The administration’s research funding and DEI cuts present an existential threat to regional public universities like Southern Illinois University, the economic backbone of the conservative rural region it serves.

Earlier this month, the U of A removed references to DEI from its website. Now more than 1,500 students, faculty, and staff have signed a petition questioning the elimination of the DEI language.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an order lifting the nationwide injunction on President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting (DEI) programs.

A series of bills targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in state agencies, colleges and universities are circulating through the Legislature as Republican lawmakers look to align with President Donald Trump’s executive order ending DEI programs.

The Trump administration is facing a new legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s executive orders (EOs) to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives after a group of diversity officers, professors, and restaurant worker advocates filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Maryland on February 3, 2025, alleging the orders are vague and unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued memoranda on February 5, 2025, to implement the orders and guide federal agencies on their scope.

The AAUP, along with the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education and other plaintiffs has filed a lawsuit to block Trump’s unlawful and unconstitutional DEI executive orders,

As Donald Trump returns to the White House, a newly emboldened anti-DEI bloc has gained powerful allies.