Tuesday, Jan. 21, President of the United States Donald J. Trump signed an executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs across federal government agencies, deeming them “radical and wasteful” and threatening legal consequences for non-compliance. Some experts believe such measures could soon be extended to public universities, calling into question the status of DEI offices and programs across the higher education landscape, including at the College of William and Mary.
It is currently unclear on what legal basis Trump’s executive order could halt DEI initiatives on college campuses. The administration stated that DEI programs are “illegal and immoral” and violate civil rights law — claims which higher education policy experts have contested, likening the executive order to a repression of intellectual freedom and signaling the adverse impact of DEI changes on historically underrepresented students.
In the executive order, Trump encouraged the Department of Education to identify nine universities receiving endowments greater than $1 billion and determine whether they have active DEI programs. The College’s financial report for the 2024 fiscal year, released Friday, Jan. 24, revealed an endowment with a total market value of $1.45 billion.
According to Inside Higher Ed, the nation’s largest universities with the highest endowments — namely the Ivy League — will likely be first on the administration’s radar. In 2023, the College’s endowment ranked 44th among U.S. public colleges and universities.
Faculty Assembly President and professor of economics David H. Feldman specializes in higher education policy. He believes that Trump’s DEI crackdown within federal agencies is one element of a larger administrative battle for sustained power and relevancy.
“DEI is only the thin edge of the wedge here,” Feldman said. “It’s not just DEI, it’s anything having to do with these hot-button issues that allow the administration, especially Trump himself, to stay in the front pages every day. I mean, it’s like we go from chaos to chaos to chaos.”
Feldman shared that Trump’s executive order to freeze federal grant money, which was blocked by a federal judge last Wednesday, would be much more likely than DEI measures to have an immediate effect on the College’s operations.
“The College’s budget here, we probably get $40 million a year from grants,” Feldman said. “I mean, this is going to cause shutdowns of research and things of that nature. Part of this is [Trump’s] belief system and part of this is keeping on the front pages and driving all other news out. And getting us to dance.”
According to Feldman, the Trump administration lacks the direct legal authority to force higher education compliance with DEI measures intended solely for federal agencies.
“I don’t know how the federal government could get involved other than jawboning, which is what I think they’re doing,” he said. “They’re just spewing out this stuff and hoping that maybe places will just say, ‘Yes, sir,’ and start doing this dismantling without any legal compulsion to do so.”
Feldman believes the College would be more easily influenced at the state level with regard to DEI, especially since Virginia is led by a Republican governor who supports Trump. However, he stressed that the College’s Board of Visitors ultimately has the final say on whether to implement higher education directives from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin D.P.S. ’22.
“So far, at least, William and Mary has not had any gubernatorial overt interference in the Board,” Feldman said. “They’ve sort of asked us, ‘Who do you want us to appoint?’ kind of thing, from a shortlist. And of course, these are all Republicans and friends of the governor that get appointed. But so far, we’ve done a very good job of making sure that these are people who have the best interests of William and Mary before the best interests of a particular ideological set of principles.”
The Board of Visitors is set to convene for their first meeting of the calendar year this week from Wednesday, Feb. 5 to Friday, Feb. 7 at Blow Memorial Hall. Youngkin has yet to issue any DEI-related directives to Virginia university boards since the start of Trump’s term.
However, Youngkin requested in October 2024 that Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason University alter their curriculums to make DEI courses no longer required. Both universities’ boards yielded to the governor, prompting outcry from student groups.
A student who regularly spends time at the Center for Student Diversity, and wishes to remain anonymous, shared his deep appreciation for having such a space on-campus and sadness should the Center’s status ever change due to a federal or state policy directive.
“I’ve been going to the Center for Student Diversity for the past couple years, and this is one of the best places that made me feel like I’m home, being around people that I love,” he said. “If something were to happen to it, I would definitely feel at a loss because I wouldn’t know what that next place is that we could actually go to meet up.”
He also stressed the CSD’s usefulness for getting research funding and other resources and hopes that other students can also benefit from the CSD in future years.
“This is a place of comfort, a place for fellowship, a place to learn and a place to help me when I’m going through my events, when I need help funding, when I need help doing community service,” he said. “The CSD has provided many things for me since I’ve been here, and it’s something I’ll very much cherish even when I graduate years from now. So, the CSD is a very helpful thing, and I hope it stays around for many, many, many decades to come.”
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion currently works in service of the College’s diversity statement, last issued in February 2022 and approved by the Board of Visitors. The office continues to prioritize the notion of “inclusive excellence” as a guiding framework.
“We affirm the vital role of the university in recognizing and fostering equity, inclusion and belonging related to social identities and positions that have been excluded or marginalized in our community,” the diversity statement reads.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion declined to comment on the federal DEI changes until more information becomes available on how Virginia universities could be directly affected.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision to end race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions, many institutions have pursued alternative avenues to continue building diverse campus communities. One recourse has been expanding the essay section of college applications to learn more about students’ cultural backgrounds.
In response to the ruling, the College revised the essay section of its undergraduate application to include two short-answer prompts instead of one long-answer prompt. It also offered six total prompts for applicants to choose between.
“Our hope is this new format, and multiple options, will provide all applicants with better opportunities to share about their interests, experiences, talents, and communities,” Director of Media Relations Suzanne Clavet said in August 2023.
The Class of 2028 was the first admissions year for which the new legal standard applied. The incoming class represented a 4% decrease in the percentage of students of color in comparison to the Class of 2027, moving from 36% to 32% after the ruling.
Feldman underscored that universities most affected by federal DEI changes will likely be those in states with Republican governors keen on politicizing the issue. West Virginia University decided to close its DEI office last Friday, after West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrissey’s Jan. 14 executive order called to “eliminate the woke virus in our schools.”
“There’s a big red-blue cleavage here,” Feldman said. “The people who are most having to jump up and down about this, once again, are state universities in red states whose governors are using this issue as a wedge issue. Which is not true in every state, not even every red state. But in some, governors are making political hay about this DEI term.”