This NAFSA page collects links and information on executive and agency actions under the Trump-Vance Administration touching on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and gender. These directives represent a significant shift in federal policies related to DEI and gender issues, and roll back previous DEI and gender initiatives.

Litigation

National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education et al. v. Trump et al., No. 1:25-cv-00333 (D. Md. Feb. 21, 2025), Judge Adam B. Abelson presiding. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, Maryland, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United.

On February 21, 2025, the court granted in part and denied in part the plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction, blocking certain aspects of Exec. Order 14151 of January 20, 2025, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing, and Exec. Order 14173 of January 21, 2025, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.

Read:

• The plaintiffs' COMPLAINT for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief against All Defendants
• The plaintiffs' MOTION for a Temporary Restraining Order and/or for Preliminary Injunction
• The court's ORDER granting in part and denying in part the Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Signed on 2/21/2025.
• The court's MEMORANDUM OPINION on 2/21/2025

AILA sues USCIS on forms changes. On March 7, 2025 the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) sued USCIS on the grounds of lack of notice before requiring forms that USCIS has revised to implement Executive Order 14168, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government. See AILA and Members File Litigation Against Arbitrary Mandatory Form Changes, AILA press release, 3/7/25, AILA Doc. No. 25030701.

Executive Actions

Department of Education Dear Colleague Letter "Directs Schools to End Racial Preferences"

On February 14, 2025, the Department of Education (DoEd) issued a "Dear Colleague Letter" that "provides notice of the Department's existing interpretation of federal law" on the prohibition on " using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life." The letter, signed by DoEd's Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, warns that educational institutions "that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding." Read:

• February 14, 2025 DoEd Dear Colleague Letter
• February 15, 2025 DoEd Press Release, U.S. Department of Education Directs Schools to End Racial Preferences
• March 1, 2025 set of FAQs on the Dear Colleague Letter, posted by the Department of Education 

Citing Title VI and court decisions, the DoEd letter asserts that "The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent." DoEd states that it "will vigorously enforce the law on equal terms as to all preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies, that receive financial assistance," and that it " intends to take appropriate measures to assess compliance with the applicable statutes and regulations based on the understanding embodied in this letter beginning no later than 14 days from today’s date, including antidiscrimination requirements that are a condition of receiving federal funding."

The letter also calls out DEI programs as a "less direct, but equally insidious" form of discrimination. DoEd states, "DEI programs, for example, frequently preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not. Such programs stigmatize students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes."

Finally, the letter advises educational institutions to:

"(1) ensure that their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law;

(2) cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends; and

(3) cease all reliance on third-party contractors, clearinghouses, or aggregators that are being used by institutions in an effort to circumvent prohibited uses of race."

NAFSA Signs on to Letter to the Department of Education on DoED Dear Colleague Letter. Along with more than 60 associations, NAFSA signed on to a February 24, 2025 letter sent by the American Council on Education (ACE) in response to the Department of Education's (DoEd) February 14, 2025, Dear Colleague Letter (DCL). Read the association letter, which asks DoEd to "rescind this DCL and work to promulgate guidance that reflects existing law."

Executive Order 14201 of February 5, 2025: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports

EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 9279 (Feburary 11, 2025). 

This order establishes a federal enforcement framework for making eligibility to participate in women’s sports exclusively based on sex at birth, and purports to align Title IX policies with the order. Institutions receiving federal funding must comply with the order's directives to maintain eligibility for federal support. The order utilizes the same definitions set forth in Executive Order 14168 of January 20, 2025, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government).

Title IX Enforcement and Compliance Measures

• The Department of Education must continue to comply with the court’s vacatur of the April 29, 2024, Title IX rule (89 FR 33474) and take necessary steps to prevent its effect.
• The Department must take action to protect female-only athletic opportunities and locker rooms, clarifying that women’s sports are reserved for women.
• Title IX enforcement will prioritize actions against institutions or athletic associations that allow male students to compete in women’s sports or require female athletes to share facilities with males.
• Federal funding may be rescinded for educational programs that do not comply with this policy.

