The Trump administration wants to eradicate DEI in higher education. These Black scholars still plan to thrive.

The Trump administration has already disrupted Darius McGregor s academic journey The -year-old graduate of Denver s East High School interned earlier this year at a laboratory on the University of Colorado s Anschutz Healthcare Campus where he and his peers evaluated whether bio-fortified maize could help hungry Guatemalan children The potentially life-saving research was funded by the U S Agency for International Growth the federal agency that humanitarian aid programs relied on to finance their work The Trump administration dismantled USAID this spring putting millions of lives at vulnerability worldwide according to a review published in the biological journal The Lancet McGregor s project lost funding He nearly lost his internship position too but the university determined an alternative source to pay for it As McGregor prepares to attend Brown University this fall with aspirations of becoming a practitioner he announced he s bracing for more federal interference with his training I m concerned with what my college experience may look like especially with funding cuts like I ve already seen firsthand he declared It s discouraging for people of color but we will not stop Three Black students who received scholarships from the Sachs Foundation a Colorado-based nonprofit supporting Black communities described The Denver Post about their experiences entering college as the Trump administration works to dismantle diversity equity and inclusion programs intended to give them equal footing to thrive in college Leaders of the foundation unlike companies scaling back DEI initiatives amid federal pressure say they re not deterred from continuing their mission McGregor announced he was alarmed to see the president of the United States threatening to slash funding or investigate colleges and schools in an effort to eradicate the sorts of DEI programs that helped him and other students of color find parity with their white peers so that they had the same opportunities to succeed It has motivated me to prove myself and serve as an example McGregor revealed Even when you take DEI away we will still figure out a way to excel Not backing down The Trump administration took aim at DEI in schools and colleges shortly after the inauguration in January threatening to withhold federal funding from institutions unless they eliminated initiatives supporting diversity equity and inclusion Directives from the U S Department of Instruction in February explained any programs that treat students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity racial balancing social justice or equity were illegal under Supreme Court precedent In April a federal judge blocked the regime from enforcing these directives after a lawsuit brought by the National Coaching Association and the American Civil Liberties Union accused the Trump administration of providing unconstitutionally vague guidance and violating teachers First Amendment rights Regardless Colorado universities acknowledged changing their diversity initiatives to avoid losing federal funding The University of Colorado s Colorado Springs campus was among more than universities under federal assessment for alleged racial discrimination under Trump s directives Meanwhile researchers have determined that the disparities in the number of Black and Latino students admitted to elite colleges and universities have widened over the last years according to a University of California Berkeley analysis circulated in The investigation located that despite more students from all races going to college Black and Latino students were increasingly less likely to attend top-tier four-year colleges The disparity remained essential even when factoring in family income and parents development the evaluation detected Between and college enrollment for Black students in the United States declined from million students to million according to the Postsecondary National Strategy Institute This suggests that the underlying issue of racial inequality in college attendance goes beyond socioeconomic measures such as family income and parents instruction and is intrinsically linked to race itself the review concluded It points to a systemic issue within the fabric of American schooling and society It s these systemic obstructions that fuel Ben Ralston CEO of the Sachs Foundation to continue his work The -year-old organization that provides encouragement to Black Coloradoans was founded at a time when the Ku Klux Klan ruled Denver Ralston mentioned and its leaders do not plan on backing down There s a lot of trepidation right now Sachs announced We required to make sure that everyone in our population of scholars recognized that none of the work we do is going to change any time soon When we look at what s happening at the federal level in reference to DEI there is no political moment that changes our mission There has been a historic structure put in place to exclude Black Americans and Black Coloradans from opportunities that have never been rectified We re not going to change that mission Sarah Mohamed Ali poses for a portrait near her home in Denver on Thursday July She will attend Bowdoin College in Maine this fall Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Sarah Mohamed Ali s academic journey in Denver has been dotted with scholarly achievements alongside adversity Mohamed Ali a graduate of DSST Cedar High School served as an intern at Denver Healthcare and worked as a dietary aid at an assisted living facility The daughter of Sudanese immigrants disclosed she was also bullied out of wearing her hijab to school in middle school She was selected to attend New York University s Simons Science Exploration Scheme and the Yale Young Global Scholars summer plan After enduring pandemic learning and the COVID- lockdown Mohamed Ali desired to reconnect with her authentic self and started wearing her hijab to school again The -year-old was accepted to Bowdoin College in Maine to evaluation medical care but her higher coaching pursuits have been executed under the cloud of a federal administration targeting DEI I worked really hard throughout school and hearing about everything that was going on months into applying for college was very scary and shocking she reported But I think in spite of everything that might be going on politically there are still organizations you know you can rely on You can still pursue your dreams Earned my spot The Sachs Foundation chose Black scholars in Colorado this year to receive more than million in scholarships The foundation s undergraduate and graduate scholarships are awarded based on academic achievement financial need and character Ralston reported The organization also provides learner mentorship youth college and career enhancement and educator-focused initiatives In a moment where a large number of institutions are retreating from their commitments to equity we re proud to stay firm in ours Ralston stated The work we do is not just about scholarships it s about ensuring access opportunity and belonging for Black students who are too often excluded For -year-old Naima Criss the Sachs Foundation offered public This spring the scholars met up at Colorado College to be celebrated Renowned author and activist Ta-Nehisi Coates shared his story with students Criss a graduate of Denver s Regis Jesuit High School basked in the Black elation of it all There s this thing where if you re really smart and Black people are surprised Criss disclosed I can just be a very chill person and what I like is we re all amazing and we re all also just people hanging out and living their best lives It s great to be in a space where you re celebrated but not the exception Criss resume is lengthy already In addition to being a Sachs scholar she was named a Gates Scholarship winner a prestigious award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Through Girls Inc of Metro Denver s Leadership Out Loud activity Criss flew to the nation s capital and lobbied Congress for more comprehensive sex guidance in schools She s also served on the Mayor s Youth Commission The first-generation college pupil worried whether federal funding cuts might impact her time at Johns Hopkins University where she plans to analysis chemical engineering I am still concerned about it but what I ve learned is you just have to take it one day at a time Criss commented Just because something is scary you can t stop fighting for it or counting yourself out before you ve given yourself the opportunity to try I came here to do what I m going to do and I earned my spot to be there Darius McGregor poses for a portrait in front of East High School in Denver on Thursday July Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post Related Articles U S Air Force Academy Army libraries ordered to review books for DEI material Colorado s K- development department won t comply with Trump s DEI order CU Colorado Springs among universities under federal analysis as part of Trump s anti-DEI campaign CSU complies with Trump s anti-DEI directives and sees protests as other Colorado schools weigh responses Colorado universities brace for plunge in international students due to fears sparked by Trump policies Like his peers Criss and Mohamed Ali McGregor knows what it is like to be one of the insufficient He was among a handful of Black students in his Fort Collins schools growing up and was pleasantly surprised to move to Denver and find more diversity in his classrooms McGregor wants to bring that diversity to hospitals that need physicians with varied backgrounds to better serve their patients Directives harming programs that help students of color only do a disservice to the industries left lacking employees who can serve the diverse populations around them McGregor commented I ve never had a physician of color myself he reported I want to break that barrier We ll take it one day at a time Get more Colorado news by signing up 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