Federal agencies begin removing DEI guidance from websites in Trump crackdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agencies have begun removing resources for underrepresented Americans from their webpages following President Donald Trump's executive order cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Agencies also have been cancelling staff trainings and shuttering diversity offices to comply with the order from Trump, who has called for all DEI staff to be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off.
Documents on DEI have been removed from websites at agencies including the Office of Personnel Management, State Department and Department of Homeland Security. Web addresses that once led to DEI pages now display “Page Not Found — 404” messages or notes above archived material explaining the change.
At some agencies, the drive to remove diversity mentions was creating widespread questions and confusion. Lacking clear guidance, Defense Department staff members were pulling websites down in often inconsistent ways.
The Army, as an example, temporarily removed its sexual assault guidelines — raising questions about what message that might be sending, considering that Trump’s defense nominee Pete Hegseth has been involved in sex assault allegations, which he denies. The guidelines were back up late Thursday.
Some of the materials that vanished aimed to help agencies recruit diverse workforces and foster a sense of belonging for employees and students in schools across America. Critics say the rollbacks could result in dramatic shifts in hiring and a return to discriminatory practices of the past.
Among the sites taken down was a page dedicated to the Inaugural Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity created during the Biden administration. Dorothy Brown, a Georgetown law professor who served on the committee, said the order has far-reaching implications for workforce diversity.
“Conservatives would say it is wrong to target someone based on their race – but that is exactly what Trump is doing,” she said.
The State Department on Wednesday dismantled its Office of Diversity and Inclusion and removed the link to it from its website. The office had been created by former Secretary of State Antony Blinken with fanfare shortly after he took office and had produced reports identifying strategies for attracting minorities and women into the department’s workforce.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a cable this week to all U.S. embassies and consulates abroad barring them from flying anything other than the American flag or flags to honor prisoners of war or the wrongfully detained. The directive effectively banned the display of LGBTQ+ pride or Black Lives Matter flags, which had been permitted under the Biden administration.
On Thursday night, the Education Department announced it had removed or archived hundreds of guidance documents, reports and training materials. The department said it cancelled contracts totaling more than $2.6 million for staff DEI training.
The pages that were taken down include “Resources for LGBTQI+ Students,” an overview of civil rights laws related to “Race, Color, or National Origin Discrimination,” and guidance titled “Avoid the Discriminatory Use of Artificial Intelligence.”
An Education Department statement said the deleted pages “encouraged schools and institutions of higher education to promote or endorse harmful ideological programs.”
Trump has called DEI programs “discrimination” and insisted on restoring strictly “merit-based” hiring.
Conservative groups have praised the rollback. Parents Defending Education, an organization that has filed lawsuits challenging diversity initiatives at schools, applauded Trump for taking steps "to root out these programs permanently.”
Attacks on DEI often target pipeline programs, which do not change the standards of hiring but simply encourage recruiters to look at different hiring pools, said Antonio Ingram, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense fund. The disparities based on race and gender seen today are a result of the historical exclusion of women and people of color from opportunities, he said, and are not an arbitrary outcome.
The elimination of programs to ensure a diverse government workforce could be felt for years, he said.
“There will be generations who don’t even know what they missed out on because there has been such an erasure and such a revision and such a redirection of federal resources,” he said. “I guess the real tragedy is that there were tools that could have been used to create more belonging, more justice.”
At schools, advocates say the crackdown will mean a loss of resources that foster success for students who historically were deprived of adequate learning opportunities, including tools that help teachers address achievement gaps.
The now-dissolved Education Department bodies include the Diversity & Inclusion Council, established under President Barack Obama, and the Employee Engagement Diversity Equity Inclusion Accessibility Council, which had been housed under its Office for Civil Rights.
The department's Equity Action Plan has also been withdrawn. According to a snapshot of the plan's former webpage, the initiative intended in part to improve college access, affordability and completion for underserved students.
Also Friday, the department's Office for Civil Rights announced it dismissed 11 complaints alleging book bans had created a hostile environment for kids. The department said the complaints over restrictions on titles about race or LGBTQ+ issues were meritless. The office also rescinded all guidance that framed book bans as a violation of civil rights laws.
___
Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein, Lolita C. Baldor, and Matthew Lee in Washington; Sharon Lurye in New Orleans; and Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
