The Department of Education has purged decades worth of “harmful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives” to comply with recent executive orders from President Trump.
The department said the eliminated programs promoting race- and sexuality-based preferences in education hiring and college admissions included 200 web pages, an Equity Action Plan and two advisory councils.
The Education Department also terminated $2.6 million in federal contracts for staff DEI training and placed all DEI employees on paid leave.
“These actions are in line with President Trump’s ongoing commitment to end illegal discrimination and wasteful spending across the federal government,” the Education Department said Thursday night. “They are the first step in reorienting the agency toward prioritizing meaningful learning ahead of divisive ideology in our schools.”
The announcement came hours after the department confirmed the addition of 10 senior Trump administration political appointees, including several from the America First Policy Institute. Mr. Trump’s education secretary nominee — Linda McMahon, who is awaiting a confirmation hearing in the Senate — has chaired the institute’s board since 2021.
The hundreds of public guidance documents, reports and training materials the department said it “removed or archived” also included directives aimed at curbing discrimination against minorities and transgender students.
Deleted materials included a 2016 report on “The State of Racial Diversity in the Educator Workforce,” “Resources for LGBTQI+ Students” and guidance designed to help educators “Avoid the Discriminatory Use of Artificial Intelligence.”
Dissolved entities included the Equity Action Plan, a Diversity & Inclusion Council established under former President Barack Obama and an Employee Engagement Diversity Equity Inclusion Accessibility Council.
According to an archived page, the Equity Action Plan emerged from an executive order former President Joseph R. Biden signed during his first week in office in January 2021.
The plan cited “LGBTQI+ students” and “underserved communities” as it pledged to “address inequities faced by justice-impacted individuals by expanding access to postsecondary learning opportunities that improve outcomes for communities and reduce recidivism rates.”
Mr. Trump signed several executive orders rescinding the initiatives on Inauguration Day, including one that directed all federal agencies to eliminate DEI programs and positions “under whatever name they appear.”
As of Monday, some direct links to purged education materials remained available online and it was unclear how long they would stay up.
The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment. In Thursday’s announcement, it pledged to “continue its comprehensive review of all agency programs and services to identify additional initiatives and working groups that may be advancing a divisive DEI agenda.”
“I do anticipate that these efforts will be met with pushback from external organizations, both in terms of the legal arguments and in terms of the policy substance,” Michael Hansen, a senior fellow in the Brown Center on Education Policy at the left-leaning Brookings Institution, said Monday.
Several federal agencies have rushed to delete DEI materials from their websites over the past week, sometimes leading to decisions they later walked back. The Air Force removed references about the Tuskegee Airmen and women pilots in World War II from its training courses, then reinstated them after a review.
Mr. Trump’s executive orders have polarized conservative and liberal policy advocates.
“The push for DEI in every facet of American culture was a slap in the face for practitioners of common sense across the nation,” said Alex McFarland, a conservative Christian theologian and radio host.
“By eliminating these programs, the administration is signaling that it does not value equity or the fundamental rights of all Americans,” said Corryn G. Freeman, executive director of Future Coalition, a liberal advocacy group.
In a statement on Monday, National Education Association President Becky Pringle called the Education Department’s DEI purge an effort “to roll back civil rights protections that have been in place since the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.”
“This is just the latest example of how these politicians seek to turn back the clock and ensure that students who speak a different language, who are first-generation Americans, or who go by a different pronoun are no longer welcome and supported,” said Ms. Pringle, whose teachers union is the largest in the country. “These unwarranted attacks on DEI will have a chilling effect on programs that provide equity and opportunity for all Americans.”
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.