NY Attorney General Letitia James issues guidance supporting DEI in schools
In joint guidance led by James, a coalition of 14 attorneys general said neither an executive order nor a memo from the U.S. Education Department — known as a 'Dear Colleague' letter — threatening schools with DEI policies could make or change the law.
'The administration cannot ban diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility efforts with a 'Dear Colleague' letter,' James said in a statement. 'Schools and educational institutions can rest assured that they are well within their legal rights to continue building inclusive learning environments for their students.'
'My office will always stand up for the rule of law and defend New Yorkers from threats.'
In the Feb. 14 letter, the Education Department gave schools and colleges two weeks to drop all policies and actions that treat students differently based on race. The guidance would dramatically expand the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling against affirmative action in college admissions to all race-based efforts in schools.
Schools that do not comply risk unwanted scrutiny — or the loss of federal funding, the letter warned.
But as the deadline came and went on Friday, few schools in New York made sweeping changes, the Daily News has reported.
And in follow-up guidance this month, the Education Department appeared to soften its stance, recognizing it could not directly control school curriculum and permitting schools to recognize events such as Black History Month and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
'The Dear Colleague Letter is clear: The Trump Department of Education will not allow educational institutions that receive federal funds to discriminate on the basis of race,' Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the department, said in a statement released with the FAQ.
In a press release, the attorney general's office blasted the letter as an attempt to 'misinterpret and improperly expand the U.S. Supreme Court's narrow ruling.' The law, under James' interpretation, still permits colleges to boost diversity by non-racial means, such as targeted outreach to applicants from poor backgrounds.
It's not yet known how the Trump administration will respond to schools that continue diversity programming. During his first month in office, Trump's Education Department launched an investigation into the Ithaca City School District over an annual student conference in which white children were reportedly excluded.
The Dear Colleague letter is currently being challenged in court.
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