While diversity, equity and inclusion may on the surface seem focused on certain groups DEI programs benefit people from all walks of life – including white people.
President Donald Trump and other conservatives have increasingly attacked such initiatives as discriminatory based on the presumption that they benefit only students of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Most recently, Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20, 2025, directing federal agencies, including the Department of Education, to eliminate support for DEI positions and projects. The order labels them “illegal and immoral discrimination” and “radical and wasteful.”
The impact of this sweeping order has been seismic across the U.S. government, private sector and in education in particular as universities have begun eliminating or rebranding their DEI programs and the Department of Education has removed any initiative and even any document or material that referenced diversity, equity or inclusion.
As professors of education who have studied DEI programs in higher education, we believe these attacks represent a misconception about which groups DEI higher education programs actually support. The reality is, DEI policies help a wide range of people access and succeed in college regardless of their racial or ethnic background.
Breaking down DEI funding by race
It’s a challenge to determine the exact percentages of federal DEI funding allocated to groups of students broken down by race and ethnicity. There is limited publicly available data.
Broadly speaking, a large majority of people within most racial and ethnic groups receive some kind of federal funding – some of which is connected to DEI programs. That includes 81% of Black students, 74% of American Indian/Alaska Native students, 72% of Hispanic or Latino students, 70% of white students, and 66% of Asian students, according to a 2023 report from the National Center for Education Statistics based on data during the 2019-20 academic year.
The center’s data does not indicate whether those grants were explicitly designated for DEI initiatives. For example, Pell Grants are need-based, but not explicitly DEI.
That said, DEI initiatives encompass a broad range of programs that support various underrepresented groups, including first-generation college students and students with disabilities. They also benefit women and veterans. Each of these groups invariably includes many white students.
Read the full article on The Conversation.
