马萨诸塞州“将坚持自我”：尽管特朗普施压，学校仍应致力于 DEI
【中美创新时报2025 年 2 月 28 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）特朗普总统和马萨诸塞州之间似乎肯定会在公立学校教室控制权问题上展开一场高风险的对决，州长莫拉·希利周四指示教育工作者坚持多元化、公平和包容性举措，而联邦政府则鼓励不满意的家长和其他人举报学校，以便进行可能的调查。《波士顿环球报》记者约翰·希利亚德和克里斯托弗·哈夫克对此作了下述报道。
希利、司法部长安德里亚·乔伊·坎贝尔和州教育官员向马萨诸塞州的学校发布了法律指导，称特朗普的指令不会凌驾于“现行法律和既定的法律原则之上，这些原则鼓励——甚至要求——学校为所有学生提供教育机会背景。”
希利说，她发布指导意见是为了发出一个明确的信息：“马萨诸塞州将忠于我们自己。”
“我们相信，让不同背景和观点的人参与进来——包括女性、有色人种和 LGBTQ+ 社区——是一种优势，尤其是在教育领域，”希利说。
但周四不久后，特朗普政府推出了一个新的“结束 DEI”门户网站，允许人们举报学校或学区“潜在的调查领域”。该公告引用了保守派“自由妈妈”组织一位领导人的话，该组织表示，家长们担心学校过于关注“批判理论、流氓性教育和分裂意识形态”，但这些担忧被忽视了。
“家长们，现在是你们分享我们公立学校背叛行为的收据的时候了。这个网页表明，特朗普总统的教育部正在将权力重新交到家长手中，”自由妈妈的联合创始人蒂芙尼·贾斯蒂斯在公告中说道。
特朗普政府的指令可能会颠覆 K-12 课堂课程中采用多元化视角的做法，并阻止大学优先招收和录取多元化学生以及聘用多元化教师。
“我们的行政部门正试图取代各州在规定课堂上可以做什么方面的作用。这是前所未有的，”前州教育部长保罗·雷维尔说。
林恩学校负责人埃文·阿尔瓦雷斯表示，培养包容性文化是她所在学区最优先考虑的问题之一，该学区近四分之三的学生的第一语言不是英语。
“我们的唯一目标是创造一个所有学生都能学习和取得成就的环境。为了做到这一点，我们必须确保他们有平等的机会，让他们能够茁壮成长，”阿尔瓦雷斯说。
白宫和马萨诸塞州之间的分歧越来越大，一些人担心学校会失去多样性和包容性，包括教育工作者队伍中的多样性和包容性，其中包括来自印度的移民、昆西公立学校六年级学生的家长希夫·辛格。
“这非常可怕，非常不真实，”辛格说。“这正在发生，我觉得马丁·路德·金付出的所有努力都被毁掉了。”
自上任以来，特朗普迅速采取行动重塑该国的教育体系。他谴责高等教育中的“马克思主义”教学，并削减了与他的愿景不符的大学的资金，导致一些大学甚至从网站上删除了对 DEI 的提及。
特朗普威胁要停止向提供 DEI 项目的学校和大学提供联邦资金。全国高等教育多元化官员协会首席执行官 Paulette Granberry Russell 表示，这可能会导致剥夺特殊教育、Title I 和其他确保教育公平所需的项目的重要资金，并将破坏学校和大学的基本使命。
“多元化学习环境的好处是有据可查的，不仅对个别学生有好处，而且对我们的民主和整个社会都有好处，”Russell 说。
特朗普最近颁布的几项命令都针对当地 K-12 学校的 LGBTQ+ 问题，尤其是跨性别学生，包括他宣称只有两种性别，以及他的行政命令禁止跨性别运动员参加女孩和女性运动。特朗普还威胁要停止向教授他所谓的“批判种族理论”和允许“激进性别意识形态”的 K-12 学校提供联邦资金。
2 月 14 日，美国教育部一封题为“亲爱的同事”的信引发了该州与特朗普政府之间的一个关键争论点。在信中，该部门的民权代理助理部长警告学校遵守联邦法律并“停止一切规避种族禁令的努力”，否则将面临联邦资金损失。
但是，民权律师协会的诉讼主管 Oren Sellstrom 表示，新的州指导方针是对特朗普政府“欺凌和恐吓的总体战略”的必要反击。
塞尔斯特罗姆表示，联邦《亲爱的同事》信函违反了法律，总统不能通过行政命令改变联邦法律，正如法院已经发现的那样，特朗普试图终止非法或临时入境的移民在美国出生的子女的出生公民权。
“法院解释法律，而不是总统，指导意见非常明确，”塞尔斯特罗姆说。“我们当然已经看到这一点，而且就在就职典礼以来，在许多不同的情况下，法院都在介入，以明确总统在法律上犯了错误。”
全国各地的法院都在就特朗普政府的政策以及个别学校的招生制度展开多场斗争，新英格兰的法院是反特朗普诉讼的温床。
最近波士顿著名考试学校招生诉讼的双方律师都同意，《亲爱的同事》信函等行政行动不会改变法律环境。
太平洋法律基金会的律师克里斯·基泽 (Chris Kieser) 曾代表家长起诉波士顿公立学校，指控其针对考试学校的临时招生政策。他表示，无论是特朗普政府的指导意见，还是马萨诸塞州的指导意见，都没有在法庭上解决任何问题，例如学校是否可以在招生中使用种族替代因素。
“政府有其执法重点，马萨诸塞州也有其优先事项，”基泽说。“最终，这取决于法院的说法。”
波士顿家长苏莱卡·索托 (Suleika Soto) 是多米尼加共和国的移民，有两个女儿就读于波士顿科技学院，她说许多家庭都害怕特朗普的政策，包括移民政策，他们的孩子已经缺课了好几天。
索托表示，对多样性的压制只会加剧这些担忧。
“我们必须接受我们的差异，我们必须找到团结起来的方法，”索托说。“我不知道如果没有多样性，美国会是什么样子。”
