
On Jan. 27, 2025, the Executive Office of the President’s Office of Management and Budget released a memo on a “temporary pause of agency grant, loan, and other financial assistance programs.”
Implementing this pause would affect programs passed by President Donald J. Trump’s executive orders such as “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” and “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The planned pause has paved the way for universities to take unnecessary preemptive actions to comply with the memo and reinforce the patriarchy, despite the office rescinding the memo less than two days after they issued it.
The effects of an order such as this are imminent and pressing as it sets the tone for the future of America under the Trump Administration. Colleges across the nation reacted promptly. Northeastern University, while renaming its “Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) to “Belonging in Northeastern,” has made no fundamental changes to the university’s core values. By only changing its department name, Northeastern slyly defies Trump’s attempt to hurt minorities.
This is just one example of a university taking the dignified route. By standing firm in their stance and values, Northeastern University sent a message to both state and federal officials that its campus will not be pressured to comply with discriminatory practices. It also sends a message to minority students at the university that Northeastern is by their side and will continue to support the diversity present on campus.
Other universities are failing their students by eliminating their DEI programs entirely. The University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted in 2024 to replace their policy on diversity and inclusion with a new one to comply with “institutional neutrality.” As a result, the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (UNCC) dissolved three DEI-related offices. Despite their claims that the policy is to protect their faculty’s academic freedom, it only serves to further inequality in the academic settings.
This preemptive move is dangerous considering the current political climate. It gives the Trump Administration the upperhand in carrying out their vision of a white supremacist nation. UNCC’s decision sets the precedent for other universities to succumb to the regressive ideologies being spread by the Trump Administration.
Without DEI programs and centers present at universities, students lay at the whims of the white men in power at these institutions. Banning DEI in college is dangerous, as these programs and affinity spaces exist to reduce achievement gaps and enrich learning experiences through the development of an inclusive learning environment. For many, DEI programs encourage students to be more engaged with their communities and foster a more racially diverse and rich culture on campus.
The memo that was initially released and the subsequent action that followed is diverging

onto a dark path for America’s future. Take into account the executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” Who bestowed the power of so-called “defending” women to the federal government? Absolutely no one. Masking anti-trans directives under the guise of protecting women. This demeans transgender people as it paints them as sexual predators — reinforcing negative and hurtful stereotypes about the transgender community.
It’s almost like the Trump Administration is afraid of people gaining a conscience. Banning DEI programs and pulling out funding for them is a way to crack down on race-consciousness that is starting to appear in this neo-Marxist time period. In alignment with his Administration’s fear of bodily autonomy, Trump insists, “Accordingly, my administration will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.”
The only thing women need protection from at this rate is the federal government itself. The so-called simplification of gender to biological sex is a degradation, down to the chromosomal level. It is complicated and genetics makes it even more so, with over 25 genes contributing to sex differentiation, various mutations can alter the so-called gender of an individual. Firmly driving in the point that the “clear and accurate language” that the Administration in this executive order isn’t so clear at all, as even “biology” alone cannot dictate “sex.”
One of the most disturbing parts of the rollout of these executive orders is that it targets minorities and labels them as the problem. The model citizen for the United States is a cisgender, straight white man. Anyone who does not align with this model is immediately an outlier.
DEI programs exist to lessen the racial and gender disparities seen in the nation, making inclusion more achievable. The lack of acknowledgement on how repealing DEI programs will negatively affect minority communities, only exacerbates the power given to the white man. The path to equity will remain obstructed until the need for these programs is recognized and prioritized.