OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
2:17 PM – Thursday, September 3, 2025
Georgia’s largest private college, Emory University, is the latest to discontinue its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs — complying with the Trump administration’s January Executive Order (EO).
On the first day of his second term in office this year, President Donald Trump rescinded Biden administration directives implementing DEI initiatives.
The 47th president signed an EO requiring the Director of Office Management and Budget (OMB), the Attorney General, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to terminate all DEI positions, offices, programs, initiatives, grants, contracts and performance requirements.
The Department of Education sent letters to state education departments in all 50 states warning that they would risk losing federal funding if they did not eliminate their DEI programs.
In a bittersweet letter released on Wednesday, Emory University’s Interim President Justice Leah Ward Sears, who began her tenure on Monday, announced that the private school would join those in compliance with the EO.
“I know Emory’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts have meant a great deal to many,” Sears’ letter began. She went on to say that she was “someone who has reaped the benefits of the needs these programs were meant to address,” and that she believed they were “created with the best of intentions.” She lamented, “We live in a time of changing expectations and new requirements, however.”
“The standards are clear, and we must act accordingly,” she said, regarding the current administrations new policies on DEI actions. “We will work promptly and carefully to discontinue current DEI offices and programs,” Sears stated.
In the letter, the interim president emphasized that the university remains committed to its core values despite the program changes, underscoring that the EO’s intent is to prevent DEI initiatives from unintentionally disadvantaging certain groups.
“Closing offices or reimagining lawful programs is not, after all, the same as ending our unwavering commitment to fairness, belonging, and opportunity for all, values that are part of Emory’s DNA,” she said. “I’m confident we can follow the law while not losing sight of who we are,” the letter concluded.
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