DEI and Race

Do No Harm, a U.S.-based medical watchdog group that opposes DEI in health care, has issued a report attacking a prominent economics study on provider diversity in military medical facilities that has been cited to justify race-conscious hiring and admissions policies. The original paper by Michael Frakes and Jonathan Gruber found that Black patients had better outcomes at military hospitals with higher shares of Black physicians, and its authors explicitly suggested the findings could inform court and policy debates over affirmative action in medicine. Do No Harm argues the study never directly tests whether Black patients treated by Black doctors fare better than those treated by non‑Black doctors, instead using facility‑level physician demographics, and says some of the published results actually show the best outcomes when Black patients see non‑Black doctors at facilities that merely employ more Black physicians. The watchdog contends that the study leans on 'speculative' explanations and fails to rule out non‑racial confounders, calling it 'scientifically unsound' and warning that advocacy groups will deploy it in litigation to try to preserve racial preferences in medical hiring and education. The dispute highlights how a single high‑profile research paper is becoming a battlefield in the larger fight over whether federal agencies, courts and medical institutions will accept race‑based DEI rationales in the post‑affirmative‑action landscape.

MLK Day was marked by protests and efforts to "reclaim" the holiday as activists and community leaders warned the fraught U.S. political climate could enable civil‑rights rollbacks under the Trump era. Tensions were amplified by sharp rhetoric from public figures, including a former DHS official who called Gov. Tim Walz's comparison of immigrant children to Anne Frank "disgusting" and inflammatory.

Yale will waive tuition and, for U.S. families earning up to $100,000, eliminate all costs including room and board, and will provide enough aid to fully cover tuition for families earning up to $200,000 beginning in the 2026–27 academic year. The university — which enrolls about 6,800 undergraduates (roughly 1,000 already attend tuition‑free and just over half receive need‑based aid) — raised its free‑tuition cutoff from $75,000 and joins peers like Harvard, MIT, Penn and Emory amid national concerns over college affordability (median U.S. household income ~$105,800, average net annual four‑year college cost ~$30,000 after aid, and nearly 43 million federal student‑loan borrowers).

Columbia University’s Board of Trustees has named Jennifer L. Mnookin, currently chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, as its next president, with her term to begin July 1, 2026, after what the school calls an extensive national search. Mnookin is a prominent evidence and legal‑scholarship expert who previously served as dean of UCLA School of Law and taught at the University of Virginia and Harvard, and she has recently drawn attention for scaling back a stand‑alone DEI division at UW–Madison while arguing universities had over‑emphasized "identity diversity" at the expense of "viewpoint diversity." The Fox report highlights that she has donated modestly to Democratic candidates and publicly supported Black Lives Matter in 2020, positions that will be parsed in Washington as Columbia faces federal scrutiny over campus antisemitism, DEI programs and funding. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican who had criticized Mnookin in the past, issued a statement thanking her and praising her moves on free speech and closing the DEI division, a rare cross‑party note that may signal how her record will be framed in national fights over campus culture. Her selection positions Columbia to be led by someone who has tried to reposition DEI bureaucracies while defending academic freedom—choices that will be closely watched by lawmakers, donors and students amid an aggressive Trump‑era campaign against university governance, speech codes and diversity structures.

National Park Service crews removed interpretive panels about the nine people enslaved at the President’s House site in Independence National Historical Park—leaving bolt holes and “panel shadows,” sparking emotional public reaction—and the City of Philadelphia has sued Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting NPS Director Jessica Bowron, arguing the city shares design authority and that slavery is central to the site’s story. Interior says the removals comply with President Trump’s executive order to eliminate “divisive” content and called the lawsuit frivolous, while critics and preservation groups say the action is part of a broader administration effort to reshape museum and park narratives, from Smithsonian exhibit changes to other removals.

Federal civil-rights officials concluded that Connetquot Central School District’s change from the “Thunderbirds” mascot to “T‑Birds” violated Title VI and offered a resolution agreement requiring the district to restore the “Thunderbirds” name, with Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey saying “equal treatment under the law is non‑negotiable.” The district says it is reviewing the OCR report but has not committed to the terms; OCR separately found New York’s statewide ban on Native American mascots violates federal civil‑rights law, a determination tied to broader litigation by groups such as NAGA (including the Massapequa “Chiefs” case) and prompting federal officials to threaten withholding funds unless bans are reversed.

