The Forum

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (DEI) within the federal government, including any training, federal grants, or job positions that are believed to promote DEI. Trump’s administration and many conservatives believe that DEI promotes favoritism of certain races, genders, and sexual orientations over individual, merit-based qualities.

According to The Guardian, this block on DEI initiatives included threats that Trump would pull federal funding from colleges that continued to promote DEI, with Trump issuing a two-week deadline on Feb. 14 for colleges “to stop using ‘racial preferences’ as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other areas.” Likely bolstered by Trump’s executive order, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe issued executive order 25-18 on Feb. 18, which advised all Missouri institutions to end DEI programs and banned the use of Missouri state funds for them. Along with this, agencies in Missouri are now no longer allowed to consider “DEI factors” when hiring new employees, according to Kehoe’s directive.

These changes were reflected in an email sent out by STLCC Chancellor Jeff L. Pittman on Feb. 14, which addressed the fact that certain institutions, including STLCC, may lose funding by not following the new orders surrounding DEI. According to the email, a “college response team” has been formed to review the new policies, and STLCC will “examine and respond to any local, state, or federal rules that require changes in our operations.”

After this email was sent out, as pulled from the Associated Press, on Feb. 21, federal U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson of Baltimore blocked most of Trump’s initial executive order banning DEI initiatives, labeling it unconstitutional. However, according to the Columbia Missourian, Missouri’s ban on DEI still stands, with “a bill prohibiting Missouri agencies from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives” recently passing in the Missouri House of Representative.

There has been some debate between Missouri Republicans on whether these DEI bans will affect Missouri State colleges, but the consensus seems to be that any agency funded by the state–including schools–must immediately end DEI initiatives. These bans will affect both colleges and students that utilize DEI-based grants and admissions.

Along with this, as pulled from the Associated Press and Roll Call, President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget issued an executive order on Monday, Jan. 27 that froze all federal loans and grants except for those providing direct aid to individuals, including Medicare, student loans, Social Security, and food stamps. The order was scheduled to take effect Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 5 p.m. and could have impacted programs such as Meals on Wheels, Title I education grants to elementary schools, and federal grants to colleges, potentially impeding the regular functions of many institutions. An exact list of what programs would or would not be shut down was never made clear.

The intention of this act was to allow Trump and his administration to review all the paused programs and determine whether they aligned with the administration’s agenda. Examples of things that do not align with the agenda of the Trump Abby Westhoff | Staff Writer administration include gender identity, DEI efforts, Marxism, and “Green New Deal social engineering policies,” as stated by the then-acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). As defined by Ray Galvin and Noel Healy’s article “The Green New Deal in the United States: What It is and How to Pay for It,” the Green New Deal in the United States is a series of policies introduced by numerous progressive politicians–most prominently Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Sens. Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders–that would have combined government economic programs with anti-climate change efforts, using taxpayer dollars to fund the project.

If reviewed programs did not align with Trump and his administration’s views, they would have been theoretically dissolved. Theoretically, because the Trump administration’s policy was temporarily blocked by the U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan that Tuesday and rescinded by Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Wednesday. Trump and his administration did not provide a clear answer on why they rescinded the order, but street interviews conducted by the Associated Press paint a picture that it was due to the widespread panic and confusion the pause on grants caused.

Many students, including those at STLCC, were concerned by the action when it came out as well, confused as to whether the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which students use to receive federal aid such as loans and the Pell Grant, was part of that pause and worried that the money that many of STLCC students relied on was being taken away. Fortunately, Trump’s now-repealed order did not affect the FAFSA.

STLCC chancellor Jeff Pittman sent an email about the federal grant pause on Jan 29 before it had been rescinded but after District Judge Loren L. AliKhan had temporarily blocked it. “STLCC is aware of the recent executive order,” it stated, and “We want to assure you that we are actively working to gather information and assess the potential impact on our college and its students.” No update email has been sent regarding the now-rescinded executive order.

Unfortunately, as of Feb. 19, as recorded by the Associated Press, FASFA’s fate is still in jeopardy, with heavy insinuations from President Trump, Elon Musk, and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that they have plans to dissolve the Department of Education (ED), which handles all federal student loans, a percentage of public school funding, college grants, Pell Grants, and the FAFSA. This, according to The Guardian, is a part of Trump’s long-standing plan to rid the government of what he believes are Marxist, “woke,” and DEI policies that he believes have infiltrated the Education Department. If the department is dissolved, the Associated Press reports that the DE’s function would be likely redistributed to other departments, but with mass layoffs happening across the government, the possibility of programs that the Department of Education handles being dropped or reduced in size in a hypothetical crossover is not insignificant.

Trump would need a majority vote in Congress to truly shut down the department, a decision that the Associated Press says is unlikely due to failed attempts in the past, but budget cuts and firings are well within the Trump administration’s power.

According to both the Associated Press and The Guardian, Education Department employees who attended an optional diversity training were placed on paid administrative leave on Jan. 31 due to Trump’s executive order regarding DEI policies, and all Education Department workers were offered a deal of seven months’ salary if they agreed to leave the department by Feb. 6. Whether these workers would be replaced by Trump-aligned employees, or the positions would be left vacant as part of DOGE’s government reduction efforts is unknown.

It’s too early to tell what the long-term effects of Education Department cuts and ending DEI initiatives will be, but it is no stretch to say that the way that the government works will not be the same for a long time; and perhaps will never be the same again.