The nation’s largest educator union is challenging in court the U.S. Department of Education’s directive to cease diversity, equity and inclusion in colleges and K-12 schools, saying the Trump administration muddled policymaking procedure and violated educators’ free speech rights in the process.
The lawsuit is in response to a strict Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter that educators and education policy experts worried would severely curb student resources, curriculum and other programs related to race in colleges and K-12 schools. The letter set a Feb. 28 deadline for schools to comply — or risk losing federal funding.
While the department has since clarified its stance through a less aggressive Q&A document, the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union pushed forward with a lawsuit, which they filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.
“The Dear Colleague Letter is a brazen attempt to intimidate schools into abandoning lawful efforts to create inclusive learning environments,” said Anthony Romero, ACLU executive director, in a Wednesday statement. “This is a blatant attack on free speech and academic freedom, aiming to deprive students of a full and honest education.”
Becky Pringle, president of the NEA, said in a joint statement that the department’s directive is “harmful and vague.”
The lawsuit says the directive exposes educators “to professional and legal penalties by declaring that their protected expression violates federal law” and risks cuts to federal school funding that would be “devastating to almost any educational institution.”
As a result, it’s possible that schools will move to cut back on any expression that could be deemed a “DEI program,” per the suit.
Indeed, “soft censorship” — or educators and librarians self-censoring topics out of fear — is increasing, according to a report released last week by PEN America, a free speech organization.
And the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights under the current administration has said that it will factor into its investigations a school’s intent in setting current policies along with its history of DEI.
The NEA lawsuit follows a similar one filed by the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers union.
That organization is also pushing forward with its lawsuit despite the Education Department’s recent Q&A document, which AFT said only made the Dear Colleague letter “murkier.”