Vice President J.D. Vance announced at the Jan. 23 March for Life rally that the administration has expanded the Mexico City policy to bar U.S. funding not only to groups that discuss or provide abortions but also to any foreign or international organizations that “promote gender ideology” or diversity, equity and inclusion — a change that explicitly reaches large cross‑border bodies such as U.N. agencies. Administration officials say the revision extends the policy’s reach from roughly $8 billion in global‑health funds to more than $30 billion in U.S. foreign assistance overall, drawing warnings from groups like the Council for Global Equality that it will chill services for marginalized people (including transgender people) and echoing prior impacts when MSI Reproductive Choices lost $15 million and curtailed programs that left an estimated 2.6 million women without reproductive care.

Dallas County, Texas has formally exonerated Tommy Lee Walker, a Black man executed in 1956 at age 21 for the rape and murder of a White woman, after the district attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit concluded he was innocent. DA John Creuzot asked county commissioners to pass a resolution acknowledging that Walker’s confession was coerced after hours of interrogation without a lawyer, he was convicted by an all‑White jury, and no evidence beyond that recanted confession linked him to the 1953 killing of Venice Lorraine Parker. The review found police questioned hundreds of Black men based solely on race, relied on a single officer’s claim that the mortally wounded victim had identified a Black attacker despite other witnesses saying she could not speak, and allowed the original prosecutor to testify as a "witness" vouching for Walker’s guilt. Walker maintained his innocence through sentencing and was executed in the electric chair; his son, now 72, pressed the Innocence Project and DA’s office to revisit the case and told commissioners the exoneration "means the world" to him and his late mother. The case adds to a growing body of evidence about wrongful convictions and racially biased capital prosecutions in the Jim Crow and early civil‑rights era, ammunition for current debates over the death penalty and the need for independent review of older convictions.

Workers for the National Park Service on Thursday removed interpretive panels about enslaved people from the President’s House site at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, in what preservation advocates say is the first visible enforcement of President Trump’s 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History' executive order at that location. The outdoor exhibit, created in 2010 after years of research and activism, had highlighted the nine people enslaved by George and Martha Washington at the 6th and Market Street residence, widely cited as the only federal historic site that explicitly memorialized slavery in that way. The September order singled out Independence National Historical Park and the Smithsonian and directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to ensure federal memorials avoid 'divisive narratives' or content that 'disparage Americans past or living' by July 4, 2026, when the park will be central to the nation’s 250th‑anniversary events. Preservation Alliance director Paul Steinke called Thursday’s removal 'a terrible day for American history' and said the signs were 'ripped down' and presumably put into storage, while Rep. Brendan Boyle condemned the move as an attempt to hide the realities of slavery and promised political pushback. As of Thursday evening, the park’s website still described the President’s House exhibit as examining 'the paradox between slavery and freedom' and presenting stories from the perspectives of enslaved individuals, underscoring a gap between the online description and what visitors now see on site.

President Donald Trump has filed a civil lawsuit seeking up to $5 billion from JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon, alleging the bank improperly cut him and his businesses off from financial services after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot because of what he calls its 'woke beliefs' and his conservative views. The complaint claims JPMorgan placed Trump and his companies on an internal 'blacklist' used to flag people with a history of misconduct, though it cites no evidence for the alleged list. JPMorgan told Axios the suit has 'no merit,' says it does not close accounts for political or religious reasons, and argues it shuts accounts only when they pose legal or regulatory risk, while also noting it has asked both the current and prior administrations to change the rules that put banks in this position. The case caps years of deteriorating relations between Trump and Dimon, from the bank’s 2021 decision to halt donations to Republicans who contested the 2020 results to Dimon’s 2022 remark that Trump’s election denial was 'treason' and his recent warnings against undermining Federal Reserve independence as Trump pushes an unprecedented criminal probe of Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The lawsuit also follows Trump’s August executive order threatening to punish banks that allegedly discriminate against conservatives, underscoring how he is using both policy and personal litigation to pressure the financial sector.

The Trump Education Department has moved to dismiss its appeal of an August 2025 federal court ruling that struck down its anti‑DEI guidance threatening to cut off federal funding to schools and colleges that maintained a wide range of diversity, equity and inclusion practices. In a filing Wednesday, the department ended its challenge to U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher’s decision, which found that a February 2025 'Dear Colleague' letter and a follow‑on K–12 certification demand chilled educators’ First Amendment rights and violated federal procedural rules. The guidance had warned that race could not be considered in admissions, hiring, scholarships or 'all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life,' and suggested that efforts to increase diversity were discriminating against white and Asian American students, while tying compliance to continued federal money. The American Federation of Teachers and allied groups sued, arguing the campaign would gut long‑standing diversity programs and punish teachers’ classroom speech; Democracy Forward, which litigated the case, is calling the dropped appeal a major reprieve for public education. The move leaves Gallagher’s ruling intact nationwide, signaling at least a temporary retreat in the administration’s attempts to use funding threats to stamp out DEI across K–12 and higher education even as broader fights over race, curriculum and campus policy continue.

