This article originally appeared on pages 4 and 5 of the No. 5 April 2025 edition of The Gettysburgian magazine
By Vincent DiFonzo, Editor-in-Chief
On Feb. 14, the United States Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to hundreds of colleges and universities across the country, including Gettysburg College. The letter accuses universities of discrimination against white and Asian applicants in admissions, denies the existence of “systemic and structural racism” in the U.S and threatens funding cuts against schools that do not cut diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, citing the 2023 Supreme Court case that struck down affirmative action in higher education.
The letter is just one example of a number of sweeping changes to higher education currently being proposed by the Trump administration.
Donald Trump has repeatedly stated his intention to shut down the Department of Education, which oversees FAFSA, student loans, Pell grants, as well as the accreditation of colleges and universities. Since her confirmation on March 3, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has overseen the firing of nearly half the department’s workers — a move she has called the “first step” in shutting down the department entirely.
While Trump has repeatedly promised to shut down the Department of Education via executive order, this move would need Congressional approval because the agency was created by Congress. Despite this, on Thursday, March 20, Trump issued an executive order directing the agency’s shutdown. While the agency will not disappear completely, some of its functions are being transferred away from it. For example, Trump has announced his intention to transfer administration of the $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio to the Small Business Administration.
Trump has also stated he intends to use the agency to investigate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at universities. On Monday, March 17, the Young America’s Foundation (YAF) issued a civil rights complaint against Gettysburg College to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR). Their complaint alleges “ongoing civil rights violations against conservative students at Gettysburg College” and argues that a number of diversity and inclusion-related organizations at Gettysburg violate federal law.
As of March, it is unclear if the OCR will actually open an investigation into Gettysburg College. Before the YAF letter of complaint was filed, The Gettysburgian spoke with College President Bob Iuliano about ongoing federal law changes and the College’s response. He discussed how the College will comply with federal law moving forward while maintaining a diverse campus and remaining committed to its core “institutional values.”
Iuliano first acknowledged the large scope of proposed changes to higher education: “There’s been a volume of orders specifically bearing on higher education that, at least in my 35 years in this field, I have not seen the likes of which previously.” Despite this, Iuliano emphasized that the legality of many of the proposed changes is in question.
“One of the reasons I’ve argued for a moderate approach right now is there’s just a lot of uncertainty about what’s going to retain when all of this is said and done,” said Iuliano. “And I have not been inclined to have the College bounce from position to position. Whatever we want to do, whatever we’re going to do, I would like to do once with some clarity. So going slowly gives us the ability to do that.”
Regarding the “Dear Colleague” letter, Iuliano said he initially read it with “a degree of concern” because it suggested that the federal government “had jurisdiction over the curricular judgments made by private colleges and universities.”
However, since the sending of the “Dear Colleague” letter, the Department of Education has sent a FAQ document regarding the letter which states the federal government will not influence curriculum at private colleges, among other clarifications. Iuliano cited this as an example of how the proposed changes are being challenged and quickly changed, which is why he believes the College should remain patient in its response as opposed to acting on proposed changes that may not come to fruition.
The “Dear Colleague” letter’s attack on DEI initiatives stems from a longer trend of erosion of race-conscious admissions at universities. In 2023, affirmative action in higher education became illegal in the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA) case, which Iuliano personally worked on at his previous position as general counsel at Harvard University.
He condemned the decision in a June 2023 campus-wide email in which he argued that race-conscious admissions “[allow] students too often on the margins of American life to experience the social, cultural and economic transformation that higher education makes possible.”
Despite affirmative action becoming illegal and the federal government’s attacks on DEI, Iuliano told The Gettysburgian that Gettysburg College has been able to maintain its diversity around pre-SFFA levels. While the impact of affirmative action’s termination has resulted in significant drops in enrollment for students of color at many universities around the country, Iuliano maintained that this has not been the case at Gettysburg College
“We continue to be able, within the law, to attract and retain a diverse student body,” said Iuliano, pointing to financial aid as one of the main reasons that the College is able to do so.
“We’re now spending more than $90 million a year in financial aid,” he said. “That is a big commitment to making sure that the College is affordable and accessible to talented students of all backgrounds.”
As of fall 2024, 21% of Gettysburg students are “domestic students of color,” while 14% of the student body are international students. Iuliano stated that Gettysburg admissions policy regarding race has not changed since the end of affirmative action because the College did not consider race in the first place.
“Even before the [Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard] case, I do not understand that we considered race as an explicit factor. So I don’t think our policies have changed,” he stated.
While over 50 schools around the country — including Columbia, Yale and MIT — are under investigation by the Department of Education regarding potential DEI policies, this is not the case at Gettysburg College, as of March, despite the YAF complaint to the Education Department OCR.
Iuliano argued that maintaining a diverse campus is essential to creating a learning environment that provokes students to “see the world through different perspectives.” He said the College’s job is “not to tell you what to think, but to make sure that [students] are assessing [their] assumptions about the world.”
“Our job is to broaden the lens through which you’re looking at the environment, and part of that requires diversity of all types, right? Socioeconomic diversity, ideological diversity, geographic diversity, diversity of experience, diversity of the lived experience of people’s lives — when you put this all together, you have the opportunity to do constructive provocation,” said Iuliano.
Regarding the threat of federal funding cuts, Iuliano maintained that if there was an investigation into Gettysburg College by the government, there are opportunities to work to remedy possible violations before funds are cut off. If funding were to be cut, it could affect student financial aid and about $700,000 worth of federal research funds that the College receives. Iuliano maintained that the College would work with the government in a way that maintains its core values if federal funding is directly threatened.
Responding to the YAF complaint, Iuliano stated the College will “forcefully defend our values and our programs” if investigated by the federal government.
Outside of policy directly affecting higher education, the Trump administration recently proposed a travel ban on nationals of 43 countries that could affect international students studying in the U.S.
In mid-March, The New York Times reported that 11 countries are on the administration’s “red” list — countries in which nationals are proposed to be completely barred from entering the United States. A further 10 countries are on the “orange list,” meaning visas would be restricted for nationals of the listed countries. 22 countries are on the “yellow” list, which would give the listed country’s 60 days to “address concerns” of the U.S. government.
There are currently 28 enrolled Gettysburg College students that hold citizenship from countries on the proposed travel ban list. The Gettysburgian reached out to Director of International Student Services Brad Lancaster for comment on how this proposal may affect international students.
“While we have no firm information regarding possible visa restrictions or travel bans, I would hope that F-1 students from potentially affected countries who are currently in the U.S. and maintaining valid F-1 status are permitted to remain,” said Lancaster. “However, if their country was on a purported red/orange list, then they may not be able to get a new visa to return to the U.S. if they needed to leave the U.S. If they had a valid visa, it is unclear if they would be able to leave and return to the U.S. We simply don’t have enough information to know for sure.”
Lancaster stated that his office exists to support international students “in all circumstances.”
“The best thing we can be doing for our international students now is to pay close attention to any changes and clearly communicate what we know as soon as we know,” he said.
As of mid-March, the travel ban proposal remains only a proposal and is not yet affecting any foreign nationals. The Gettysburgian is monitoring the proposed travel ban and if enacted in the future, will report on how the ban affects international students at Gettysburg.
