Universities fear Trump is using lucrative research grants as leverage to dismantle their DEI programs ‘The point is to get these institutions to back down,’ said a former HHS general counsel

Universities fear Trump is using lucrative research grants as leverage to dismantle their DEI programs ‘The point is to get these institutions to back down,’ said a former HHS general counsel https://www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/trump-executive-orders-pressure-universities-to-end-dei-programs/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8JDw03oGKqji2SfdS7JHHKxF1blYpGEsywxqEoL8l9eAtDXdjriDsfjsiwfJfClPoTmm0yE65F5N880WDZwvJvK23Lrw&_hsmi=344824080&utm_content=344824080&utm_source=hs_email How universities and med schools are reacting to Trump’s EO on DEI Colleges, universities, and medical schools around the country are scrambling to understand exactly what Trump’s flurry of executive actions targeting diversity efforts could mean for their institutions. While orders he made in his first administration targeted education with terms like critical race theory, the plain language of these new orders is sending a chill through campuses. Federal research grants are the fiscal lifeblood of these academic institutions, a group of STAT reporters write. “If you’re a big institution, you don’t want to be in the crosshairs of the Trump administration threatening to take away your federal funds,” Samuel Bagenstos, a former general counsel for HHS, told STAT. Read more on how these institutions are — and aren’t — preparing for an apparent plan to leverage federal funding to pressure educational institutions.