New Report Warns Trump Admin’s Anti-DEI Policies Threaten Progress in Diversifying the Teaching Profession
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Jacinda Nembhard | Jacinda.nembhard@gse.rutgers.edu | 848-932-0774
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., September 10, 2025 –The Samuel Dewitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice (Proctor Institute) has released a new report, titled “We’ve Been Here Before…Or Have We? A Call to Action for Supporting Teachers of Color in the Face of Attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” The publication examines the impact of proposed anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) legislation and funding cuts under the current Trump Administration on national efforts to diversify the teaching profession.
In the past eight months, the federal government has attempted to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education while threatening to withhold over six billion dollars of previously allocated funding, which could have a devastating impact on afterschool and school lunch programs, school libraries, English language instruction, and the teaching profession itself. “Attacks on diversity and educational equity are embedded in our country’s history, and the corresponding lack of teachers of color closely reflects this history,” said Alice Ginsberg, Associate Director for Research and Grant Development at The Samuel Dewitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice. “At the same time, new tactics are being used to stymie educational equity and diversity in the field, which requires a call to action.”
These tactics are trying to eliminate programs designed to create equitable, culturally relevant, and safe environments for students and teachers:
In February 2025, the federal government revoked over $600 million in “grants to institutions and nonprofits that were using tax funds to train teachers and education agencies on divisive ideologies.” These included professional development workshops focused on “Centering Equity in the Classroom,” materials that “provided targeted practices in culturally relevant and responsive teaching,” and programs “acknowledging and responding to systemic forms of oppression and inequity, including racism, ableism, ‘gender-based’ discrimination, homophobia, and ageism” (US Department of Education, February 17, 2025).
Throughout the report, you will hear from thirteen educational leaders from various sectors, including faculty members and researchers from a diverse set of institutions of higher education, funders, policymakers, educational association leaders, and non-profit leaders. Their work reflects a varied but aligned commitment to racial equity in education and teacher education. Collectively, they offer insight into the potential impact of the Trump Administration’s attack on DEI, offer suggestions to combat discriminatory practices in teacher education, and share how we can continue to make change even in light of our current times.
The report offers suggestions for potential policies, campaigns, and resources designed to address these unruly tactics and influence change.
You can read the full report here.
Alice Ginsberg, Associate Director for Research and Grant Development at The Samuel Dewitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice.
Alice Ginsberg has over thirty years of experience in educational programming, teaching, and research, specializing in issues of teacher education, higher education, urban education, minority serving institutions, social justice pedagogies, and educational philanthropy. In addition to teaching at The University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University, Alice is the author or editor of eight books including, Gender in Urban Education (Heinemann, 2004), Gender and Educational Philanthropy (Palgrave, 2007, with Marybeth Gasman), The Evolution of American Women's Studies (Palgrave, 2008), Embracing Risk in Urban Education (Rowman and Littlefield, 2012), Transgressing Teacher Education (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022), and For the Love of Teaching: How Minority Serving Institutions are Diversifying and Transforming the Profession (Teachers College Press, with Marybeth Gasman and Andres Castro Samayoa, 2023).
About the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice
The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice (Proctor Institute) is a national center that focuses on issues of leadership, equity, and justice within the context of higher education. It brings together researchers, practitioners, and community members to work toward the common goals of diversifying leadership, enhancing equity, and fostering justice for all. The Proctor Institute is located at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, in the Graduate School of Education and, houses the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI). For more information about the Proctor Institute, please visit https://proctor.gse.rutgers.edu/.
