"President Trump has started his term by signing a series of sweeping Executive Orders," the invite said. "These EOs signal the administration’s priorities and have implications for many American institutions, including higher education."

The invite asked people to "join" the MSU administrators as they "demystify policy and process especially as it relates to DEI."

On Thursday, the event’s organizers, who work for the non-partisan campus committee MSUVote, sent an email to all who had signed up for the webinar announcing it had been postponed.

"Based on recent developments the webinar has been postponed," said the email, which was obtained by The State News. "We will notify you when a new date has been selected."

It continued that "more information about Executive Orders (EOs) can be found here," followed by a link to a White House website with a list of Trump’s early-term executive actions, which includes one that ended DEI policies in federal government agencies. 

MSUVote Co-Director Suchitra Webster, in an email to The State News, suggested the event was postponed so that panelists would have longer to familiarize themselves with the relevant executive order. 

"As information and announcements, including Executive Orders, were being issued quite rapidly from the federal level, it was a challenge to fully examine each issuance and accurately explain all of the details for our audience," Webster said. "Furthermore, there was tremendous interest in the program."

"It would have been a disservice to registrants to not fully articulate what was occurring. We look forward to announcing a rescheduled date soon, and to showcase other programs around democratic civic engagement."

Though several executive orders signed by Trump could impact higher education, one specifically targeting DEI policies in the federal government appears to be most closely related to the subject matter of MSU’s postponed event. That executive order mandated the "termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and 'diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility' (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear."

Though some observers have said the executive order is unlikely to affect universities in the immediate sense, some conservatives, who largely oppose DEI, have claimed it’s a positive sign for what’s to come.  

"Tomorrow morning, the general counsels for every major corporation and university are going to be reading President Trump's executive orders on DEI and figuring out how they can avoid getting ruined by federal civil rights lawyers," wrote conservative journalist and activist Christopher Rufo in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "Huge changes imminent."

MSU's postponement of the event would appear to prove Rufo, a vocal opponent of DEI, correct that the executive order will impact public universities. The postponement also seems to lend credence to fears among proponents of DEI policies in universities that the executive order, despite not specifically targeting universities, could have a chilling effect on them. 

MSU’s postponement of the event serves as an early example of the ways in which Trump’s vision for higher education — which has included dissolving the federal Department of Education — might come into tension with MSU’s institutional aims.

Administrators are apparently aware of that chasm, with MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz telling The State News last week he was assembling "tiger teams" to prepare for possible education policy changes made by Trump’s administration. "Tiger teams" is a military term for groups of experts from different backgrounds who collaborate to address a specific problem. 

In an interview with The State News Wednesday, board Chair Kelly Tebay said "who knows what decisions (Trump’s) going to make, but I fully support higher education, that’s why I’m a board member here."

"If it comes to it, we’ll certainly advocate for funding, and the importance of higher education for our country," she said.