In a memo Friday, the Education Department gave an ultimatum to stop using “racial preferences” as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other areas. Schools are being given 14 days to end any practice that treats students or workers differently because of their race.
The sweeping demand could upend education in myriad ways. The memo targets college admissions offices, ordering an end to personal essays or writing prompts that can be used to predict an applicant’s race. It forbids dorms or graduation events for students of certain races. Efforts to recruit teachers from underrepresented groups could be seen as discrimination.
It’s meant to correct what the memo described as rampant discrimination in education, often against white and Asian students.
I’ve been told by admin at a few different institutions that DEI helps bring more white students into the institution.
They could put limits on international students (which also means limiting money coming into the school and into the country), but going purely based on merit means that Asian students would be pushing out white Americans.