In a Feb. 15 “Dear Colleague” letter, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) directed preschool, elementary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies across the country to comply with existing civil rights law and the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA). The decision deemed racial preferences in college admissions to be unlawful.
The letter stated the DOE would begin assessing compliance as early as Feb. 28, saying, “...institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding.”
The Office of Equity at Western Washington University released a statement on Feb. 20 responding to the letter affirming they “...are actively reviewing [federal] guidance in collaboration with peer institutions and the state Attorney General’s Office to understand any broader implications for WWU policies and practices.”
In their statement, the Office of Equity also restated their commitment to ensuring every student and employee at Western can succeed and thrive. As of March 9, a follow-up statement has yet to be released.
Craig Trainor, Acting Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights in the DOE and author of the letter, asserted the SFFA decision applies more broadly to all aspects of student, academic and campus life and directly cited diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as one way which educational institutions have attempted to justify discriminatory practices.
“DEI programs… frequently preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not,” Trainor wrote. “Such programs stigmatize students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes.”
Kate Destler is a professor of political science at Western and director of the Ralph Munro Institute for Civic Education. “Dear Colleague” letters communicate a federal agency’s interpretation of the law, Destler said.
“They are using this letter as a nudge, as a push, to try to get educational institutions to get on board without investigations, because investigations are resource intensive, they’re undefinitive,” Destler said. “It’s a lot easier… if you can get institutions to obey in anticipation of an investigation.”
In a frequently asked questions document issued on March 1, the DOE clarified parts of the original “Dear Colleague” letter while discarding their initial ultimatum for institutional compliance following widespread confusion and backlash.
Amy Salinas Westmoreland is the Director of Multicultural Student Services in the Division of Student Affairs at Western. Despite the constant shifting of the sands, her team is taking perspective of their responsibilities and understanding what is and isn’t in their control, Westmoreland said.
“I will not say that we’re going to continue business as usual because that’s not true,” Westmoreland said. “We will continue to work in the capacity that we have, knowing that this is really tough on everyone on my team and… our community.”
Students are persevering despite the challenges they are coming up against, Westmoreland said.
“There is a heaviness happening right now, but I will say, in the face of that heaviness, I see our students coming together in a way that is really powerful… There is a way that our community continues to show up in the face of erasure, in the face of hostility,” Westmoreland said.
Destler thinks the DOE will only succeed in their efforts if institutions comply.
Aspiring autocrats seek to accumulate power through the rule of law and through acquiescence with their authority, absent the need for force — what we call anticipatory obedience, Destler said.
Westmoreland agrees that resistance to preemptive compliance is key and urges students to get engaged in spaces on campus where they can voice their concerns about threats to policies and programs that benefit them.
“Just because there’s chaos around us doesn’t mean that things disappear and doesn’t mean that we stop doing the things that we need to be doing,” Westmoreland said.
Josh Hernandez (he/they) is a campus news reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a third-year journalism news/ed major. Outside of journalism, his other interests include literature, geography, and music history. You can reach him at joshhernandez.thefront@gmail.com.