President Trump’s assertion that civil‑rights laws have “very badly” harmed White people has coincided with a shift at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division toward challenging state affirmative‑action and DEI policies, including a June inquiry into Rhode Island’s long‑standing hiring plan and a lawsuit against Minnesota’s statutory affirmative‑action civil‑service requirements. DOJ officials say there are “dozens of active investigations” into alleged illegal discrimination tied to DEI, while former Civil Rights Division attorney Jen Swedish calls the division politicized and NAACP President Derrick Johnson rejects the administration’s “reverse‑discrimination” narrative as false and misleading.

The 1776 Project Foundation, an offshoot of the 1776 Project PAC, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District challenging a decades‑old policy that gives schools with predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian or other non‑white enrollment smaller class sizes and other benefits as a remedy for segregation. Filed Tuesday, the suit argues the policy violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause by allegedly denying white students equal access to advantages such as 25‑to‑1 student‑teacher ratios, extra points in magnet‑school admissions and more frequent parent‑teacher conferences. The complaint says more than 600 LAUSD schools qualify for the race‑based designation while fewer than 100 do not, and includes a parent‑plaintiff whose children attend a non‑designated school and who alleges they were denied magnet admission because of the policy. LAUSD declined to discuss specifics of the pending litigation but said it remains committed to giving all students meaningful access to services and enrichment. The case lands as Trump administration officials push to dismantle remaining Civil Rights‑era school desegregation orders, while civil‑rights advocates argue those orders—and policies like LAUSD’s—are still necessary to address entrenched racial disparities and ongoing segregation.

The Native American Guardian’s Association (NAGA), which supports keeping Native‑themed school names and imagery, says it is preparing to take its lawsuit over New York’s 2023 public‑school mascot ban to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal district judge dismissed the case for lack of standing on Nov. 14. NAGA’s suit targets a New York Board of Regents rule that bars Native American names and imagery in school branding, and argues the ban violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause by singling out Native references while allowing other ethnic or cultural team names such as Vikings, Patriots and Yankees. Counsel Chap Petersen and NAGA President Clayton Anderson, a member of the Hidatsa Tribe, contend the rule is a race‑based classification that should be subject to strict scrutiny and say their broader aim is to invalidate similar 'name ban' laws nationwide, including those that led to the University of North Dakota dropping its 'Fighting Sioux' name. The organization plans to first appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, framing that step as part of a deliberate path toward a Supreme Court test of whether states can prohibit Native‑related sports names and imagery. The fight comes amid wider national disputes over school mascots and Native representation, where tribes, alumni and civil‑rights advocates are divided between seeing such imagery as harmful stereotypes or as forms of recognition and honor.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has issued a formal legal opinion declaring that Florida statutes requiring race‑based state action — including racial preferences, race‑based classifications or quotas — are 'presumptively unconstitutional' under the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and Article I, section 2 of the Florida Constitution. In the opinion, released Monday as the state marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Uthmeier writes that 'racial discrimination is wrong' and that enforcing such provisions would itself violate equal‑protection guarantees, so his office 'will not defend or enforce any of these discriminatory provisions.' While the Fox report does not list specific statutes, Florida’s code contains various race‑conscious provisions in areas like contracting and programs historically justified as remedial. Uthmeier, a former chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis whom DeSantis appointed as attorney general last year, is effectively announcing an enforcement posture that invites challenges to any remaining affirmative‑action‑style state laws after the Supreme Court’s 2023 college‑admissions ruling. The move places Florida’s top legal office squarely in the camp arguing that virtually all explicit racial classifications by government are unconstitutional, and signals to agencies, universities and contractors that the state will not back them if they rely on such provisions.

