By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Education said on Wednesday it was starting a probe into Stanford University over practices aimed at increasing diversity that the Trump administration has called discriminatory.
Stanford University said the cohort-based program, which was the subject of the complaint cited by the Education Department, “is not accepting new teachers and is being sunsetted.”
President Donald Trump has cracked down on diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the government and in the private sector since taking office early last year.
Stanford’s National Board Resource Center has a program that helps future teachers who “identify as a person of color” receive National Board Certifications, the Education Department said in a statement.
“The California Teachers Association, a partner in the effort, boasts that the program at Stanford ‘work[s] to increase diversity among National Board Certified Teachers,’ citing that the ‘Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) Cohort’ provides ‘selected educators [with] full funding for all certification support services offered by Stanford NBRC,'” the statement added.
The California university said it was meeting obligations required under civil rights laws and “maintaining an environment free of prohibited discrimination.” It added that NBRC “is open to any primary or secondary teacher, regardless of their race, who is pursuing the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification.”
Civil rights advocates say DEI practices help address historic inequities for marginalized groups like women, the LGBT community and ethnic minorities. Trump casts DEI as anti-merit and as discriminatory against groups like white people and men.
Trump has signed many executive orders aimed at dismantling DEI in the government and in the private sector.
His administration has also threatened to freeze funding for universities over issues like DEI practices, climate initiatives, transgender policies and pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Rights advocates have raised concerns about free speech, due process and academic freedom. Trump’s attempted crackdown against universities has faced judicial roadblocks.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Christian Martinez in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
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