The infamous 887-page policy manual linked to Donald Trump and JD Vance aims to take Ron DeSantis’ war against liberal arts education nationwide.
Diversity Equity and Inclusion
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a conceptual framework held by many organizations. It promotes the fair treatment and full participation of all individuals. DEI is increasingly under attack.
From the Frontlines of the MAGA War on Higher Education: The Ms. Q&A With New College of Florida Professor Amy Reid
“New College is a flashpoint for what’s going on. We’re a cautionary tale.” —Amy Reid
With Project 2025 promising to do to higher education across the country what DeSantis has done to New College of Florida, Ms. sat down with New College professor Amy Reid to discuss how the college has changed since the takeover, and how faculty are fighting back. Reid joined the faculty at New College as a French professor in 1995 and helped develop the gender studies program at the college. After the takeover, her peers elected her chair of the faculty, making her a member of the board of trustees.
South Asian Representation Will Not Liberate Us. South Asian Solidarity Will.
The United States has entered into a cyclone of “historic firsts” for Indian Americans—from the GOP presidential bids of businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, to the whirlwind Democratic nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris.
But these moments of mainstream attention offer a unique opportunity for the American public, and specifically South Asian Americans, to move past celebrating identity politics and to invest in liberation politics.
Vice President Kamala Harris Is Anything But a DEI Hire
Vice President Kamala Harris—the presumed Democratic presidential candidate and a storied politician—is on track to break all kinds of records for women of color. And yet as soon as she ascended to the top of the ticket, without fail, the conservative right began hurling racist, misogynist insults and tropes at her.
Harris’ experience of being questioned and labeled a “DEI hire” is one shared by many marginalized groups in society, where their identity eclipses their qualifications and leads to systematic racist and sexist practices that negatively impact their life and career trajectories. Contrary to the conservative narrative, DEI has unquestionably improved the lives of Americans.
Project 2025’s Holier-Than-Thou Plans for Your Health
Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership is the radical vision for America’s future under the next Republican president. If you’re like me, you’re curious about where the $22 million to produce its 900-pages of planning and policy came from. The project claims it’s the product of over 100 organizations, headed by The Heritage Foundation, a tax-exempt nonprofit. It has a long and influential history with deep monied roots.
I focused on the health-related parts of Project 2025’s chapter on Health and Human Services—our nation’s department for medical and family concerns—as its authors rail against the Center for Disease Control, abortion access and abortion pills, childcare, fertility treatments, what makes a proper family, and more. It’s dystopian, to say the least.
Gen Z’s Fight to Secure the ERA in the Constitution
Women are still fighting for the ERA and constitutional gender equality. It’s astonishing that in 2024, women are not legally considered equal to their male counterparts.
For Gen Z, a generation that prides itself on embracing diversity, inclusion and equality, this discrimination cannot stand. We are in a unique position to support gender equality, demanding that it becomes a constitutional right.
The 22 Scariest Lines We Found in Project 2025’s 900-Page ‘Mandate for Leadership’
Project 2025, the extremist blueprint for the next Republican president, maps out the permanent reversal of more than 50 years of gains for American women and LGBTQ+ people. The authors of Project 2025—80 percent of whom served in the first Trump administration—paint a picture of a nation where women are fundamentally second class citizens.
Project 2025 contains an 887-page policy agenda. We read the whole thing, so you don’t have to. Here are the most terrifying things we found.
Amid Attacks on DEI, Black Alumni Must Take a Stand to Protect Black Students
As administrative and legislative decisions take steps to erode the scope and funding of diversity offices, Black alumni must take a more vocal and firm stance to support, affirm and protect current and future undergraduates in an anti-DEI landscape.
Separate Is Never Equal: Authors Margaret Beale Spencer and Nancy E. Dowd on Ensuring Equality for America’s Children
When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine that allowed public schools to segregate students by race in 1954, it opened the possibility of radical change. But 70 years later, the promise of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education has yet to be realized.
Psychologist Margaret Beale Spencer and attorney Nancy E. Dowd, authors of Radical Brown: Keeping the Promise to America’s Children, interrogate why progress has been slow and uneven.
Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: U.S. House Dissolves Office of Diversity and Inclusion; More Black Women in Office Is the Real ‘American Dream’
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: as of March 25, the government’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) office has closed, as part of a $1.2 trillion government spending bill; nearly 30 percent of LGBTQ women candidates were discouraged from running for office due to their gender or gender identity; how the ERA would empower Congress to address gender-based violence; the Fair Representation Act can make Congress work; and more.