Northwestern University in Illinois and the University of Alaska have removed web pages related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) following President Trump’s anti-DEI executive order.
Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Communications each removed their DEI pages.
Before the removal, Weinberg College featured a webpage asserting that DEI principles were at “the very heart” of the school.
In a statement provided to Campus Reform, a Northwestern University spokesperson said that the school is reviewing its policies to ensure they comply with the law.
“Northwestern is currently reviewing its policies and programs to ensure we meet all federal and state laws and requirements,” the spokesperson explained. “Equal opportunity for every member of the Northwestern community remains central to our core values and we are committed to ensuring that students, faculty and staff enjoy a community that is welcoming to all.”
Northwestern University is not the only school to recently remove references to DEI. The University of Alaska, among other schools, has also taken similar measures.
The University of Alaska Board of Regents has ordered its different campuses to remove references to “affirmative action,” “DEI,” and “Associated terms” from “websites and other electronic or print material representing each university,” and to jettison references to these terms from “position titles and office titles.”
In response to the University of Alaska’s move, faculty members at the school wrote an open letter to the Regents asking them to reimplement DEI policies, calling the decision to step away from DEI “short-sighted” and “fearful.”
Northwestern University and the University of Alaska’s removal of DEI references comes in the wake of the Department of Education’s Feb. 14 letter to school leaders, warning them to stop DEI and other racially-discriminatory policies or lose federal funding.
“The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions,” the letter stated. “The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.”
Many universities have begun moving away from DEI in the wake of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order cracking down on the ideology in the federal government and with associated contractors.
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Alaska for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
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