Since the dawn of his second presidency, President Donald Trump has signed over 100 executive orders, many of which impact students at Cornell. Just eight days into Trump’s administration, Interim President Kotlikoff issued a statement announcing a “planning team” devoted to navigating this deluge and answering community questions.
Among the most concerning actions is Executive Order 14173, which targets diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal bureaucracy. It further demands compliance from federal grant recipients, particularly universities, which received further threats in a Department of Education letter on Feb. 14. The order is already facing class-action lawsuits claiming it violates the Fourth and Fifth amendments and is unenforceable based on its overly broad terminology.
I argue that Cornell University and its community ought to stand its ground, rebrand none of its programs and fight the federal government on its right to revoke funding on such bases. To retain federal grant funding, some may argue that Cornell should change or cancel its own DEI programs. Professors and students may consider changing the language of their research to avoid federal combing. Their concerns are legitimate, but the university ought to guarantee to fight on their behalf.
The need to fight is greater now than ever after the Trump Administration issued Cornell over 75 stop-work orders on April 8, potentially impacting $1 billion. According to a statement from President Kotlikoff, the cuts regard national security and health projects. Cornell’s peers were also impacted, including Northeastern, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania. It is unclear if the freeze is related to the Department of Education’s spurious investigation into Cornell for violating civil rights. This has set up a natural alliance between these institutions.
If the Department of Education follows through on its threats to strip funding, Cornell should be ready to sue, defending both the integrity of its DEI programming and the legality of its federal grants. Fortunately, the university administration has already shown a willingness to act in this way. On Feb. 10, Cornell joined 11 other universities in suing the National Institutes of Health over its cutting of indirect cost allocations in their research grants.
It is with bated breath that the university’s staffers and researchers specializing in DEI await financial action by the Department of Education. In the meantime, Cornell ought to prepare for a potential legal battle. Through coalition-building, like the one against the NIH, Cornell can share resources with other associations and universities in their lawsuits.
A Feb. 21 statement from Interim President Kotlikoff suggests that Cornell will follow the law when it comes to DEI initiatives. That statement, entitled “Cornell’s guiding principles,” specifically describes “diversity as a driver of our excellence,” and states a commitment to nondiscrimination. Importantly, the administration used “our excellence,” acknowledging the positive osmosis effect that DEI initiatives have on the rest of the university. This provides the antithesis to the Trump Administration’s claim that DEI breaks the law. To Cornell, regardless of whether you call it DEI, we follow the law, and the law says we can be as inclusive as we want.
Cornell has a long battle ahead in defending DEI as a core institutional value as the Trump administration seeks to curtail DEI at academic institutions. That same Feb. 21 statement reiterates diversity as baked into the very foundation of the school. Not only does it redefine how the university sees inclusion, but it also references our core values. Assuming that it is referencing “a community of belonging,” this elevates the statement to a preemptive commitment to defend DEI.
Other universities are grappling with handling the threats from Trump’s Department of Education. Philadelphia local news reported on Feb. 25 that local lawmakers walked out of a meeting with the University of Pennsylvania over its erasure of DEI initiatives amid compliance with the department’s threats. In that meeting, University of Pennsylvania administrators reportedly called the Trump administration a “bully” that had turned DEI into a “lightning rod,” forcing DEI removal as a survival mechanism.
These are ironic words from a university founded by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin’s lightning rod protected people’s homes from lightning strikes — we ought to use DEI to protect our community with a ferocity the federal government is not prepared for.
Meanwhile, state governments are echoing these attacks. It was reported on Feb. 27 that the Texas state legislature proposed $400 million in cuts to higher education and is targeting DEI initiatives in state universities.
Cornell has the opportunity to stand up for itself, its community and all of America’s universities. As one of the first universities in the nation (and notably the first Ivy League) to admit Black Americans and women, it is in our DNA to defend our community tooth and nail. Doing so would not only be the moral choice but also make Cornell the flag-bearer of university resistance to a Trumpian bully.
Nothing would make me prouder to be a Cornellian than for my university to again adopt the challenge, and the anthem: Bring it on.
Paul Caruso is a first year MPA student in the Brooks School of Public Policy and the Founder of the Cornell Negotiation Student Society. His column, Caruso's Compass, focuses on politics, international affairs, and campus life. The column seeks to identify issues with the status quo and provide solutions to them. He can be reached at pcaruso@cornellsun.com.
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Paul Caruso is a first year MPA student in the Brooks School of Public Policy and the Founder of the Cornell Negotiation Student Society. His column, Caruso's Compass, focuses on politics, international affairs, and campus life. The column seeks to identify issues with the status quo and provide solutions to them. He can be reached at pcaruso@cornellsun.com.
