Michigan standing by DEI in schools despite Trump threat to pull US funding

• US Department of Education issues letter calling for the end of diversity, equity and inclusion programming
• The letter says schools could lose federal funds if they do not comply 
• Michigan officials are unclear how the memo will impact schools yet 

Michigan isn’t planning to abandon diversity, equity and inclusion programs in K-12 public schools just yet, despite a Trump administration order to get rid of them by the end of the month or risk losing federal funding. 

In a Friday memo shared by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, the US Department of Education told schools they must comply with the Trump administration’s interpretation of federal civil rights law and a Supreme Court ruling, including antidiscrimination requirements. 

Any educational institution that does not comply with the law may be subject to a loss of federal funding, according to the letter, which argues schools have “toxically indoctrinated students” with the idea that the US is based on “systemic and structural racism.” Further, schools have used DEI as a way to justify the discrimination, the letter states. 

The Department of Education “intends to take appropriate measures to assess compliance” with existing laws “beginning no later than 14 days” from Friday. 

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State Superintendent Michael Rice said the Michigan Department of Education "continues to support diversity in literature, comprehensive history instruction, and broad recruitment to Grow Your Own programs for students and support staff to become teachers." He said reviewing the letter “will take time.” 

“MDE disagrees that pre-K-12 programs that promote diversity representing all children, regardless of race, and inclusion of all children, regardless of race, inherently harm particular groups of children and are de facto violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Rice said in the statement.  

“The intention of these threats …  is to cause chaos,” said Pamela Pugh, a Democrat and president of the State Board of Education, in response to the letter.  “This is impacting individuals and businesses and people who offer services within the education system.”

“When we talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion, yes, we mean inclusivity. When we talk about our special education children, when we talk about differently-abled people in general, this will confuse and impact those populations as well,” she added. 

Nikki Snyder, a Republican state board member, told Bridge the values of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are important. But she takes issue when students are taught “superiority as a racial quality rather than a human quality.”

She said she is concerned that DEI has turned into a “political vehicle of propaganda," and said money could be better spent teaching students how to read.

Monitoring what individual teachers are saying in their classrooms comes with challenges. 

DEI by a different name?

“I do think that there will be educators that continue to do DEI work under a different name,” said Annie Whitlock, an associate professor of history and social studies at Grand Valley State University. 

There are already signs of this happening. The University of Michigan’s School of Nursing DEI page is now being called “Community Culture.” The school did not respond to a request for comment. 

Many of the largest school districts across the state already have DEI practices in place, according to a Bridge review of public documents and websites. But they vary. 

The Detroit Public Schools Community District “is looking into our practices and lessons to make sure they are anti-racist, include students' voices, and relate to their experiences, history, and lives”, according to the district’s website. 

Ann Arbor Public Schools has an “equity plan” that centers dignity, belonging and well-being. 

Grand Rapids Public Schools has a DEI commitment to “ensure all GRPS students are educated, productive, and self-directed members of society by ensuring access to an equitable education experience that celebrates and capitalizes on the diversity of our students, staff, and community, according to its website. 

Even before the latest federal letter, U-M and other Michigan universities were making changes to their diversity, equity and inclusion staffing. 

U-M announced in December it would no longer solicit “diversity statements” as part of faculty hiring, promotion and tenure.

Michigan Technological University announced earlier this month it had moved its Center for Diversity and Inclusion staff to the Waino Wahtera Center for Student Success.

“Compliance with federal policy is a condition of our federal contracts, and as such, we are required to implement changes to align with the law,” the school said in the announcement. 

At Michigan State University, officials cancelled a Lunar New Year event and later apologized saying it was an “overreaction” to an anti-diversity executive order by Trump.

‘Upset and overwhelmed’

While Ann Arbor Public Schools high school teacher Daniel Crowley said he thinks it would be hard to enforce this letter, he worries about a “type of chilling effect” on teachers, something Crowley said he believes is intentional.  

He teaches African American literature, ninth-grade English and journalism.  

“It's effectively saying that naming current racialized problems is itself not just racist but is illegal,” Crowley said. “And that’s really scary to me as someone who teaches African American lit, specifically.” 

Students are also afraid, Christina Yarn, a senior at Heritage High School in Saginaw Township, 90 minutes north of Ann Arbor, told Bridge.

“Kids are going to look at each other differently because if they erase this history from our history books, it’s going to change the whole world,” said Yarn.

Yarn said this will not only impact African-American students but students who identify as LGBTQ+ in her school. 

Students in the Culture Club and LGBTQ+ club are “upset and overwhelmed,” because they don’t know what will happen to their club, Yarn added. 

“We're starting from square one. We're going all the way back.” 

Past efforts

Earlier efforts to limit how schools teach about race have failed in Michigan. 

In 2022, then State-Rep. Andrew Beeler, R-Port Huron, proposed a bill that would have forbidden race and gender stereotyping in curriculum. Schools would be barred from teaching several ideas including that “individuals bear collective guilt for historical wrongs committed by their race or gender.”

State Sen. Lana Theis, R-Brighton, sponsored a bill that would have penalized school districts who teach critical race theory or the New York Times’ 1619 Project. 

The state education budget for the 2023-2024 school year included $6 million for districts to “develop and implement plans for professional learning concerning the teaching of the fullness of American history, including, but not limited to, the teaching of the history of communities of color and other marginalized communities, the teaching of local history, and the teaching of cultural competency.” The funds were also to be used to purchase learning materials for instruction.