State Department proposes cutting off 38 universities over DEI hiring practices
The Trump administration is preparing a sweeping overhaul of a major State Department research initiative, proposing to cut off universities that use DEI hiring practices and replace them with institutions that use merit-based standards.
The Trump administration is moving to suspend 38 universities from the State Department’s Diplomacy Lab for enforcing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring policies, according to documents acquired by The Guardian.
Some of the institutions reportedly being targeted include Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Duke.
A Nov. 17 memo proposes removing schools that require or promote DEI in hiring or admissions. The suspensions, set to begin Jan. 1, 2026, would reshape the federal academic network, replacing elite institutions with DEI-free alternatives like Liberty University, Brigham Young University, and several other schools.
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Diplomacy Lab, launched in 2013, allows college researchers department access to work on foreign policy projects. The updated criteria would only allow partnerships with schools using strictly merit-based hiring, according to a color-coded spreadsheet categorizing 75 universities.
The shift follows a broader Trump-led crackdown on DEI in higher education. In recent months, the administration ordered all federally funded schools to abandon DEI initiatives or risk losing grants and accreditation.
The policy is already reshaping the landscape: Columbia University ended race- and sex-based hiring in a $200 million settlement, and many other institutions are shuttering DEI offices or attempting to negotiate with the Trump administration.
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The new criteria for participation in federal programs would allow only schools with merit-based hiring and no evidence of DEI, according to a classification system used internally. Letters of suspension are reportedly being prepared.
While some elite universities have begun rolling back DEI to maintain access to funding, many remain noncompliant. The Diplomacy Lab overhaul is expected to be just the first of several federal education partnerships restructured under a new merit-first mandate.
