College student groups based on race, ethnicity could be in jeopardy under Trump
Source: The Hill
02/23/25 6:00 AM ET
The future of college student groups based on race or ethnicity could be in jeopardy. As the Trump administration ramps up its efforts against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the Department of Education (DOE) is signaling that it will seek to expand the Supreme Courts ruling forbidding affirmative action in college admissions to all aspects of campus life, potentially going after organizations such as Black fraternities or honor societies, which are found at most schools.
At her Senate confirmation hearing last week, Education Secretary-nominee Linda McMahon, who saw her nomination advance on Thursday, would not say if race-based groups such as Yale Universitys Black Student Alliance or the Latino Business Association at the University of California at Santa Barbara would be safe under her department.
There is legitimate concern that the new administration may seek to restrict student organizations, including registered student organizations, and perhaps even fraternities and sororities with a nondiscriminatory focus on race, ethnicity, gender, religion and other cultural identities that the DOE determines are prohibited, said Paulette Granberry Russell, CEO and president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE).
During McMahons confirmation hearing, she would not directly answer a question from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) regarding if President Trumps order to ban DEI at publicly funded universities would affect student clubs. Youre saying that its a possibility that if a school has a club for Vietnamese American students or Black students where they meet after school, that they could be potentially in danger of losing federal funding, Murphy said. Thats pretty chilling. I think schools all around the country are going to hear that, he added.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5155919-college-student-groups-race-ethnicity-trump-dei-doe-affirmative-action-civil-rights/
"Price of eggs", "Kitchen table issues", "Working class".
displacedvermoter
(4,502 posts)though lots of people did know she was a black woman with a name they refused to learn how to pronounce, and that was more than enough for them to vote for Trump.
dhol82
(9,650 posts)Clubs and groups are not financed by the school, are they?
I dont remember what it was when I was in school - its been way too long.
underpants
(196,495 posts)I was on the Appropriations Committee where I went to school. Mostly it was a pro forma exercise. The rugby club would come in with a completed standard form listing details of what funds would be used for. A couple funny stories including me trying to head off a guy on the committee who I knew didnt know what dental dams were. He just couldnt understand what they were. He kept asking for details. I kept telling him its what we talked about in the hallway. He just kept going.
BumRushDaShow
(169,761 posts)For example - at my alma mater UMASS/Amherst, here is a list of orgs associated with the campus - https://umassamherst.campuslabs.com/engage/Organizations
There are 551 listings at that link (done alphabetically).
I expect the schools may get federal grants that can be applied for by their organizations to be used for (or supplementing) bringing in speakers for events, or to generate/print informational materials, etc.
There is a large centrally-located building on campus, called the Student Union, where some of those orgs were located or will meet. I just found this video that shows what is a literal sea change renovation of that building since the decades ago when I was there (apparently just done in 2020)
They could cherry-pick through those orgs and force the school to purge (association with) any deemed "offensive" to white male lunatic Christian groups, with the threat that if this is not done, then the school's money will be cut.
Bernardo de La Paz
(60,320 posts)Doesn't it apply here?
BumRushDaShow
(169,761 posts)manicdem
(536 posts)Aren't these clubs available to everyone regardless of race? Like a hispanic can join the Japanese club and vice versa? If that's the case, then I see no problems with it.
BumRushDaShow
(169,761 posts)They don't want to see or hear or be around anything they consider "offensive", which is everyone and everything except themselves.