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Trump opens MSU, other universities to potential DEI probes

January 27, 2025
<p>The Michigan State Spartan logo on a building, photographed Aug. 31, 2020.</p>

The Michigan State Spartan logo on a building, photographed Aug. 31, 2020.

Michigan State University is among dozens of schools that could be subject to federal investigations into the compliance with the Trump-era policies aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion efforts following an executive order signed last Tuesday.

The order, titled "ENDING ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION AND RESTORING MERIT-BASED OPPORTUNITY," directs federal agencies to "identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations" into colleges and universities with endowments over $1 billion as well as publicly traded corporations and large non-profits. These potential probes are part of a larger plan to create specific steps to "deter DEI programs or principles," the order states.

The order places 131 colleges, including MSU with its $4.4 billion endowment, in the crosshairs of a federal government poised to eliminate diversity and inclusion efforts in the public and private sectors. Although the directive is under a section about ending DEI in the private sector, the order does not specify whether only private institutions will be scrutinized.

The order does not define DEI efforts but refers to them as "dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race-and sex-based preferences" that elevate unqualified individuals while diminishing individual merit. 

MSU Chief Communications Officer Emily Guerrant said the university does not have an "initial reaction" to the directives outlined in the executive order, instead pointing to a campus-wide email sent by President Kevin Guskiewicz last Friday in response to the new presidential administration.

In that email, Guskiewicz wrote that the university had created a set of administrative teams to assess the potential impacts that new legislation and executive orders could have on campus life, international students and funding for research and curriculum. Furthermore, MSU’s Governmental Relations office would continue to "actively monitor" changes at the federal level, the email stated.

Although Guskiewicz’s email portrays MSU as careful — but nonetheless secure — as it navigates a new political era, other segments of the university have been more sensitive to rapidly changing policy.

Last Tuesday, MSU postponed a webinar event centered on "DEI policy at MSU" days after Trump signed an executive order ending DEI policies in the federal government. 

Although the event’s organizers suggested the event was postponed so panelists could familiarize themselves with the new orders, others have noted that executive orders aimed at DEI practice in other sectors could nonetheless have a chilling effect at universities.

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