On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives across the federal government. Northwestern faculty and students are worried about what the executive order means for classrooms and beyond.
Although Northwestern is a private institution, it receives federal funding in grants and contracts and uses federally-owned resources as class materials. As such, it may be directly impacted by the executive order.
It remains to be seen how NU will be affected, and a University spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. However, Sociology Prof. Rebecca Ewert said the ramifications of the executive order have already entered the classroom at NU.
“We use a CDC vulnerability mapping tool in class, and the day I was supposed to use it in class, it disappeared,” Ewert, who teaches the Sociology of Disaster course, said. “That’s decades of research and data that’s now not available to scholars and researchers, students and emergency managers who are trying to determine how to help in disasters.”
Ewert’s recorded talk from the 2024 California Fire Science Consortium, which focused on economic inequalities between white people based on fire insurance data, also was deleted from the Internet without notice on Tuesday.
Trump’s executive order also includes a list of words that will be excluded from federal grant funding. Ewert said that she considers some of these words, namely “woman” and “vulnerability,” to be “descriptive, not political.”
Ewert said the executive order could bring about other consequences, such as diversity in admissions, the school’s research and the school’s departments.
Political Science Prof. Alvin B. Tillery suggested that the order is motivated by “white nationalism,” pointing to Black History Month being canceled as proof that it’s not really about DEI training programs.
“Attacks on DEI are made to impact the consciousness of white people,” Tillery said. “(Trump) wants to overturn the equal protection clause, which has broader implications on society.”
Weinberg junior and NU College Democrats President Adam Durr said the changes that have come from the executive order have made a fundamental impact.
Durr pointed out that Michigan State University canceled a Lunar New Year celebration due to fear of not following Trump’s executive order. Michigan State first admitted to canceling the event due to pressure related to the order, but they have since apologized. Durr said acts like these do not help America’s inclusivity.
“Getting rid of these policies is not curbing government waste. It is making America less welcoming,” Durr said. “I am incredibly concerned about the direction our country is going, but there are good people out there across the country who are pushing back and not giving up.”
NU hasn’t announced any policy changes related to DEI, although The Feinberg School of Medicine scrubbed the webpage for its Office of Diversity & Inclusion.
NU wrote about its commitment to DEI within the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion. Its objective is to “ensure each member of our community feels not just included, but truly integral to our institutional fabric,” according to the site.
Graduate sociology student Lyric Hathaway said that as the future consequences of Trump’s executive order looms, it’s unclear what NU is going to do.
“The bottom line is, Northwestern doesn’t want to get sued or anything, so there’s only so much that can happen,” Hathaway said.
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