Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity

Dear CCSRE Community,

The flurry of Executive Orders and directives emanating from the Trump administration has disconcerted those of us who study and teach about race and ethnicity. The denial of birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, the threat to deport undocumented peoples is at once cruel and performative, and the attack on “D.E.I.” appears to be an attempt to outlaw any thought, writing, or scholarship about the structuring force of race and ethnicity in our society.

On February 14, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the United States Department of Education, Craig Trainor, made the current administration’s intent even clearer.[i] He published a directive indicating that any school that receives financial assistance from the Department of Education will be in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution if it does any the following: “segregat[e] by race at graduation ceremonies and in dormitories”; teach students “the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’”; or “treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race.” Any kind of “race-consciousness,” Trainor avers, is tantamount to engaging in “repugnant race-based preferences” that carry a “shameful echo of a darker period in this country’s history.”

We at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity reject the fallacious logic embedded in this and similar directives. We will continue the important work of studying and demonstrating the significance of race and ethnicity in peoples’ lives. We will persist in revealing how processes of racialization shape our possible outcomes and structure people’s selves both individually and collectively. We understand that race and ethnicity are sources of meaning, motivation, belonging and action even as we document their role in devaluing and limiting opportunities and life chances. As consequential social phenomena that affect where we might live, whom we are likely to be friends with, and how we will probably be compensated for our work, race and ethnicity are not something that most of us can ignore. Being conscious of race is not the same as engaging in racial discrimination. In fact, being conscious of race is merely the first step toward figuring out how to address racial discrimination.

In the spirit of discussing “issues we care about as part of a vibrant exchange of ideas,”[ii] we call on Stanford University to actively support the study of and teaching about race and ethnicity and to decisively reject the suggestion that any support services, housing arrangements, and graduation ceremonies that enable people from historically under-represented groups to feel a sense of belonging at Stanford should be interpreted as a Civil Rights violation. Treating these as violations would be a preemptive submission to what the directive itself admits is merely “the Department’s existing interpretation of federal law.” Literary critics and lawyers know that interpretations can overreach. More importantly, as citizens of a democracy, we know that laws can be changed.

The mission of CCSRE is to “advance racial equity through interdisciplinary education, innovative research, and community engagement.” Standing in support of our students and our alumni, we will hold fast to that mission.

Yours in struggle,

Paula M. L. Moya
Danily C. and Laura Louise Bell Professor of the Humanities
Faculty Director of CCSRE

Ramón Saldívar
Hoagland Family Professor of Humanities and Sciences
Faculty Director of CCSRE Academic Programs

Alfredo J. Artiles
Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education
Faculty Director of the Research Institute of CCSRE

Stephen M. Sano
Harold C. Schmidt Director of Choral Studies
Faculty Director of Asian American Studies

José David Saldívar
Leon Sloss, Jr. Professor of Comparative Literature
Faculty Director of Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies

Teresa D. LaFromboise
Professor of Education
Faculty Director of Native American Studies

Sheela Subramanian
Co-Founder, Future Forum
Chair, CCSRE National Advisory Board

Veronica Juarez
Managing Partner, Dahlia VC
Member, CCSRE National Advisory Board

Valerie Red-Horse Mohl
Founder, Red-Horse Financial Group
Member and Former Chair, CCSRE National Advisory Board

Roger Clay
Retired Attorney
Member, CCSRE National Advisory Board

[i] Trainor, Craig, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, United States Department of Education. Feb 14, 2025. Dear Colleague.

[ii] Adami, Chelcey. 2025. "Senate Hears Update on Federal Policy Matters, Approves Research Policy Changes." Stanford Report, Feb 20.