Monday, January 27, 2025
Trump Targets 131 Colleges (74 With Law Schools) With Endowments Over $1 Billion For Possible DEI Investigations
Chronicle of Higher Education, Trump Singled Out These 130 Colleges as Possible Targets for Investigation. Is Yours on the List?:
In a sweeping executive order aimed at dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, President Donald J. Trump directed each federal agency to “identify up to nine potential civil rights compliance investigations” of various organizations, including higher-education institutions with endowments over $1 billion.
Trump’s directive was included in a section about ending diversity programs and hiring practices in the private sector. However, the order doesn’t specify that only private colleges would be scrutinized as part of these investigations. ...
Per the DEI order, federal investigations of higher-education institutions and other organizations will be part of a “strategic enforcement plan” developed by each agency to go after diversity efforts. Those plans will also include identifying “the most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners in each sector of concern” as well as potential lawsuits and regulatory actions, the order states.
[There are] 131 undergraduate campuses with endowments over $1 billion, as of 2023, that could be targeted under Trump’s order.
Here are the 74 with law schools:
Colleges and Universities With Law Schools | Endowment |
Harvard University | 50.7 billion |
Yale University | 40.7 |
Stanford University | 36.5 |
University of Pennsylvania | 21.0 |
Texas A&M University at College Station | 18.1 |
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor | 17.6 |
University of Notre Dame | 17.0 |
Columbia University | 13.6 |
Duke University | 11.6 |
Washington University in St. Louis | 11.5 |
Emory University | 11.4 |
Northwestern University | 10.6 |
Vanderbilt University | 9.7 |
University of Virginia | 9.6 |
Cornell University | 9.6 |
University of Chicago | 8.6 |
University of Southern California | 7.6 |
Ohio State University | 7.4 |
New York University | 5.8 |
University of Texas at Austin | 5.7 |
University of Wisconsin at Madison | 5.5 |
University of Pittsburgh main campus | 5.4 |
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 5.2 |
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | 5.1 |
University of Washington | 4.9 |
Michigan State University | 4.6 |
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | 4.4 |
Boston College | 3.5 |
Georgetown University | 3.3 |
University of Iowa | 3.3 |
University of California at Los Angeles | 3.2 |
University of Richmond | 3.2 |
Boston University | 3.1 |
University of California at Berkeley | 3.0 |
Brigham Young University | 2.8 |
George Washington University | 2.5 |
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | 2.5 |
University of Kansas | 2.4 |
Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis | 2.3 |
University of Florida | 2.3 |
Liberty University | 2.3 |
Case Western Reserve University | 2.3 |
Tulane University | 2.1 |
Southern Methodist University | 2.0 |
Washington and Lee University | 2.0 |
Baylor University | 2.0 |
Wake Forest University | 1.9 |
University of Kentucky | 1.9 |
Syracuse University | 1.9 |
Indiana University at Bloomington | 1.9 |
University of Cincinnati | 1.8 |
University of Georgia | 1.8 |
Saint Louis University | 1.7 |
Northeastern University | 1.7 |
University of Oklahoma at Norman | 1.6 |
University of Utah | 1.6 |
Rutgers University at New Brunswick | 1.6 |
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville | 1.5 |
Santa Clara University | 1.5 |
Arizona State University | 1.5 |
University of Oregon | 1.5 |
University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa | 1.4 |
University of Miami | 1.4 |
College of William & Mary | 1.4 |
University of Missouri at Columbia | 1.4 |
University of Nebraska at Lincoln | 1.3 |
University of Arizona | 1.3 |
University of Tulsa | 1.3 |
Pepperdine University | 1.2 |
University of Houston | 1.2 |
Villanova University | 1.2 |
University of Tennessee at Knoxville | 1.1 |
University of Maryland at College Park | 1.0 |
University of Denver | 1.0 |
Inside Higher Ed, Trump Takes Aim at DEI in Higher Ed:
One of President Donald Trump’s latest executive orders aims to end “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion policies and could upend programs that support underrepresented groups on college campuses. ...
[T]he Education Department must pick up to nine colleges that have endowments worth more than $1 billion to investigate as part an effort “to deter DEI programs or principles.” Harvard University, other Ivy League institutions and more than two dozen other colleges would be on the list for a potential inquiry.
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