A nonprofit organization’s investigation tracked down donations equal to over $300 million in funding to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at dozens of colleges and universities across the U.S., while also reporting that the DEI funds still exist after the federal government’s termination efforts and have been simply renamed.
“We have been able to track down over $336,271,100 in donations to fund institution DEI programs, scholarships, and offices,” a report on Defending Education’s investigation stated.
Defending Education is a nonprofit that works to “restore schools at all levels from activists imposing harmful agendas,” according to its website.
The millions of dollars are from 273 different DEI funds in 130 different colleges and universities across 44 states and the District of Columbia, according to Defending Education.
“American universities, especially in the wake of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, have established funds that focus on the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) inside the institutions,” Defending Education’s report said.
“The purpose of these funds range from the establishment of identity-based scholarships to funding DEI related programming on campuses,” according to the report.
Defending Education’s report states that often initiatives often are simply renamed.
“In some cases that are captured in this report, universities just rebranded the fund(s) or program,” the report said, giving an example of the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s “Office of Diversity and Inclusion Fund” being renamed to the “Community and Belonging Support Fund,” while retaining the same account number.
“While President Trump’s Executive Orders have incentivized universities to take down webpages and halt DEI related programmings, it does not mean that these institutions are necessarily ending these practices permanently,” the report said.
Trump and his administration have been working to end DEI through executive orders calling for the termination of the philosophy and a Dear Colleague letter stating race-based decisions in education are unlawful.
Defending Education Founder and President Nicole Neily told The Center Square in a statement: “it’s important to remember that this isn’t just a federal issue – states have a role to play in this battle as well.”
“From rescinding state laws mandating minority contracting through to DEI reporting requirements, much of the action and oversight needs to take place at lower levels of government,” Neily said.
Defending Education traced the schools’ DEI funding partly through campaign websites, but mostly through university announcements, webpages, and reports, according to the report. Years covered in the investigation fall mainly between 2021 and the present day.
The report cites examples of the University of Michigan raising over $98 million for DEI initiatives and funds and the University of Delaware raising $21 million “to expand its diversity, equity, and inclusion programming.”
Goldwater Institute Senior Constitutionalism Fellow Timothy K. Minella told The Center Square that “this investigation underscores the need for states to pass targeted legislation that ends DEI programs at public institutions for good, regardless of their funding source.”
“The essence of DEI – treating people differently on account of their race, sexual orientation, and other identity categories – violates the Constitution’s guarantee of the equal protection of the laws,” Minella said.
“Whether the money for these discriminatory programs comes from the state government or private donors, they are still wrong,” Minella said.
“Each state should be following the lead of Texas, Iowa, and many other state governments that have passed Goldwater’s reform to abolish DEI bureaucracies for good,” Minella told The Center Square.
