By: Maxine Madrigal
April 8, 2025The U.S. Department of Education released a memo on February 14 that gave schools a two-week deadline to end DEI programs or risk losing federal funding. The letter targets “pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences” in admissions and financial aid, among other institutional programs.
Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor cites the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action in a memo released by the Department of Education on February 14, 2025.
The letter, which begins with “Dear Colleague,” follows the Trump administration’s ban on DEI initiatives. It was signed by Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, and cites the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to outlaw affirmative action in college admissions.
“The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent,” Trainor said in the letter.
While the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action focused on college admissions, the letter broadens it to include all institutional programs, including employment, financial aid, and housing.
“Federal law thus prohibits covered entities from using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life,” the letter stated.
It is unclear how this threat and the continued attack on DEI will affect programs for students in the Philadelphia area. Chief Equity Officer Dr. Sabriya K. Jubilee, who works for the School District of Philadelphia’s DEI office, said that the risk is continuously being assessed, but that her office is remaining dedicated to their work.
“The main concern is if money is withheld, what programs might be potentially affected by that,” Jubilee said. “Right now we’re assessing what might be impacted and what we can do to maintain programming. As of right now, we’re continuing on with our commitments.”
While financial aid from federally funded organizations may be impacted, there are still plenty of scholarships from organizations and individuals that aren’t, said E&S STEP Case Manager Kevin Sanchez.
“A lot of the scholarships that you find on different apps, or a lot of scholarships that you can find anywhere, they're not necessarily government-associated scholarships,” Sanchez said. “There's scholarships for a lot of different things, not necessarily the money that's coming directly from the Department of Education, but it's coming from outside agencies.”
Sanchez urges students to apply to these scholarships, especially during a time when federally funded resources are under attack.
“Apply to every single scholarship, even if you don't qualify for it,” he said. “When we do our part, we'll receive all the resources, and then we don't have to necessarily be dependent on something that may or may not be there in the future for us anyways.
A wall of scholarship opportunities is displayed outside the Counselor Suite at Carver HSES.
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