Could Trump's Anti-DEI Tax Plan Save DEI?
Program
#RaceClass
Episode
74
Episode Length
23:00
Media Type
Podcast
Release Date
10-30-2026
Publisher
WNHN
Language
en-US
Abstract
Arnie and Jon discuss Trump's plan to leverage the IRS to resegregate higher education. The effort echoes Christopher Rufo's call for the Trump administration to "industrialize" its assault on higher education by exerting "existential terror" on the entire sector. In real respects, the proposed IRS rule could advance Trump's campaign to push Black and brown students out of higher education and entrench racist tropes about who's got intellectual chops and who doesn't. But the proposed rule's actual text does something unexpected. Trump might want the rule to eliminate DEI, but it actually creates liability for universities that disparately harm students of color and creates a safe harbor for initiatives that reduce prejudice and discrimination.
Recommended Citation
Jonathan Feingold & Arnie Arnesen,
Could Trump's Anti-DEI Tax Plan Save DEI?
(2026).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/raceclass/82
