Pittsburgh institutions weigh Trump administration's DEI orders
The Trump administration has ordered public schools, universities and private employers to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs or lose federal funding or regulatory help.
Will Pittsburgh institutions keep DEI programs or comply with orders?
Only four percent of Carnegie Mellon University's student body is African American. As a result, the university has partnered with a non-profit organization called The PhD Project, which helps recruit minority candidates for post-graduate study and helps them get jobs afterwards.
The Trump administration has ordered CMU and 44 other universities to get rid of The PhD Project or lose federal funding.
From day one, the president has been on a mission to root out all forms of DEI, saying they are a form of reverse racism. Trump says he wants advancement based solely on merit.
"We abolished 60 years of prejudice and hatred with the signing of one order," Trump said during a rally. "All approved by the U.S. Supreme Court. We're allowed to do it because we are now in a metric-based world."
In addition to CMU, the University of Pittsburgh is a major medical research university receiving $700 million annually from the National Institutes of Health. Just this week, the NIH said it will cut all funding to universities that engage in DEI.
"It's a difficult decision for universities," attorney Sam Cordes said. "Lots of universities, clearly the two in this town, get a lot of federal money."
Pitt did not reply to a request for comment. And while CMU has signed a letter opposing federal interference, it's still weighing the federal DEI order.
Harvard has received national attention for saying it will keep DEI and protect student speech. Cordes says universities are on the right side of the law.
"It's a First Amendment issue," Cordes said. "Can I speak in favor of a certain position, and that position is finding diversity, equity and inclusion principles in my universities?"
Trump's administration has also sent letters to the Departments of Education in all 50 states, demanding they get rid of all "illegal DEI programs" in their K-12 public schools or lose Title 1 funding, which provides reading programs for low-income students.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has sent a letter back saying it is in compliance with federal law, but the matter will not likely end there.
"Diversity, equity and inclusion can't just be eliminated," Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President Bill Hileman said. "It's part of the culture of our school district."
States like Pennsylvania say it's not clear if the administration is demanding changes the elimination of things like Black studies. On Thursday, a federal judge in New Hampshire temporarily blocked the order, saying the federal letter "does not even define what a DEI program is."
Hileman says teachers won't comply in any case.
"We're going to continue to teach the contemporary truth about our society and our country and our world as well as our history," Hileman said.
But the Trump administration has vowed not to relent. It intends to root out DEI in all of its forms.
