The College Fix

Executive order targets university endowments, taxpayer funding

In one of his first acts as president, Donald Trump appointed a critic of higher education affirmative action and racial segregation to lead the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Peter Kirsanow, a lawyer and long-time commissioner at the agency, now will chair it, according to a Monday announcement from the White House.

“Kirsanow frequently testifies before and advises members of the U.S. Congress on various civil rights and labor-related issues,” according to his bio on the commission website.

In recent years, he has issued sharp rebukes of university programs that appear to exclude or segregate people on the basis of race.

For example, in 2022, a small Christian university in Indiana canceled a series of racial “listening sessions” after Kirsanow said the events violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, The College Fix reported at the time.

Kirsanow also defended the actions of former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who served during Trump’s first term, in the face of accusations by Democrats.

Along with Kirsanow’s appointment, Trump also signed an executive order Tuesday focused on upholding civil rights by “ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity” across America.

The Republican president’s directive relates to a variety of institutions in the public and private sector. Two points within the order specifically apply to colleges and universities.

One section asks the Attorney General to identify “potential civil compliance investigations” at “institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars.”

The purpose is to “deter DEI programs or principles (whether specifically denominated ‘DEI’ or otherwise)” that may constitute “illegal discrimination.”

Another section orders the Attorney General and Secretary of Education to create civil rights compliance guidelines for schools, both public and private, that receive taxpayer funding. The goal is to ensure compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court civil rights ruling Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

The executive order asks for both reports within the next three months.

“Illegal DEI … policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system,” Trump states in the order.

Further, “Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex,” the president states.

MORE: Professors balk at Trump executive order revoking birthright citizenship

IMAGE: C-SPAN

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