Department of Education clarifies school DEI guidelines, saying Black History Month doesn't violate order

The Department of Education clarified that observances specified arsenic Black History Month are not successful usurpation of an bid informing authorities acquisition departments that they indispensable region diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies oregon hazard losing national funding. 

The guidance came aft the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights sent a missive to the departments of acquisition successful each 50 states successful mid-February notifying them of a Feb. 28 deadline to comply with the order. 

"Title VI prohibits recipients of national backing from discriminating connected the ground of race, color, oregon nationalist origin," the guidance reads, adding "Schools whitethorn not run policies oregon programs nether immoderate sanction that dainty students otherwise based connected race, prosecute successful radical stereotyping, oregon make hostile environments for students of peculiar races. 

"For example, schools with programs focused connected interests successful peculiar cultures, heritages, and areas of the satellite would not successful and of themselves interruption Title VI, assuming they are unfastened to each students careless of race," the guidance continued. "Nor would educational, cultural, oregon humanities observances – specified arsenic Black History Month, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, oregon akin events – that observe oregon admit humanities events and contributions, and beforehand awareness, truthful agelong arsenic they bash not prosecute successful radical exclusion oregon discrimination." 

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY ‘SUNSETS’ OFFICES AMID ONGOING REVIEW OF DEI WORK 

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Eric Scott Turner, center, speaks adjacent to President Donald Trump, left, and Tiger Woods during a reception honoring Black History Month successful the East Room of the White House connected Feb. 20. (Reuters/Kent Nishimura)

"Whether a argumentation oregon programme violates Title VI does not beryllium connected the usage of circumstantial terminology specified arsenic ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ oregon ‘inclusion,’" the guidance, dated Feb. 28, besides said. 

The letter successful February from Craig Trainor, the acting adjunct caput for civilian rights successful the Department of Education, said, "Educational institutions person toxically indoctrinated students with the mendacious premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and precocious discriminatory policies and practices."

"Proponents of these discriminatory practices person attempted to further warrant them—particularly during the past 4 years—under the banner of "diversity, equity, and inclusion" ("DEI"), smuggling radical stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into mundane training, programming, and discipline," helium wrote. 

DOGE INITIAL FINDINGS ON DEFENSE DEPARTMENT DEI SPENDING COULD SAVE $80 MILLION, AGENCY SAYS 

The U.S. Department of Education office gathering successful Washington, D.C. (J. David Ake/Getty Images)

"All acquisition institutions are advised to: (1) guarantee that their policies and actions comply with existing civilian rights law; (2) cease each efforts to circumvent prohibitions connected the usage of contention by relying connected proxies oregon different indirect means to execute specified ends; and (3) cease each reliance connected third-party contractors, clearinghouses, oregon aggregators that are being utilized by institutions successful an effort to circumvent prohibited uses of race," Trainor concluded. "Institutions that neglect to comply with national civilian rights instrumentality may, accordant with applicable law, look imaginable nonaccomplishment of national funding." 

The missive comes aft President Donald Trump signed enforcement orders directing agencies to supply a program to destruct national backing for "illegal and discriminatory attraction and indoctrination successful K-12 schools, including based connected sex ideology and discriminatory equity ideology." He besides signed orders to extremity DEI programs successful national agencies. 

An American emblem and a U.S. Department of Education emblem alert extracurricular the U.S. Department of Education gathering successful Washington, D.C., connected Feb. 1. (Reuters/Annabelle Gordon)

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The Department of Education antecedently announced the removal of notation of DEI from documents and websites. The section besides placed employees who led DEI initiatives connected permission and dissolved its Diversity & Inclusion Council. 

Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.