FAIRFIELD – Sacred Heart University became one of the first “victims” of President Donald Trump’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) executive order that pulls back federal funding from educational institutions that have DEI programs, an SHU representative said.
“Sacred Heart University learned late last week that a $3.38 million U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Partnership grant had been rescinded,” said Deb Noack, the college’s executive director of communications. “We are disappointed that this grant, which supported the future of Connecticut education, has been pulled.”
The U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) told schools and universities in all 50 states in a Feb. 14 letter from the DOE’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, Craig Trainor, to eliminate DEI programs or risk losing federal funding.
The letter gave institutions 14 days to comply.
The letter based its argument on the Supreme Court case where Harvard University was sued over its affirmative action policies. The court ruled that using racial preferences in college admissions is illegal.
All educational institutions are advised to: (1) ensure that their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law; (2) cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends; and (3) cease all reliance on third-party contractors, clearinghouses, or aggregators that are being used by institutions in an effort to circumvent prohibited uses of race.
“We are working with our state and national representatives to determine if there is any action we can take to reverse this decision,” Noack said. “We will continue exploring alternative solutions and advocating for the resources that our students and faculty—and the beneficiaries of our research and programs — deserve.”
Noack cited the importance of the grant to teachers in Connecticut.
“This grant (called Teachers@Heart) would have supported efforts to address the critical teacher shortage in high-need areas in the State of Connecticut,” she said. “The program also would help new teachers enter the profession prepared and supported — especially in shortage areas like special education and STEM, and it would develop experienced teacher-mentors to strengthen school communities and reduce turnover.”
SHU was the only university in the Northeast to receive the award.
In addition to revoking Executive Order 11246, which was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson 60 years ago, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs told schools and universities receiving DEI-related grants to “immediately cease promoting diversity, enforcing affirmative action requirements, and allowing or encouraging federal contractors or subcontractors from considering race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin in employment, procurement, or contracting practices,” according to a client memo from Reed Smith law firm of Pittsburgh.
Along these same lines, federal contractors and grant recipients must now certify that they do not operate “any programs promoting DEI” that violate federal anti-discrimination laws, the Reed Smith memo stated. Under the EO, this required certification of compliance with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws will be considered “material to the government’s payment decisions” under the False Claims Act (FCA), Reed Smith wrote. This creates significant exposure for contractors and grantees, including through whistleblower complaints.
