In a memo Friday, the Education Department gave an ultimatum to stop using “racial preferences” as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other areas. Schools are being given 14 days to end any practice that treats students or workers differently because of their race.

The sweeping demand could upend education in myriad ways. The memo targets college admissions offices, ordering an end to personal essays or writing prompts that can be used to predict an applicant’s race. It forbids dorms or graduation events for students of certain races. Efforts to recruit teachers from underrepresented groups could be seen as discrimination.

It’s meant to correct what the memo described as rampant discrimination in education, often against white and Asian students.

  • Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Efforts to recruit teachers from underrepresented groups could be seen as discrimination.

    I’m guessing if they’re white it’s not.

      • AWistfulNihilist@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The joke will be on white people, they are part of the I in DEI in colleges.

        In 5 years admissions will be 80% Asian women if you go by merit alone.

  • otp@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    I’ve been told by admin at a few different institutions that DEI helps bring more white students into the institution.

    They could put limits on international students (which also means limiting money coming into the school and into the country), but going purely based on merit means that Asian students would be pushing out white Americans.

    • cannibalkitteh@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      The Department of Education is under the executive branch and holds control over policy and guidance. As a permanent change, it takes about 90 days to go through the official “We want to change eligibility policy” process, but until then, a presidential memo can serve as a directive to the department.

    • blackbelt352@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      https://youtu.be/n1KgxqEQn0A?si=5LV5Fl335NhlLXnL

      Thus might highlight the… flaws… of our current system of legislating, executing and adjudicating.

      Congress passes legislation saying here’s what we intend to do without any specifics, executive branch figures out the specifics of how to execute on it, Judiciary might step in if the law itself is no bueno or if the president is operating outside the intended bounds of legislation or outside the constitution.

      • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.worksOP
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        2 months ago

        Honestly, after America declared independence from Britain it seems they wanted to move so completely away from the Westminster model that they made their Republic model extraordinarily complicated.

  • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The SCOTUS already held that schools cannot consider race in their admissions. But schools can still use geography, so they often give preference to applicants from disadvantaged neighborhoods. I don’t think Trump’s latest EO is going to change that.