On Feb. 14, the United States Department of Education published the "Dear Colleague" letter. In it, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, Craig Trainor, makes a number of statements about diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that are blatant lies, racist in nature, and relies on false narratives to achieve the Trump administration's stated goal of eliminating DEI. 

We, the undersigned faculty, staff, and students of Colorado State University, wholeheartedly reject the premise that DEI is used for discriminatory purposes. We believe that diversity, equity and inclusion is not about tearing down any one group of people, but rather about understanding, learning and appreciating the myriad identities that make up modern American culture.  

We are calling on our university leaders as well as state leaders to stand up to this form of federal bullying and push back with clear statements that affirm our commitment to DEI, no matter the cost in federal funding. We may lose some funding for a few years, but the alternative is to acquiesce to federal extortion that will likely embolden the Trump administration to take further actions that would harm many Americans, such as the rollback of civil rights or a national abortion ban.