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The department, under the Trump administration, sent a letter to schools, universities and other educational institutions saying all race-conscious admissions, financial aid, hiring, training and more are illegal, and pledging to withhold federal funding for violations.

Garimella released a statement saying: “As a public institution, we will continue to adhere to all applicable laws at the local, state and federal levels. We are taking a proactive approach toward ensuring compliance with new policies and procedures that will impact higher education institutions in the coming weeks and months. This includes creating an inventory of our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)-related programs, jobs and activities, and assessing the impact on the university community.�

UA spokesperson Mitch Zak did not respond to specific questions from the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ about whether UA has programs or organizations that could be affected by the federal mandate.

The Department of Education letter, sent on Feb. 14 by its Office of Civil Rights, was based on a sweeping interpretation of the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the “Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard� case. The decision declared the use of racial preferences in college admissions is unlawful. While the 2023 decision was limited to just college admissions, the DOE letter promises to enforce it on broader levels.

The letter said, “discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is illegal and morally reprehensible� and that educational institutions’ “embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia.�

Chair of the UA Faculty Leila Hudson said the letter was a “very energetic expansion� of the scope of the Supreme Court decision, which solely focused on admissions, and was being pushed into a number of different practices with possibly an “ideologically driven set of policies.�

“If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race, the educational institution violates the law,� wrote Craig Trainor, the DOE’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

“Federal law thus prohibits covered entities from 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.�

Trainor demanded that all educational institutions take appropriate measures to abide by the regulations mentioned in the DOE letter within 14 days of it being issued, threatening to retract federal funding from those who refuse or fail to comply.

Lucy Ziurys, a UA faculty senator and a Regents professor of chemistry and astronomy, reacted, “I mean, are we living in a police state? Now that’s what it sounds like.�

Ziurys and Hudson both questioned the legality of the regulations placed by the education department in the letter. Hudson said she, like many others, is waiting for the courts to weigh in.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is not among the states affected by the 2023 Supreme Court decision, because affirmative action has been illegal in the Grand Canyon state for the past 15 years. In 2010, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ voters passed , amending the state Constitution to “ban affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment to or discriminate against any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting.â€�

Hudson and Ziurys expressed contradictory perspectives on whether the UA takes part in any race-based programming.

“What I say is limited by my own experience, but when we’re talking about the cultures, the classrooms, the syllabi of the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, remember we are always engaging in a rigorous peer review of our courses, a rigorous peer review of our colleagues, etc.,â€� Hudson said, “and, I do not think that these broad brush accusations based on still-undefined and rather accusatory language about D.E.I. apply to any of the peer-reviewed processes or culture that we have here at the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.â€�

“In my experience, that is simply not the case,� said Hudson.

On the other hand, Ziurys said that, while she did not have the numbers or statistics to back up her statements, she suspected there was “some deference given to hiring minorities and getting minority students in here.�

“We need to realize that not everyone has access to the kind of resources maybe a typical student at U of A has,� said Ziurys. “And, you know, we need to be cognizant of that and try to make opportunities for students that wouldn’t get them otherwise.�

The letter is part of the Trump administration’s initiatives to stop Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D.E.I.) practices. President Donald Trump, on Inauguration Day Jan. 20, signed an executive order banning D.E.I. considerations from federal hiring.

The Star reported in 2023 that despite the ban on considering race, gender and ethnicity in college admissions, the UA had still focused on recruiting a diverse student body while not violating ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ law.

“Any scholarship for University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ that uses race or culture of origin in selection are funded by private dollars and the university is not involved in the selection process,â€� Kasey Urquídez, then UA’s chief enrollment officer, said at the time. “All events are open to all prospective students.â€�

The UA does offer one scholarship for Native students who are enrolled members of federally recognized tribes, but a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court ruling said that such membership is a political classification, rather than a classification based on race or ethnicity, Urquídez said in 2023, which she added “allows and will continue to allow our ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Native Scholars Grant.â€�

The UA is home to a number of student and diversity organizations and groups, such as African American Student Affairs, Asian Pacific American Student Affairs, Adalberto and Ana Guerrero Student Center, the Disability Cultural Center, LGBTQ Affairs, Native American Student Affairs and the Women & Gender Resource Center.

Jeremy Bernick, president of the UA Graduate and Professional Student Council and a law student, said the DOE letter was “dystopian� and that it is dismaying to have to witness progress towards social and economic goals be turned backward.

Bernick also said it is unclear how UA admissions will adapt to the directives since the university’s system largely operates off of FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) eligibility, federal Pell Grant eligibility, and merit-scholarship-based testing and GPA scoring for overall aid evaluation purposes.

Ziurys said she hopes the UA doesn’t have to shut down the student diversity organizations because they provide support for students.

She also said student enrollment rates and success rates would deteriorate if such organizations ceased to exist on campuses, as students need them to maneuver the challenges of university life.

LGBTQ Student Affairs declined to comment, saying that as workers at a public institution, they cannot give opinions about federal and state policies. A number of the other student organizations did not respond to requests for comment by the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, and multiple students on campus Tuesday declined to comment.

Ziurys said there is nothing wrong with the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion.

“These are principles that should exist in the democratic society, and to have an all-out attack on them, first of all it denies the truth and a history because minorities and women have been discriminated (against) in the past in very egregious ways,� said Ziurys. “And part of these programs are trying to help make up for the past and to give people opportunities. So, you know, they’re good things and we should have them at the university. These sweeping mandates, they’re not going to work.