By Collin Binkley | Associated Press
Washington – The Trump Administration gives two weeks to American schools and universities to eliminate diversity initiatives or risks losing federal money, increasing the challenges of the president’s fight against “bordellerie” and being confused then that schools reproduce to comply.
Friday, in a memo, the department of education gave an ultimatum to stop using “racial preferences” as a factor of admission, financial aid, hiring or other areas. Schools have 14 days to put an end to any practice that treats students or workers differently because of their race.
Country colleges educators rushed to assess their risks and decide to defend the practices which, according to them, are legal. The radical demand threatens to upset all aspects of campus operations, questions about college demands at classrooms and campus clubs.
It is supposed to correct what the note has described as a creeping discrimination in education, often against white and Asian students.
“Schools have operated on the pretext that the selection of students for” diversity “or similar euphemisms do not select them according to the breed,” said Craig Trainor, interim assistant secretary for civil rights. “More now. Students must be assessed according to merit, accomplishment and character.”
Directives have led to a strong reaction from civil rights groups and university groups. Some believe that his vague language is supposed to have a frightening effect, putting pressure on schools to eliminate everything related to the subject of the race even if he can be defendable in court.
“Creating a feeling of risk around work that could promote various and welcoming campuses is much more the objective than a clear declaration of the existing law,” said Jonathan Fansmith, Vice-President of Government Relations at the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents.
The memo is an extension of the executive decree of President Donald Trump prohibiting the programs of diversity, equity and inclusion. It essentially reflects a change in the interpretation by the federal government of anti -discrimination laws. As a legal justification, he quotes the decision of the Supreme Court of 2023 which prohibits the race as a factor in university admissions. Although the decision only applies to admissions, the memo says that it “applies more widely”.
“In simple terms, educational institutions can neither separate nor separate students according to the breed, nor distribute advantages or charges according to the race,” he said.
On Monday, the Department of Education announced that it also reduced $ 600 million in grants for organizations that form teachers. The programs have promoted “divisive” concepts like Dei, the critical theory of race and the activism of social justice, said the ministry.
The new guidelines aim to withdraw the race from the zones, in particular financial aid, housing, graduation ceremonies, hiring and promotion. It also directly targets admissions to the college, which suggests that the colleges sought to bypass the decision of the Supreme Court.
The use of non -racial information “as a breed indicator” will now be considered a violation of the federal law, said the note. For example, he said it was illegal for colleges to eliminate standardized test requirements “to reach the desired racial balance or to increase racial diversity”.
Dozens of colleges in the United States have lowered the demands of SAT and Act in recent years for various factors.
The directives go beyond the scope of the decision of the Supreme Court and are almost sure to be disputed in court, said Angel B. Pérez, CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. While the decision of the Supreme Court prohibits the race as a factor in the assessment of candidates, the note aims to prohibit the race even in the recruitment of potential students, he said.
The practices that have long been banal could suddenly become legal responsibilities, said Pérez, including recruitment in under-represented areas or the purchase of potential students with certain academic and demographic information.
Companies such as the College Board and the law have long sold students’ lists of students, acting as a contribution and providing a pool of potential candidates who meet certain criteria.
“Colleges and universities will be between a rock and a hard place,” said Pérez. “They know that what they are doing is not illegal, but they fear that if they do not comply, not to finance federal decimal them.”
Collège application tests are targeted by memo, which raises questions about the extent to which colleges can go to invite students to share their personal experiences, including their race. Advice indicates that colleges cannot use trials as a way to predict the breed of a student.
In the decision of the Supreme Court, the chief judge John Roberts said that nothing in the decision prevents colleges “from considering the discussion of an applicant on the way in which the race affected his life”, although he has Warning that colleges could not simply use tests as an indirect bypass solution to consider the race of candidates.
In a letter of campus at the University of Michigan, President Santa J. Ono said that the leaders were trying to understand the implications.
Some colleges have declared that they expect little change compared to the memo. At Oregon State University, a legal examination concluded that its programs “are fully in accordance with all state and federal laws”, according to a message from the Rob Odom campus, vice-president of university relations and marketing.
The service note seems to target the scholarships reserved for students with certain racial history. There has been a legal debate to find out if the decision of the Supreme Court extends to financial aid, certain schools and institutions deciding to remove racial requirements for certain scholarships.
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administration said that there was no consensus on the issue, and the group is trying to understand how the memo could affect students’ help.
“What we know, however, is that 14 days is insufficient for schools to assess and implement the changes necessary to comply,” the group said in a statement. “The last thing the students need to make plans on how to pay for college is uncertainty at the time when they will receive financial assistance on which they count.”
The confusion around Trump’s order was apparent at the confirmation hearing last week for the candidate for the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon. When asked if courses on African-American history would take place on the order of the president, McMahon said that she was not quite certain.
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