President Trump hit the ground running with many executive orders intended to undo leftist policies that had been decreed by previous occupants of the White House. The wailing over the loss of control by the “progressives” has been delightful.

In today’s Martin Center article, Graham Hillard looks at three of those orders that relate to higher education policy.

The first ends illegal discrimination and restores merit-based opportunity. If colleges and universities want to keep federal money flowing, they’ll have to abandon the DEI programs. No federal money or no more social engineering? That will be a tough one.

Hillard writes:

Of course, schools will try to get around Trump’s instructions. Shortly after the White House’s executive-order announcement, the University of Colorado renamed its DEI office the “Office of Collaboration” and reaffirmed its intention to “serve all of Colorado’s communities.” (For the uninitiated, this is code for “We’re changing nothing.”) Other institutions have been similarly cagey in response to state-level DEI bans and will presumably keep up the bad work now. In the end, some universities will likely have to be made examples of. Many would cry foul if, say, Harvard lost access to federal loan dollars. Lawsuits would certainly be filed. But taking a big-name offender to task could be just the trick if the president wants the higher-ed sector to know that he’s serious about curbing divisive and racist practices on campus.

The second order pertains to hostile foreign aliens, which includes students are more intent on fomenting campus riots than in studying. Hillard comments, “Peaceful protesters shouldn’t (and won’t) be deported, but it is entirely reasonable to send back foreign nationals who violently despise this country or abuse American citizens on campus. The nation saw depraved behavior during the 2023-24 school year. It’s appropriate to push back.”

And third, an order declares that federal funds will not be used to promote gender ideology. Schools will have to abandon their crazed ideas about gender fluidity if they don’t want to lose money from Uncle Sam.

For the next four years at least, the Left is going to be on the defensive.