Federal Government Support and Sports Policy Initiatives

• The Department of Justice is directed to allocate resources to enforce the order’s policies.
• Within 60 days, the White House Domestic Policy Office must:
  • Convene representatives of athletic organizations and affected female athletes to develop fair and safe policies.
  • Work with State Attorneys General to identify best practices and educate officials on cases where women and girls have been harmed by male participation in women’s sports.

International and Immigration-Related Actions

• The Department of State will:
  • Withdraw U.S. support from sports programs that define female categories based on identity rather than sex.
  • Advocate internationally for sex-based categories in women's sports, including through the United Nations and international athletic organizations.
  • Seek amendments to International Olympic Committee standards to ensure eligibility for women’s events is based on sex, not gender identity or testosterone levels.
• The Department of Homeland Security and State Department will review and modify policies regarding the admission of males seeking to compete in women’s sports, including potential visa restrictions.

Executive Order 14190 of January 29, 2025: Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling

EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8853 (January 29, 2025).

This order threatens to withdraw federal funding from any school that recognizes a child's gender transition, including name or pronoun changes. It aims to prevent what the administration describes as "radical gender ideology" in educational settings, emphasizing a return to "traditional" gender norms.

Executive Order 14187 of January 28, 2025: Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation

EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8633 (January 31, 2025).

Executive Order 14187 threatens federal funding withdrawal from any medical institution that provides gender-affirming care to individuals under the age of 19. It reflects the administration's stance against gender-affirming treatments for minors, framing such care as harmful and inappropriate.

Executive Order 14183 of January 27, 2025: Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness

EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8757 (February 3, 2025).

Executive Order 14183, opines that "expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service" and asserts that accommodating gender identities divergent from an individual's biological sex is inconsistent with military readiness and unit cohesion. Utilizing the same definitions set forth in Executive Order 14168 of January 20, 2025, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, EO 14183 directs the Secretary of Defense (DoD) to:

• Update its Medical Standards for Military Service to conform to
• Promptly issue directives for DoD "to end invented and identification-based pronoun usage to best achieve the policy"
• "Absent extraordinary operational necessity, the Armed Forces shall neither allow males to use or share sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities designated for females, nor allow females to use or share sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities designated for males."
• Implement full revocation of President Biden's Executive Order 14004 of January 25, 2021, Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform. by rescinding all policies, directives, and guidance issued pursuant to that prior executive order.

Executive Order 14173 of January 21, 2025: Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity

EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8633 (January 31, 2025).

Executive Order 14173 revokes several previous executive orders promoting DEI initiatives, including Executive Order 11246, which had prohibited federal contractors from engaging in employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin. Executive Order 14173 also

• Directs all executive departments and agencies "to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements. I further order all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities."
• Requires every agency to "include in every contract or grant award... A term requiring such counterparty or recipient to certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws"
• Requires the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs within the Department of Labor to immediately cease: "(A) Promoting “diversity”; (B) Holding Federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking “affirmative action”; and (C) Allowing or encouraging Federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin."

Update: See litigation, above.

Executive Order 14168 of January 20, 2025: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government

EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8615 (January 30, 2025).

Executive Order 14168 mandates that federal departments recognize gender strictly as a male-female binary determined by biological sex assigned at conception. It requires the replacement of all instances of "gender" with "sex" in official materials, cessation of funding for gender-affirming care, and prohibits transgender individuals from using single-sex federally funded facilities that align with their gender identity.

The order also has provisions impacting language and categories on government forms, records, and documents. For example:

"The Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, shall implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, [emphasis added] accurately reflect the holder’s sex, as defined under section 2 of this order; and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall ensure that applicable personnel records accurately report Federal employees’ sex, as defined by section 2 of this order."

and:

"Agency forms that require an individual's sex shall list male or female, and shall not request gender identity."

NAFSA notes:

U.S. Passports

Note: Secretary Rubio has issued an internal communication to passport office staff to halt processing of passport applications requesting a gender marker of "X." The Guardian first published on this topic on January 23, 2025. On February 11, 2025, the Department of State posted a Passport Help item called Sex Marker in Passports, which confirms:

• "Under the executive order, we will no longer issue U.S. passports or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBAs) with an X marker. We will only issue passports with an M or F sex marker that match the customer's biological sex at birth."
• "All passports - including those with an X marker or those listing a sex different from your sex at birth - will remain valid for travel until their expiration date, under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) policy."