America First Legal has filed a 165-page civil-rights complaint with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division accusing Washington University in St. Louis of violating Title VI and a 2025 Trump executive order by embedding race- and sex-based DEI preferences across admissions, hiring, student services, contracting and research while receiving more than $3.1 billion in federal funding since 2021. The complaint cites programs that prioritize 'underrepresented' racial groups, a Bias Report and Support System that accepts anonymous bias reports, and alleged DEI-linked grading practices at the Olin Business School, and urges DOJ to investigate, force dismantling of DEI structures, and audit or condition federal funds.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state Division on Civil Rights have filed a civil-rights lawsuit against the township of Clark, former longtime Mayor Sal Bonaccorso, suspended Police Chief Pedro Matos and current Police Director Patrick Grady, alleging they directed officers to target and keep Black and other non‑white motorists out of the community. The complaint cites an analysis of 2015–2020 traffic data showing Black drivers were stopped 3.7 times more often than white drivers and Hispanic drivers 2.2 times more often, and describes this as part of "systematic" discrimination and harassment carried out at Bonaccorso’s behest. Bonaccorso, who resigned in January 2025 after pleading guilty in a corruption case involving his landscaping business, had previously been recorded on secret tapes using racial slurs, a scandal the town settled in 2020 with a $400,000 payout to the whistleblower officer. Clark’s current mayor, Angel Albanese, and Matos’s attorney are denouncing the suit as political and frivolous, pointing to timing as Platkin’s term winds down, while the attorney general’s office notes some racial disparities narrowed after the Union County Prosecutor took control of the department in 2020. The case positions the state against a suburban New York–area town in a high‑stakes test of how far civil-rights enforcers can go in policing alleged racial profiling by local governments and police brass.

DNC Chair Ken Martin defended a social post likening the U.S. under former President Trump to Iran’s theocratic regime — framing "Tehran to Minneapolis" as shared systems that "wield violence without accountability" and tying protests over the Renee Good shooting to protests against Iran’s clerical regime — and said he would wear Sen. Lindsey Graham’s condemnation "as a badge of honor." Republican allies blasted the remarks, with an RNC spokesperson calling Martin "unhinged," Graham calling him a "worthless piece of crap," and RNC press secretary Kiersten Pels accusing him of encouraging obstruction, while a DNC source and an anonymous committee member said party officials largely supported the "general gist" of his comments.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has opened a formal civil‑rights investigation into the city of Minneapolis, alleging that its housing policies unlawfully prioritize resources based on race and national origin in violation of the Fair Housing Act and Title VI. In a Thursday letter to Mayor Jacob Frey, HUD Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor cited language in the city’s "Minneapolis 2040" comprehensive plan and its Strategic and Racial Equity Action Plan, including directives that the Community Planning and Economic Development department prioritize rental housing for Black, Indigenous, people of color and immigrant communities. HUD Secretary Scott Turner told Fox News the probe is tied to what he calls Minnesota’s "cynical game of racial and ethnic politics" and is being launched against the backdrop of a separate, sprawling fraud scandal in state‑administered social‑services programs. If HUD ultimately finds violations, Minneapolis could face requirements to change its housing plans or risk its federal funding, a warning shot for other jurisdictions that have built race‑conscious equity goals into housing and planning documents. The investigation puts federal muscle behind a long‑brewing legal fight over how far cities can go in explicitly race‑targeted housing policies while still taking HUD dollars.

Johnathan Perkins, former director of race and equity at the public University of California, Los Angeles, says UCLA has fired him over Bluesky posts in which he wrote he was "always glad when bigots die" and that Charlie Kirk "reaped what he sowed" after the conservative activist’s September 2025 assassination at Utah Valley University. Perkins, who was placed on leave in mid‑September as UCLA condemned any "celebration" of violence, now claims in fresh posts that his termination violates his First Amendment rights and is using a GoFundMe to raise money for living expenses and a planned lawsuit against the school. The Fox report reproduces several of his now‑deleted comments about Kirk, along with his later insistence to the UCLA Daily Bruin that he did not "celebrate" the killing but stands by not being sad about it. A UCLA spokesperson told Fox the university does not comment on personnel matters but noted employees who receive a notice of intent to terminate can respond before any final action, signaling that internal proceedings are still formally underway. The case intensifies national fights over whether and when public‑university DEI officials’ political speech about controversial figures—particularly applauding their deaths—remains protected, especially in the charged climate following Kirk’s assassination and other high‑profile firings for social‑media comments.

Cea Weaver, appointed Jan. 1 by Mayor Mamdani to lead the revived Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, is facing renewed scrutiny after a September 2021 "Bad Faith" podcast in which she said "White, middle-class homeowners are a huge problem" for the renter-justice movement and argued homeownership should be "undermined" to provide stability in other ways. She also deleted a 2019 X post calling private property—especially homeownership—"a weapon of White supremacy," and has since told Spectrum News NY1 she regrets "some" of her past rhetoric while saying she will focus on addressing racial inequalities and ensuring safe, affordable housing; former Mayor Eric Adams publicly condemned her language.