Durham protesters march to Duke University’s East Campus. (Photo: Greg Childress)
Armed with a nearly $12 billion endowment, Duke University is better positioned than most universities to withstand President Donald Trump’s directive to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, a group of Durham protesters said Wednesday.
The Trump administration has given America’s schools and universities until Feb. 28 to eliminate diversity initiatives or risk losing federal money.
The Durham protesters said the order’s “vague language” threatens programs, initiatives and research that focus on and serve “racial minorities and other vulnerable community members.”
“DEI is kind of a catch all word in some cases, but we know when Trump is saying we want to end DEI programs, what it actually means is they are putting a target on the back of immigrant communities, of queer and trans communities, of Black and Brown communities,” said Maggie Heraty, one of the protest organizers who works at the Duke Forest Teaching and Research Laboratory. “It really makes it like not a welcoming place on our campuses if we are dismantling our DEI programs.”
Duke has not issued a statement about where it stands on the Trump directive, Heraty said.
“We the community haven’t heard from them about their reaction to this or their stance, so we’re currently still floundering,” Heraty said. “We want Duke to use its privilege as a university that has a massive endowment. It is a private university. It has a $11.9 billion endowment. It can risk some federal squeeze.”
NC Newsline reached out to Duke for a statement but had not received one by the time this story was published.
Meanwhile, the UNC System voted last May — months before Trump was elected president — to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs from its 17 campuses to avoid “political controversies of the day.”
Heraty said she is disappointed that corporations and universities have moved so quickly to comply with Trump’s order.
“Sometimes, people just move out of fear and are pre-censoring themselves even if the Trump administration is not forcing them to comply,” Heraty said. “Academic institutions that have longstanding traditions of activism or have had longstanding DEI policies, they should really have some guts here and say we’re not going to comply at all, and we protect our people.”
More than 100 people joined the late afternoon protest that began in Trinity Park on Watts Street in Durham near Duke’s East Campus. The rally’s main speaker, a Duke employee, declined to provide a name when asked by NC Newsline.
After the speaker’s remarks, the protesters lined up and marched a short distance to the Duke campus where they were turned away by Duke police. A person who identified themself as being part of the Duke Police Department told NC Newline that the protesters were not allowed on campus because the noise would disturb classes that were in session.
In a news release sent to media ahead of the rally, the organizers were critical of Duke’s revised “Pickets, Protests, and Demonstration” (PPD) policy, which they contend attempts to curtail students’ and workers’ right to demonstrate on campus and at their place of work.
Duke joined universities across the country in revising such policies in the wake of contentious campus protests that followed the Oct. 7, 2024 attack on southern Israel by militant group Hamas.
The updated Duke policy requires campus protests and other such events to be registered with the university. The university can also limit the duration, location and sound level of the protests under the updated policy. Violations of the policy can lead to expulsion and legal charges.
University officials have said the updates to the Community Standard will not interfere with free speech on campus, the The Duke Chronicle reported in October.
“Duke’s policies have not changed so much as we have made an effort to collect our existing policies, guidelines and practices in one place,” Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost and vice president of student affairs, wrote in a Sept. 27 email to The Chronicle.
McMahon added that the current PPD policy “is virtually identical” to the policy from the 1980s, the paper reported.
Lawmakers denounce Republican anti-DEI proposal
The protest at Duke came the same day as the state’s Legislative Black Caucus released a statement criticizing the Trump administration’s efforts to “dismantle” federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
“In the name of an anti-DEI witch hunt, hundreds of jobs have already been lost in North Carolina; funding is in jeopardy in critical North Carolina industries like farming and research, which threaten thousands of more jobs,” the Black Caucus said in its statement. “Now, inflation is back on the rise, and we are likely headed toward a recession. President Trump and Elon Musk have owned what they are doing, and they are proud of what they are doing.”
The Black Caucus also took aim at House Bill 171, a Republican-backed bill that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives in state government.
“The programs that these measures seek to destroy include programs that uplift students and workers in Appalachia and other rural parts of North Carolina, along with other marginalized groups,” the Black Caucus said. “Embracing a broad spectrum of voices— from urban centers to the farthest reaches of our rural communities—is not just a moral imperative. It is a strategic necessity in order to lift every North Carolinian.”
Black Caucus members reiterated their opposition to the bill at a Thursday Legislative Building press conference, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional” and a threat to the state’s economic competitiveness.
The bill, which would instruct the Republican-led state auditor’s office to conduct periodic audits to ensure compliance, also states that state employees who violate the law could face job loss and criminal charges.
Sen. Kandie Smith (D-Edgecombe) expressed concern that the bill could lead to the impeachment of state officials who celebrate their culture. “I was disturbed, but even more disturbed when I read the complete bill over and over and over because I wanted to make sure it can’t be true,” said Smith, chair of the caucus. “My peers just introduced a bill that can impeach me from office because I’m Black,” Smith said, referring to the portion of the bill that states elected officials could be impeached for refusing to comply with the law.
Speakers at the press conference said diversity initiatives are essential for creating fair and inclusive workforce and that the bill could imperil the state’s economic future by deterring businesses from relocating to the state.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion aren’t some hook-up for Black folks,” said state Sen. Caleb Theodros (D-Mecklenburg). “This is something that corporations inherently did to make themselves better.”
The Black Caucus statement also noted that the state’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have contributed significantly to the state’s economic development.
“We are home to the second highest number of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which have each enjoyed bipartisan support, since their inception,” the Black Caucus said. “These institutions have produced leading engineers, entrepreneurs, scientists, researchers, lawyers and more in the workforce of North Carolina and America. We have Governors and CEOs who are proud products of our HBCUs.”