Trump Administration Withdraws Appeal in Lawsuit Over School D.E.I. Funding

The Trump administration on Wednesday withdrew its appeal in a federal lawsuit that challenged efforts to strip funding from schools and colleges with diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The administration had threatened to withhold billions of dollars from states and schools that did not sign a document attesting they had no D.E.I.

programs. Education groups sued and won a favorable ruling in August from Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland, who found the administration had not followed proper procedure and that the policy threatened educators’ free speech in the classroom. The case was brought by the American Federation of Teachers, the American Sociological Association and a school district in Eugene, Ore.

Randi Weingarten, president of the A.F.T., called the lawsuit the most important of the 22 suits her union and partners have filed in Mr. Trump’s second term because of the precedent it could set, and said, “You cannot, by executive fiat, rewrite 60 years of educational opportunity.” She also warned the administration had “other ways of getting to the same result.” The administration has pursued other tactics, including civil rights investigations, pressuring schools to sign agreements and negotiating settlements with universities that have at times limited D.E.I.

efforts.

Key Topics

Politics, Trump Administration, Dei Programs, Aft, Asa, Stephanie Gallagher