The University of Pennsylvania is shuttering its Office of Equal Opportunity and Engagement in the Carey Law School as the Trump administration threatens to withdraw funding to schools that don’t end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
While the branch won’t be closed until the end of the summer, its website has already been shut down, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. The office has provided resources, trainings and other DEI services for students and faculty, including a guide on how to report discrimination claims.
The school’s website also said it would not be accepting applicants for the 2025-2026 school year for the Sadie T. M. Alexander scholarship, which offered full tuition to students who want to focus on racial justice in their studies and law practice. Alexander was born in Philadelphia in 1898 and later became the first Black woman to graduate from Penn’s law school in 1927.
At the end of July, the city announced the final design for a statue of Alexander, which will be placed outside the Municipal Services Building, near the previous home of a statue of former Mayor Frank Rizzo.
The scholarship was launched in 2021 with the support of the Black Law Students Association. It followed the backlash the school received after comments from controversial professor Amy Wax, who questioned the academic abilities of Black student, the Inquirer reported.
In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order which said universities receiving federal funds needed to end DEI programming that he said would violate federal civil rights laws. The next month, Penn removed diversity mentions and initiatives from its website and equal opportunity policies in compliance. Penn Medicine also got rid of its DEI websites in May following a Civil Rights Fraud Initiative launched by the Department of Justice.
A representative from Penn’s law school did not immediately return a request for comment.
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