the resources that had long existed on campuses no longer exist in many places.”
Royel Johnson, who leads the Race and Equity Center’s National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climates at USC, told EdSource much the same thing. “The damage has already been done across the nation and even in California,” said Johnson, “where people think we’re impervious to the conservative backlash or right-wing movement.”
In August, Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher struck down the Education Department’s anti-DEI guidance, writing that it stifled teachers’ free speech, “causing millions of educators to reasonably fear that their lawful, and even beneficial, speech might cause them or their schools to be punished.” She added that a 2023 Supreme Court ruling blocking affirmative action “certainly does not proscribe any particular classroom speech, or relate at all to curricular choices.”
John Rogers, a professor at UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies, told EdSource, that while the court victory was meaningful, it did not erase the damage the anti-DEI policies had done. “One of my concerns is that the strategy of the Trump administration is to disrupt and instigate a sense of conflict within local communities,” Rogers said.
Dozens of colleges and universities across America, if not more, made changes to avoid losing federal education funding. Some purged mentions of DEI or diversity from websites, eliminated or reconfigured DEI-related positions or disbanded culturally themed dorms focused on Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ students.
The end of the legal case doesn’t stop other Trump administration attacks on DEI. It is investigating UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley and Stanford, alleging they use race in admissions decisions — accusations the schools deny. And the Department of Justice has sought a $1.2-billion fine from UCLA to end a civil rights investigation that includes a demand to end race-related scholarships. A federal judge last year blocked the terms of the settlement offer, but the Trump administration has appealed.
And campus officials have expressed concern that any relaunch of DEI initiatives will renew the administration’s attempts to stop them and cut their funding.
Conservatives have cheered Trump’s actions, saying a correction of “woke” liberal policies has been long overdue. An article in the right-leaning Daily Signal praised the anti-DEI push late last year, saying that “several departments in the Trump administration have been relentless in trying to remove this destructive and illegal doctrine from our schools.”
Traffic heads north on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
- Metro’s board of directors approved a plan for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor project, which would connect the Westside to the San Fernando Valley in less than 20 minutes and ideally eliminate traffic congestion along one of the nation’s busiest corridors.
- The multibillion-dollar Metro plan is considered one of the most significant transit projects in the country.
- Billions of dollars are still needed to fund the project.
- Curren Price is accused of embezzlement, perjury and having a conflict of interest in votes on City Council matters.
- A long-delayed court proceeding that began this week could influence how he is remembered and whether his hand-picked successor is elected to replace him on the City Council.
- Price told The Times he never intended to do anything wrong and said he is being prosecuted for what was essentially a paperwork error.
- One of the leading defense companies in Southern California will invest $1 billion in a new Long Beach campus developing advanced weapons systems.
- The complex will create roughly 5,500 jobs and expand the defense contractor’s presence.
- Long Beach is undergoing an aerospace renaissance, with Anduril joining companies like Rocket Lab and Vast in revitalizing the city’s historic defense sector.
A platter of kebabs including jujeh, tikkeh masti and chenjeh kebabs at Berenjak at Soho House in downtown Los Angeles.
(Ron De Angelis)
Jeff Kunz said, “In our community in SW Utah, we have to pay an extra fee each month to have a large, blue recycling bin. It’s not worth it. Each 10 years we can “opt out.” I decided to opt out and no longer pay the monthly fees or have the bin. I continue to collect and recycle plastic bags by taking them to a donation site.”
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Starving wild horses were rescued near Mammoth after being stranded in the mountains because of recent snowstorms.
(Blake DeBock)
Today’s great photo is from Times contributor Blake DeBock in the Eastern Sierra where a group of wild horses were stuck in deep snow. These were among horses later rescued in an emergency operation by the U.S. Forest Service.
Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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