\n<\/p>\n
In agreeing to follow sweeping guidance from the Department of Justice earlier this week, the University of Virginia committed to eliminating all DEI programming and adhering to the Trump administration\u2019s broad interpretation of the Supreme Court\u2019s 2023 decision banning race-conscious admissions policies.<\/p>\n
The nine-page DOJ memo, released in July, also bans the participation of transgender athletes in sports and the use of \u201costensibly neutral proxies\u201d for race, like geographic location. It came just three months after a federal court struck down a similar directive from the Department of Education and was viewed by many policy experts as even more wide-reaching and restrictive. The guidance hasn\u2019t yet faced a legal challenge.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Pam Bondi originally wrote in the memo that the provisions outlined were a list of \u201cnon-binding suggestions\u201d designed to \u201cminimize the risk of [legal] violations.\u201d But now, at least for UVA, it has become obligatory \u201cso long as that guidance remains in force and to the extent consistent with relevant judicial decisions.\u201d Failure to comply could risk the university\u2019s federal funding.<\/p>\n
Under the agreement, the DOJ says it will temporarily pause all pending civil rights investigations, but if at any point Trump officials determine the flagship institution is making \u201cinsufficient progress toward compliance,\u201d the DOJ reserves the right to resume investigation, pursue enforcement actions or terminate federal funding. In the meantime, UVA will be required to provide \u201crelevant information and data\u201d to the agency on a quarterly basis through 2028.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if [UVA] feels confident that they can comply, then this could be a good outcome for the school. The investigations are closed and they don\u2019t admit liability,\u201d said Scott Goldschmidt, a partner and civil rights specialist at the law firm Thompson Coburn LLP. \u201cBut if there is any issue, or the government sees otherwise, then all bets are off, and they could be in a worse position than when they signed the agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Goldschmidt\u2019s view, it\u2019s all a part of the DOJ\u2019s effort to encourage colleges to accept \u201ctheir interpretation of law\u201d without facing a legal challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was nonbinding,\u201d he said of the guidance, \u201cwhich is, again, why it\u2019s so interesting that UVA seemed to pre-emptively comply with this over the summer and now has turned it into mandatory guidance by this agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starting in April, the DOJ used a series of letters to accuse UVA officials of actively attempting to \u201cdefy and evade federal anti-discrimination laws.\u201d By early June, experts say, the assistant attorney general pressured former UVA president James Ryan to resign. Still, in the wake of the Justice Department\u2019s pressure campaign, the institution\u2019s interim president, Paul Mahoney, rejected the Trump administration\u2019s even more sweeping \u201cCompact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education\u201d last week.<\/p>\n
UVA is just the latest institution to cut a deal with the Trump administration, though unlike those previous agreements, the public university won\u2019t have to pay anything. This is also the first agreement to be made that deals primarily with the Justice Department\u2019s guidance and diversity, equity and inclusion rather than alleged mishandling of antisemitism on campus. <\/p>\n
As other colleges and universities face related investigations, this deal could become a new framework for the administration and how it negotiates to bring higher education to heel.<\/p>\n
So, here\u2019s a look at three key aspects of the agreement. <\/p>\n
The July directive set four core standards for the universities and provided a broad but nonexhaustive list of examples for each.<\/p>\n
First, the DOJ requires the university to eliminate any practices in admissions, hiring or programming that Trump deems \u201cpreferential treatment\u201d based on race, sex, religion or \u201cother protected characteristics.\u201d This could include identity-based scholarships, affinity groups or support programs; hiring or promotion practices that prioritize one specific group over another; or designating certain spaces on campus for students of a particular identity.<\/p>\n
Then, officials added in the memo that the use of purportedly neutral characteristics, like geographic location and cultural competency, are also prohibited as they can be used as \u201csubstitutes\u201d for protected characteristics and are therefore \u201cunlawful proxies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The department cited essay prompts that suggest applicants write about \u201covercoming obstacles\u201d as an example, despite the fact that the Supreme Court explicitly said in its ruling on affirmative action that college applicants could still write about their experiences with racism, sexism or religious discrimination so long as universities did not use them to re-establish \u201cthe regime we hold unlawful today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The memo also lists segregation and training that officials say promotes discrimination as violations of civil rights law, citing as examples race-based training sessions like \u201cBlack caucuses\u201d and \u201cwhite ally meetings\u201d and measures for selecting contracts that prioritize female-owned businesses.<\/p>\n
But what UVA is required to do under the guidance could change depending on court decisions.<\/p>\n
In the text of the agreement and various materials distributed by UVA, university officials appear to intentionally reinforce that these restrictions on admissions, hiring and extracurricular programing will not impede the university\u2019s right to academic freedom. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. does not aim to dictate the content of academic speech or curricula, and no provision of this agreement, individually or taken together, shall be construed as giving the United States the authority to dictate the content of academic speech or curricula,\u201d the sixth point of the agreement reads.<\/p>\n
Mahoney\u2019s statement to the UVA committee, as well as a frequently asked questions page on the UVA website, emphasized similar points, saying that no \u201cexternal monitor\u201d would be involved and that UVA will address any compliance concerns raised by the DOJ independently.<\/p>\n
\u201cImportantly, [the agreement] preserves the academic freedom of our faculty, students, and staff,\u201d Mahoney wrote. \u201cWe will also redouble our commitment to\u00a0\u2026 free expression, and the unyielding pursuit of \u2018truth, wherever it may lead,\u2019 as Thomas Jefferson put it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This differs from the more recent Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, which would require an institution to restrict employees from expressing political views on behalf of the institution and shut down departments that \u201cpunish, belittle\u201d or \u201cspark violence against conservative ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second line of the agreement makes it clear that the document is not \u201can admission, in whole or in part\u201d and that UVA \u201cexpressly denies liability with respect to the subject matter of the investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, as long as UVA complies with the DOJ memo, the investigations will be closed and the university will no longer be at risk of having to pay a multimillion-dollar settlement fee or losing federal financial aid. But Goldschmidt from Thompson Coburn emphasized that such a scenario is \u201ca big if.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the DOJ at any point finds that UVA did not comply, then everything gets reopened, and all the potential issues, penalties, etc. that could come from a federal civil rights investigation would fall back down on the institution,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
And given that the DOJ\u2019s memo is \u201cthe most aggressive document that we\u2019ve seen reinterpreting Title\u00a0VI civil rights laws,\u201d Goldschmidt said, the risk is even greater. So while UVA has already made its decision, he suggested that other universities think it through before they do the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchools would really want to think hard and deep about whether there is any wiggle room,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause the consequences of violating the DOJ\u2019s memo are so strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article was updated to reflect a clause in UVA’s agreement that the university is bound by the guidance so long as it remains and consistent with relevant judicial decisions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In agreeing to follow sweeping guidance from the Department of Justice earlier this week, the University of Virginia committed to eliminating all DEI programming and adhering to the Trump administration\u2019s broad interpretation of the Supreme Court\u2019s 2023 decision banning race-conscious admissions policies. The nine-page DOJ memo, released in July, also bans the participation of transgender<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[3520,781,1345],"class_list":{"0":"post-30594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-agree","9":"tag-university","10":"tag-virginia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}