Trump wants to eradicate DEI in higher education

Elizabeth Hernandez, Tribune News Service

The Trump administration has already disrupted Darius McGregor’s academic journey. The 18-year-old graduate of Denver’s East High School interned earlier this year at a laboratory on the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus, where he and his peers evaluated whether bio-fortified maize could help hungry Guatemalan children. The potentially life-saving research was funded by the US Agency for International Development, the federal agency that humanitarian aid programnes relied on to finance their work. The Trump administration dismantled USAID this spring, putting millions of lives at risk worldwide, according to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet.

McGregor’s project lost funding. He nearly lost his internship position, too, but the university found an alternative source to pay for it. As McGregor prepares to attend Brown University this fall with aspirations of becoming a doctor, he said he’s bracing for more federal interference with his education. “I’m concerned with what my college experience may look like, especially with funding cuts like I’ve already seen firsthand,” he said. “It’s discouraging for people of color, but we will not stop.”

Three Black students who received scholarships from the Sachs Foundation — a Colorado-based nonprofit supporting Black communities — told The Denver Post about their experiences entering college as the Trump administration works to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs intended to give them equal footing to thrive in college. Leaders of the foundation, unlike companies scaling back DEI initiatives amid federal pressure, say they’re not deterred from continuing their mission. McGregor said he was alarmed to see the president of the United States threatening to slash funding or investigate colleges and schools in an effort to eradicate the sorts of DEI programs that helped him and other students of color find parity with their white peers so that they had the same opportunities to succeed.

“It has motivated me to prove myself and serve as an example,” McGregor said. “Even when you take DEI away, we will still figure out a way to excel.” The Trump administration took aim at DEI in schools and colleges shortly after the inauguration in January, threatening to withhold federal funding from institutions unless they eliminated initiatives supporting diversity, equity and inclusion. Directives from the US Department of Education in February said any programs that treat students differently on the basis of race to achieve “nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice or equity” were illegal under Supreme Court precedent. In April, a federal judge blocked the government from enforcing these directives after a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union accused the Trump administration of providing “unconstitutionally vague” guidance and violating teachers’ First Amendment rights. Regardless, Colorado universities acknowledged changing their diversity initiatives to avoid losing federal funding. The University of Colorado’s Colorado Springs campus was among more than 50 universities under federal investigation for alleged racial discrimination under Trump’s directives.

Meanwhile, researchers have found that the disparities in the number of Black and Latino students admitted to elite colleges and universities have widened over the last 40 years, according to a University of California, Berkeley study released in 2024. The study found that, despite more students from all races going to college, Black and Latino students were increasingly less likely to attend top-tier, four-year colleges. The disparity remained significant, even when factoring in family income and parents’ education, the study found. Between 2012 and 2022, college enrollment for Black students in the United States declined 22%, from 2.96 million students to 2.32 million, according to the Postsecondary National Policy Institute.

“This suggests that the underlying issue of racial inequality in college attendance goes beyond socioeconomic measures, such as family income and parents’ education, and is intrinsically linked to race itself,” the study concluded. “It points to a systemic issue within the fabric of American education and society.” It’s these systemic barriers that fuel Ben Ralston, CEO of the Sachs Foundation, to continue his work.

The 94-year-old organisation that provides support to Black Coloradoans was founded at a time when the Ku Klux Klan ruled Denver, Ralston said, and its leaders do not plan on backing down. “There’s a lot of trepidation right now,” Sachs said. “We wanted to make sure that everyone in our community of scholars recognised that none of the work we do is going to change any time soon. When we look at what’s happening at the federal level in reference to DEI, there is no political moment that changes our mission. There has been a historic structure put in place to exclude Black Americans and Black Coloradans from opportunities that have never been rectified. We’re not going to change that mission.” Sarah Mohamed Ali’s academic journey in Denver has been dotted with scholarly achievements alongside adversity. Mohamed Ali, a 2025 graduate of DSST: Cedar High School, served as an intern at Denver Health and worked as a dietary aid at an assisted living facility. The daughter of Sudanese immigrants said she was also bullied out of wearing her hijab to school in middle school. She was selected to attend New York University’s Simons Science Exploration Program and the Yale Young Global Scholars summer program. After enduring pandemic learning and the COVID-19 lockdown, Mohamed Ali desired to reconnect with her authentic self and started wearing her hijab to school again. The 18-year-old was accepted to Bowdoin College in Maine to study health care, but her higher education pursuits have been executed under the cloud of a federal administration targeting DEI.

“I worked really hard throughout school, and hearing about everything that was going on months into applying for college was very scary and shocking,” she said. “But I think in spite of everything that might be going on politically, there are still organizations you know you can rely on. You can still pursue your dreams.”

The Sachs Foundation chose 53 Black scholars in Colorado this year to receive more than $1.9 million in scholarships. The foundation’s undergraduate and graduate scholarships are awarded based on academic achievement, financial need and character, Ralston said. The organisation also provides student mentorship, youth college and career development, and educator-focused initiatives. “In a moment where many institutions are retreating from their commitments to equity, we’re proud to stay firm in ours,” Ralston said. “The work we do is not just about scholarships — it’s about ensuring access, opportunity and belonging for Black students who are too often excluded.” For 17-year-old Naima Criss, the Sachs Foundation offered community.

This spring, the 2025 scholars met up at Colorado College to be celebrated. Renowned author and activist Ta-Nehisi Coates shared his story with students. Criss, a graduate of Denver’s Regis Jesuit High School, basked in the Black joy of it all. “There’s this thing where if you’re really smart and Black, people are surprised,” Criss said. “I can just be a very chill person, and what I like is we’re all amazing and we’re all also just people hanging out and living their best lives. It’s great to be in a space where you’re celebrated but not the exception.” Criss’ resume is lengthy already. In addition to being a Sachs scholar, she was named a Gates Scholarship winner — a prestigious award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Through Girls Inc. of Metro Denver’s Leadership Out Loud program, Criss flew to the nation’s capital and lobbied Congress for more comprehensive sex education in schools. She’s also served on the Mayor’s Youth Commission