In a notable development, the Trump administration’s recent withdrawal from a lawsuit concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in schools has provided a rare victory for advocates of such programs. This comes amid a broader trend of setbacks faced by DEI efforts during the president’s second term.

Although this legal retreat is seen as a positive step, proponents of DEI note that many educational institutions have already conceded to aspects of the administration’s anti-DEI directives that were initially contested in court.

As diversity offices are being shut down and DEI programs are discontinued in both K-12 schools and higher education institutions nationwide, the outlook for these initiatives, which aim to support marginalized communities, appears increasingly bleak.

“I estimate that dozens, if not hundreds, of institutions have dismantled their DEI programs, dismissed their chief diversity officers, and renamed cultural centers and other resources. The damage has already been inflicted,” stated Shaun Harper, a professor of education, business, and public policy at the University of Southern California. “The Trump administration’s efforts have succeeded in instilling fear, prompting institutions to act preemptively without waiting for legal opinions or judgments.”

Last year saw the closure of several DEI offices at universities, including Emory University, the University of Michigan, and Columbia University, highlighting the widespread impact of these changes.

The shuttering of DEI efforts came as President Donald Trump signed executive orders targeting DEI and shut off federal funding for multiple schools. The Education Department sent out letters to institutions nationwide warning them to eliminate DEI or face funding loss.

“Federal laws and mandates have been implemented that require higher education institutions to alter fundamentally or even close offices and programs focused on DEI. The standards are clear, and we must act accordingly,” said the president of Emory when the school announced its DEI closure. 

But a federal judge found the anti-DEI school memos violated the First Amendment and federal procedures in their implementation.

Alvin Tillery, professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy at Northwestern University, said that without a conservative-leaning Supreme Court, the memos case would have died long ago.

“The problem is the Supreme Court is broke, at least a third of them are in on the coup themselves, trying to push us toward greater authoritarianism,” said Tillery.

“So I honestly am not in the camp that … the plaintiffs would have clearly won at the Supreme Court if it had gotten there. So, I am somewhat surprised that the Trump folks back down,” he added. 

The Education Department’s webpage highlights its purported accomplishments in the first year of Trump’s presidency, including striking deals with universities that “rooted out DEI” and investigating DEI initiatives at schools the department said violated Title VI.

“The Department has full authority under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to target impermissible DEI initiatives that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Title VI has always prohibited schools from racial preferencing and stereotyping, and it continues to do so with or without the February 14^th Dear Colleague Letter. OCR will continue to vigorously enforce Title VI to protect all students and hold violators accountable,” said Julie Hartman, press secretary for legal affairs at the department.

Many schools took preemptive measures to close DEI offices to get off the Trump administration’s radar as the federal government pulled billions of dollars from others. 

The schools that have fought back in court on federal funding cuts, such as Harvard and the University of California system, have often won and avoided some of the deals the Trump administration has implemented at other institutions that restricted DEI on campuses.  

“The impact over the past year has been significant. Federal actions created confusion and uncertainty, and many schools and colleges felt pressure to pause programs, close offices or rethink student supports out of fear of investigations or funding losses. Even when legal challenges were successful, the chilling effect was real, particularly for educators committed to building inclusive learning environments,” said Paulette Granberry Russell, CEO and president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. 

Campus Reform’s Anti-DEI Legislation Tracker found that as of September 2025, 22 states have passed anti-DEI legislation.

“There was, in fact, a red state, blue state divide between 2021 and 2024 when state legislation was sort of taking a one state at a time approach … it fell predictably along sort of red state, blue state lines. But the game changer really was, last January, when Trump returned to the White House,” Harper said.  

“It sort of blew that state-by-state map out of the water, and it made every state in the country vulnerable to the threat of losing their federal funding. So, in other words, it was where a state-by-state strategy became suddenly or instantly national,” he added.