题图：州长莫拉·希利表示：“我们认为，让不同背景和观点的人参与进来——包括女性、有色人种和 LGBTQ+ 社区——是一种优势，尤其是在教育领域。”Danielle Parhizkaran/《环球报》工作人员
附原英文报道：
Healey, Campbell say schools should commit to DEI despite pressure from Trump
By John Hilliard and Christopher Huffaker Globe Staff,Updated February 27, 2025
Governor Maura Healey said, “We believe that bringing people of different backgrounds and perspectives to the table — including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community — is a strength, especially in education.”Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
A high-stakes showdown over control of public school classrooms appeared certain between President Trump and Massachusetts, with Governor Maura Healey on Thursday directing educators to stay the course on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, while the federal administration encouraged unhappy parents and others to report schools for potential investigation.
Healey, Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, and state education officials issued legal guidances to Massachusetts schools that Trump’s directives do not override “existing law and well-established legal principles that encourage — and even require — schools to promote educational opportunity for students of all backgrounds.”
Healey said she issued the guidance to send a clear message: “Massachusetts is going to stay true to who we are.”
“We believe that bringing people of different backgrounds and perspectives to the table — including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community — is a strength, especially in education,” Healey said.
But a short time later on Thursday, the Trump administration unveiled a new “End DEI” portal that would allow people to report schools or districts for “potential areas for investigation.” The announcement quoted a leader of the conservative Moms for Liberty group, who said parents’ concerns that their schools have focused on “critical theory, rogue sex education and divisive ideologies” have been ignored.
“Parents, now is the time that you share the receipts of the betrayal that has happened in our public schools. This webpage demonstrates that President Trump’s Department of Education is putting power back in the hands of parents,” Tiffany Justice, cofounder of Moms for Liberty, said in the announcement.
