Georgetown professors slam Trump’s DEI ‘crackdown’ as ‘attack on religious freedom’ at Jesuit schools

A new essay in America Magazine by a pair of Georgetown professors slammed President Donald Trump’s DEI “crackdown,” saying it is an assault on religious freedom, especially at Jesuit schools. 

The essay, titled, “At Jesuit universities, the government’s DEI crackdown is an attack on religious freedom,” is authored by William Michael Treanor, a professor of constitutional law and constitutional history and a former dean, and Amy Uelmen, a lecturer in religion and professional life and a special advisor to the dean at Georgetown Law School. 

“This past March, Georgetown University Law Center fended off an extraordinary incident of unprecedented government overreach when the chief federal prosecutor for our district, interim U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr., opened an inquiry into the content of our curriculum,” they wrote.

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“Such incursions constitute a threat of the highest order to our nation’s First Amendment values. Now more than ever, it is urgent to stand up for our university’s autonomy to make curricular decisions based on its Jesuit mission.” 

The essay from Treanor and Uelmen hit Trump’s Jan. 21 executive order on DEI, as well as the memorandum to “All Federal Agencies,” that asked the agencies that receive federal funds to comply with federal law and “ensure that their programs and activities comply with federal law and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or other protected characteristics-no matter the program’s labels, objectives, or intentions.”

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“The often unstated premise for the attack on DEI programs and policies is that they necessarily push down or squash the identity and interests of those who are not the beneficiaries of these efforts,” Treanor and Uelmen wrote. “This zero-sum-game vision sorts the world into undeserving winners and otherwise deserving losers, and in the scramble for scarce resources, this vision concludes that DEI is unjust and unfair.” 

They also defended Georgetown’s approach to DEI by highlighting the mission statement of the university, which reads, “[S]erious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical, and spiritual understanding.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Georgetown University and the Department of Justice for comment. The Department of Justice referred Fox News Digital to two letters sent to Georgetown, one in February and one in March.

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In part, the February letter raised Georgetown’s “invocation of Catholic doctrine as a reason for your school’s devotion to racist policies was particularly vexing.” 

“Catholics opposed Jim Crow and other Democrat policies of segregation and we even led the fight to end that racism,” Ed Martin, former US attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote. “As a Catholic and former servant of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, I find it disturbing that a Jesuit institution is choosing racism in the name of some misunderstood preference – and even boasts about it.” 

“Until you answer my questions in full, as my initial letter stated, no Georgetown Law student will be considered for our fellows program, our summer internships, or employment in our office,” he added.