AAUP Joins Coalition Fighting Latest Trump Administration Anti-DEI Order

Groups representing nonprofit organizations, university professors, and federal contractors and subcontractors throughout the nation are challenging a new Trump executive order that seeks to undermine efforts designed to promote inclusion and help ensure equal opportunity. A lawsuit, filed today by the AAUP, the National Association of Diversity Officers of Higher Education; the United Academics of Maryland-University of Maryland, College Park; the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC); and the NAMC, District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia Chapter in the US District Court for the District of Maryland, seeks to block implementation of the president's unlawful directive, which would directly harm and disrupt their work. The coalition is represented in the matter by Democracy Forward. The NAMC and NAMC-DMV are also represented by the Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The March 26, 2026, directive denounces all initiatives related to race or ethnicity, or concern diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) activities, and incorrectly implies such efforts uniformly violate both the law and ethics. The order further threatens government contractors and subcontractors with the loss of federal contracts, permanent blacklisting, and civil and criminal prosecution for failing to acquiesce to the administration's unlawful demands to end lawful efforts. This intimidation chills speech and association, which are protected by the First Amendment.

"The order is an unlawful attempt by the administration to erase the realities of race, ethnicity, and a history of discrimination in this country, and to dismantle the architecture of equality," reads the complaint.

Federal contractors and subcontractors are crucial to the safe, effective, and efficient functioning of the country and contribute to daily life in nearly every aspect of society, and across nearly every agency of the federal government. They are relied upon to deliver crucial support and services across the nation to benefit people in America.

"This executive order is a direct attack on academic freedom and the First Amendment-an attempt to coerce silence by threatening faculty, students, and federal partners who confront the realities of race and discrimination. In a democracy, higher education must be free to pursue truth, foster debate, and expand opportunity for all. Instead, this administration is using the power of federal contracts to impose ideological conformity. The AAUP has defeated these attacks before, and we are proud to stand with this coalition to do so again," said AAUP President Todd Wolfson.

Read the full complaint here.