WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Department of Government Efficiency axed 70 diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training grants at the Department of Education totaling $373 million. This comes as DEI remains under fire from DOGE and DoE. One such grant reportedly trained teachers to engage in “self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism.”
On Friday, the acting assistant secretary issued a letter reminding educational institutions that any discrimination based on race, color, or national origin is illegal. The letter warned that institutions failing to comply with federal civil rights law “face potential loss of federal funding.”
Critics were quick to respond.
“What does this mean? Are they going to take away funding from historically Black colleges?” said Democratic political strategist Maria Cardona to CNN. “Are they going to take away funding from public schools that have a Latino student union? To me, it just highlights the fanatical obsession this administration has in going against DEI.”
Meanwhile, the Education Department has opened investigations into whether five Northern Virginia school districts are violating federal law by allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity.
As the investigation unfolds, Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner acknowledged during an interview with Politico that the party needs introspection.
“I think the Democrat brand is really bad and I think this was an election based on culture and the Democrats kind of failure to connect on a cultural basis,” Warner said. “I think the majority of the party realizes that the ideological purity of some of the groups is a recipe for disaster and that the candidly the attack on over-the-top wokeism was a valid attack.”
A recently published Gallup poll found that 45% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents want their party to become more moderate.