Trump's DEI crackdown: What could it mean for Long Island colleges and universities?

Long Island colleges and universities have long promoted their diversity as a strength.

But now, in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive orders calling diversity initiatives “dangerous, demeaning and immoral” and promising investigations and funding cuts, the future of such programs is in question.

The orders have caused “chaos and confusion” on college campuses across the country, with some continuing to run diversity programs and others “completely scrapping” them, said Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors. The group is suing the Trump administration, claiming the orders are unconstitutional.

At Long Island colleges and universities, programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion — DEI for short — are still going strong, at least for now. Many officials surveyed said they are monitoring the situation while also affirming their commitment to promoting diversity among their students and faculty.

"Nothing has changed on our campus," said Donald “DJ” Mitchell Jr., vice president for mission integration and inclusion at Molloy University in Rockville Centre, echoing what officials at other institutions said in interviews. "We’re just keeping a close eye on D.C. and New York State to see what’s coming. We’re having conversations pretty much daily about what’s going on.”

Long Island impact

DEI programs can include efforts to attract a diverse student body, faculty and staff, provide extra support, protect against discrimination or help students connect with their heritage.

“I know it may sound corny, but we're one big family, and we treat everybody the same,” said Jerry Kornbluth, vice president of the Office of Community & Governmental Relations at Nassau Community College, whose population of nearly 18,000 students is 32% white, 31% Hispanic, 19% Black and 9% Asian, according to its website. “All we try to do here is to get folks in the mainstream, give them the skill level they need … so they can be successful.”

The public college is one of seven Long Island institutions eligible to receive federal funds due to their share of minority and low-income students. The school, along with Molloy University and Suffolk County Community College in Selden, have earned designations as Hispanic-Serving Institutions due to student populations that are at least 25% Hispanic and 50% low-income, according to information published by the federal Department of Education.

Adelphi University in Garden City, Long Island University in Brookville and New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury received a similar designation for schools where at least 10% of students are of Asian or Native American Pacific Islander descent and 50% are low-income, federal records show.

SUNY Old Westbury holds both designations, records show.

Such institutions receive federal funding for programs that serve students of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, not only minority students, said Marybeth Gasman, executive director of the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions in New Jersey.

Gasman is hopeful the funding will not be cut. “If you care about the nation … it would be really short sighted” to scale back those federal grants, she said. The institutions deemed “minority serving,” which include schools serving significant populations of Black, Native American and other students, educate roughly one-third of all the nation’s students, and more than half of minority students, she said.

Last fall, Nassau Community College won a $2.4 million “Hispanic-Serving Institution” grant. The funds pay for academic and other support for students of all backgrounds, Kornbluth said.

Kornbluth expressed confidence about the program’s future, saying he believes the White House wants to “see community college students thrive and … join the middle class.” The grant makes up a small portion of the college's roughly $185 million budget, he said.

The federal Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment.

Private Molloy University last year won a $3.5 million, five-year National Science Foundation grant to attract a more diverse population into the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields, said Mitchell, the vice president for mission integration and inclusion. Molloy is part of an alliance of seven Catholic institutions that are sharing the funds, he said.

The grant program, Mitchell said, “tries to diversify the STEM field to make sure that we're competitive and keep a global edge, so there is concern about programs like that not being around.”

Molloy also receives funding to assist low-income students, those who are the first in their families to attend college and those with disabilities, he said. "If we want our nation to thrive, we have to educate everybody," he said. 

A spokeswoman for the National Science Foundation, Michelle M. Negron, said the federal agency is conducting “a comprehensive review of our projects, programs and activities to be compliant with the existing executive orders.”

Debating DEI

Not everyone favors DEI programs.

Samuel Shpak, 21, a junior majoring in history at Stony Brook University, said he hopes the White House order will lead to the removal of such programs at colleges and universities.

DEI “sounds good on paper but it only causes harm in the long term,” said Shpak, who is secretary of the university's student Republican club.

Trump, in his executive order, said that DEI initiatives "undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive and pernicious identity-based spoils system. Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex."

“I’m happy we’re now going back to a merit-based system. Everyone should have an equal playing field,” Shpak said.

Others said they support DEI programs.

In a statement, Brian Harper, vice president for equity and inclusion at New York Institute of Technology, highlighted the university's diverse student body and said, "We are proud to celebrate this diversity, as well as recognize our responsibility to continue to work together to foster an environment where every student, faculty, and staff member is treated with respect and dignity and feels a sense of inclusion and belonging. We do not anticipate changes to these efforts."

Madelyn Saffer, 33, a psychology doctoral student at Hofstra University, said she believes the federal government should devote its attention to issues such as climate change, hunger and war, instead of making DEI programs what she called a “scapegoat.”

The White House crackdown on diversity programs could “further marginalize people who are already kind of marginalized by society,” she said.

And Melisa Sunny, 20, a junior in the physician assistant program and member of the South Asian students’ organization at Hofstra, said she believes “you can have a merit-based society while also maintaining diversity and giving different people opportunities.”

She said, “That’s one of the reasons I came to college, to be part of … a diverse community.”

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.