Note: On February 18, 2025, the Department of State published two information collection (forms) notices related to the gender marker issue, for bringing U.S. passport application forms into line with EO 14168. DOS will accept comments from the public up to March 20, 2025:

• Application for a U.S. Passport for Eligible Individuals: Correction, Name Change to Passport Issued 1 Year Ago or Less, and Limited Passport Replacement (Form DS-5504). 90 FR 9800 (February 18, 2025)
• U.S. Passport Renewal Application for Eligible Individuals (Form DS-82). 90 FR 9800 (February 18, 2025)

Note: This will impact the content of NAFSA's X Gender Marker Passport Advising Resource.

Nonimmigrant Forms

Note: Foreign passports that do not list male or female and completing Form DS-160, Nonimmigrant Visa Application. On February 5, 2025 DOS updated the Foreign Affairs Manual at 9 FAM 403.2-5(B)(1)(f) to read:

"f. Passports that do not list male or female: The sex reflected on any issued visa must match the visa holder's sex as defined by the January 20, 2025 E.O. on Protecting Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. In those instances where a passport does not list a “male” or “female” field, the applicant must select his or her sex at birth on the visa application."

The DOS DS-160 Frequently Asked Questions page has been updated with the following question and response:

"If my passport lists something other than "male" or "female" under the sex identifier field, or if it lists a sex that is different from my sex at birth, what should I list on my application?

Note: SEVIS currently allows DSOs and ROs to select the student's gender options: Female, Male, or Other. Under Executive Order 14168 the agency will likely have to change this SEVIS data element to refer to "sex" instead of "gender," and to limit the choice to either "male" or "female" with instructions that the response be based on the student or exchange visitor's sex at birth. No government announcement or timeline has yet been made.

Note: USCIS has begun revising their forms to conform to Executive Order 14168. USCIS published without notice and with no grace period new form versions that refer to "sex" instead of "gender," and limit the choice to either "male" or "female." For example, the "edition date" section on the forms updated on March 3, 2025 all state: "As of March 3, 2025, the currently effective version is the 01/20/25 edition... If any of the form’s pages are missing or are from a different form edition, we may reject your form." Make sure to always check the "edition date" section of the form you or your advisees are filing. See USCIS forms updates on their Forms Updates page at: https://www.uscis.gov/forms/forms-updates.

• AILA sues USCIS on forms changes. On March 7, 2025 the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) sued USCIS on the grounds of lack of notice before requiring forms that USCIS has revised to implement Executive Order 14168, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government. See AILA and Members File Litigation Against Arbitrary Mandatory Form Changes, AILA press release, 3/7/25, AILA Doc. No. 25030701.

Executive Order 14151 of January 20, 2025: Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing

EO on whitehouse.gov | Federal Register cite: 90 FR 8339 (January 29, 2025).

Executive Order 14151 may impact federal funding, grant eligibility, and hiring policies related to DEI initiatives in federally supported programs. This order requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to "coordinate the termination of all "diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear." It also requires agencies to, within 60 days:

• "terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and “environmental justice” offices and positions (including but not limited to 'Chief Diversity Officer' positions); all 'equity action plans,' 'equity' actions, initiatives, or programs, 'equity-related' grants or contracts; and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees";
• provide OMB with a list of:
  • all agency or department DEI, DEIA, or 'environmental justice' positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures in existence on November 4, 2024, and an assessment of whether these positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures have been misleadingly relabeled in an attempt to preserve their pre-November 4, 2024 function";
  • "Federal contractors who have provided DEI training or DEI training materials to agency or department employees";
  • and "Federal grantees who received Federal funding to provide or advance DEI, DEIA, or “environmental justice” programs, services, or activities since January 20, 2021"
• direct the deputy agency or department head to assess operational impacts and recommend actions regarding DEI, DEIA, and environmental justice programs, positions, and policies.

Update: See litigation, above.