The Trump administration directives could upend using diverse perspectives in K-12 classroom course work and block colleges from prioritizing recruitment and admission of diverse students and hiring of diverse faculty.
“We have an executive branch that’s attempting to supersede the role of the states in prescribing what can go on in classrooms. This is unprecedented,” said Paul Reville, a former state education secretary.
The superintendent of schools in Lynn, Evonne Alvarez, said fostering a culture of inclusivity is among the highest priorities for her district, where almost three-quarters of students speak a first language other than English.
“Our singular goal is to create an environment where all students can learn and achieve. In order to do that, we must ensure that they have equal access to opportunities that put them in the position to thrive,” Alvarez said.
The growing breach between the White House and Massachusetts has left some, including Shiv Singh, an immigrant from India and parent of a sixth-grader in Quincy’s public schools, worried about a loss of diversity and inclusion in schools, including among the ranks of educators.
“It’s extremely scary, and very surreal,” Singh said. “It is happening, and all the hard work that Martin Luther King Jr. put in, I feel like, is being chopped away.”
Since taking office, Trump has moved swiftly to reshape the country’s education system. Decrying “Marxist” teaching in higher education, he’s moved to cut funding for universities that don’t align with his vision, causing some colleges to go as far as scrubbing references to DEI from websites.
Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding to schools and universities that offer DEI programs. Paulette Granberry Russell, chief executive of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, said that could result in stripping vital funding for special education, Title I, and other programs needed to ensure educational equity and would undermine the fundamental mission of schools and universities.
“The benefits of diverse learning environments are well-documented, not only for individual students, but also for the strength of our democracy and society as a whole,” Russell said.
Several of Trump’s recent orders are aimed at LGBTQ+ issues in local K-12 schools, particularly transgender students, including his declaration there are only two sexes, and his executive order prohibiting transgender athletes from playing in girls’ and women’s sports. Trump also has threatened to withhold federal funding from K-12 schools that taught what he called “critical race theory,” and permitted “radical gender ideology.”
A key point of argument between the state and the Trump administration was triggered by a letter on Feb. 14 from the US Department of Education titled “Dear Colleague.” In it, , the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights warned schools to comply with federal law and “cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race,” or face the loss of federal funding.
But, Oren Sellstrom, litigation director for Lawyers for Civil Rights, said the new state guidance is a needed counter to the Trump administration’s “overall strategy of bullying and intimidation.”
The federal Dear Colleague letter, Sellstrom said, gets the law wrong, and the president cannot alter federal law by executive order, as courts have already found in relation to Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship for US-born children of immigrants who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
“Courts interpret the law, not the president, and the guidance makes that very clear,” Sellstrom said. “We’re certainly seeing that already and just since the inauguration, in a number of different contexts where courts are stepping in to make clear that the president is wrong on the law.”
A number of battles are underway in courts around the country over Trump administration policies as well as an individual school admissions system, with New England’s courts serving as a hotbed of anti-Trump litigation.
Attorneys involved on both sides of recent litigation over admissions to Boston’s prestigious exam schools agreed executive actions such as the Dear Colleague letter don’t alter the legal playing field.
Chris Kieser, an attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation who represented parents suing Boston Public Schools over a temporary admissions policy for exam schools, said neither the Trump administration’s guidance nor the state’s settle any questions before the courts, such as whether schools can use proxies for race in admissions.
“The administration has its enforcement priorities, and the State of Massachusetts has its priorities,” Kieser said. “Ultimately, it comes down to what the courts say.”
Boston parent Suleika Soto, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who has two daughters at TechBoston Academy, said many families are afraid of Trump’s policies, including on immigration, and their children have missed days of school.
The pushback on diversity only intensifies those concerns, according to Soto.
“We have got to embrace our differences, and we have to find ways to come together,” Soto said. “I don’t know what America would be without diversity.”
