Dear Colleague
Disregard the content of the letter, but not its intention.
Dear Colleague –
You may have received this bizarre “Dear Colleague” letter from the now comically named Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on Friday. Please disregard.*
The letter boldly reimagines the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions decision as encompassing any and all race-based DEI programs, widening SFFA’s scope to include administrative support (like cultural centers), graduation ceremonies (they really hate these), and “all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”
Notably, ed sec nominee Linda McMahon did not rule out attempting to eliminate cultural or race-based student orgs during her confirmation hearing last week.
Here’s the thing. Like many of the Executive Orders coming out of the White House these days, this letter is yet another attempt to bully cowardly institutions (looking at you, Northeastern) into compliance through pseudo-legal bluster. But that’s all this is.
The letter notes that like any Dear Colleague letter, “This guidance does not have the force and effect of law and does not bind the public or create new legal standards.”
Dear Colleague letters can actually be quite persuasive and clarifying (letters by both parties on sexual assault come to mind), but their power comes from a general agreement that the guidance is legally sound – something that’s really missing here.
That’s not to say that the administration won’t attempt to enforce compliance – it most certainly will. Only that the letter itself is simply designed to signal that those attempts are forthcoming, and to create a pretext for them. But we already knew that.
Will this absurdly expanded view of SFFA hold up? Likely not, but that’s for the courts to decide, as they already have against a few recent EOs. In the meantime, institutions that have affirmed DEI as a value and a commitment through legally sound programs should keep doing so, and proudly.
*A final word: While this letter does nothing to prevent the continued use of DEI programs (broadly defined), the larger threat to these programs is serious. Think of the February 28 deadline in the letter as the point in which we should be geared up for the fight that’s most certainly coming our way. More on this in my next Substack.
More on this:
After Sweeping Anti-DEI Guidance, What Should Colleges Do? (Inside Higher Ed)
