The College Fix

Biden-Harris administration ties funding to hiring based on ‘gender,’ ‘race,’ ‘color,’ ‘sexual orientation’

A Department of Education regulation change tying billions of dollars in grant funding to diversity, equity, and inclusion is drawing strong opposition from a former department official and leading Republican lawmaker.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona recently included the DEI directive in a series of updates to the Education Department General Administrative Regulations, a collection of rules that the department uses for awarding federal grants. The changes went into effect Sept. 30.

Now, the department will tie funding decisions to the applicant’s dedication to hiring “personnel who are members of groups that have historically encountered barriers” due to their “gender; race; ethnicity; color; national origin; disability; age; language; migration; … sexual orientation” and other factors.

The department has an “interest in awarding grants to a diverse and inclusive group of applicants,” it stated in the regulation update.

Angela Morabito, (pictured) a former press secretary for the department, opposes the changes.

She told The College Fix in a recent phone interview that merit should be at the forefront for federal grantmaking criteria because the institutions that have the strongest qualifications will also be “prepared to serve the students the best.”

“So when you’ve got the Biden-Harris Administration [and] Secretary Cardona infusing this DEI ideology into how billions of dollars every year get distributed, that’s a problem because it means they may not be picking the best grant applicants for a particular grant award,” Morabito said.

She recently published an article at the Independent Women’s Forum with more details about the changes. Morabito is a fellow at the forum and spokesperson for the Defense of Freedom Institute.

Previously, grant applicants were eligible to receive federal funding based on merit and other qualifications, according to her report. Now, schools, colleges, and other institutions will be more likely to receive federal funding if they hire employees and admit students who fall within specific demographic categories, according to the report.

Morabito said it is in Americans’ best interests for the grants to be awarded by state and local governments, and not solely controlled at the federal level.

“It would mean more funding gets to the people it’s supposed to be serving and less of it gets absorbed by a giant bureaucracy, and it means that the people who are closest to the work can make the decisions that will drive the best outcomes for the students,” Morabito told The Fix.

Republicans work on legislation to stop DEI regulations

U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens, (pictured) who serves on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, opposes the DEI ideology being pushed on higher education.

The Utah Republican expressed confidence in a recent statement to The College Fix via email that Congress will be able to override the change.

Using the Congressional Review Act will be the first step, he said. With the act, Congress can ask the Department of Education to send a full report of all of the changes that were made to the regulations, and, if lawmakers disapprove of the report, they can “enact a resolution of disapproval,” according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Owens said his Accreditation for College Excellence Act also is a solution because it “will eliminate the DEI agenda from the accreditation process, as well as advocating for Senate action.”

“I suspect that universities entrenched in the pro-DEI movement will continue to discriminate against professors and students who dissent, while those resisting the DEI agenda will face escalating pressure to conform,” Owens told The Fix. “This policy only deepens the divisions on campus and distracts from the core mission of higher education: academic excellence.”

Republican leaders and Education Secretary Cardona have clashed over a number of education changes this year.

Owens said Cardona met with the House Education Committee earlier this year to discuss the “administration’s radical rewrite of Title IX which would permit men to compete in women’s sports and access private spaces.”

The congressman said Cardona did not act “in good faith” during the meeting, and he doubts that the secretary will support colleges that oppose the new DEI criteria for federal grant applications.

“Secretary Miguel Cardona, much like President Biden and Vice President Harris, is taking cues from a far-left agenda that judges individuals by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character,” Owens said. “This has no place in America’s education system.”

A spokesperson from the department promised a response to The Fix’s request for comment last week about concerns about the recent changes to the grant regulations. However, after following up with the department, The Fix received an automatic email saying the press secretary was out of the office.

Scholars group calls for end to ‘destructive’ DEI ideology

Teresa Manning, policy director of the National Association of Scholars, said she also believes DEI ideology must be stopped, especially in regard to higher education and the government because it “creates a new tribalism of chaos.”

“Diversity ideology is a destructive ideology that pits Americans against each other based on race, sex, or ethnicity …” Manning told The Fix via phone interview. “[It] sounds happy and harmless but actually foments racial discord by … a form of neo-racism, making everyone see … other people and even subject matters through the lens of skin color.”

She said diversity ideology threatens the security of the United States because Democrats have used it as a politicized weapon to perpetuate discrimination and dissension.

The ideology also enables one group or race to become highly preferred and encourages the attacking of people labeled as “white privileged,” she told The Fix.

“But America historically was the land of equal opportunity,” Manning said. “The promise was that anyone with industry and intelligence and integrity could improve their station in life through hard work and talent, and that was the great equalizer. Equal opportunity for all individuals.”

Manning said the DEI movement has destroyed equal opportunity, especially within higher education.

“So this is a real regression and really a war on America,” she told The Fix.

She said several cases related to DEI policies have reached the U.S. Supreme Court because they tend to go against the 14th Amendment’s equal protection promise. Manning cited the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard case as a prime example in which the court ruled that using “racial preference” to admit college students violates the Constitution.

As for the solution, Manning said cases like these must be tried in court. She believes that Texas and Florida may be the first states to stand against the grant application changes because of their anti-DEI legislation.

MORE: Major higher education reform bill hits snag in Democrat-controlled Senate

IMAGE: Angela Morabito/Independent Women’s Forum, Burgess Owens/X

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