Admin, staff reflect on ‘Dear Colleague’ letter impacts as guidance gets overturned

The "Dear Colleague" letter being torn in half. Art by Wes Mowry-Silverman.

After almost a year since its implementation into educational systems around the country, the United States Department of Education’s February 2025 “Dear Colleague” letter has been repealed by the Department of Education due to a federal court’s decision in August that the letter violated the constitution. 

The letter outlined official guidance to colleges and universities about how they should comply with federal law relating to “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) initiatives. It was a directive intended to shape educational policies across the country. Failure to comply with these guidelines would encourage the federal government to pull federal funding from those institutions. 

In January, the Department of Education abandoned its last appeal of an injunction made against the letter by a federal court. 

Looking back at a year of conversation about the letter, Willamette officials say that they haven’t had to make any drastic cuts to their programs or major changes to curricula in classes. 

“[Willamette] made sure that our website wasn’t referencing any third-party sites [primarily for scholarships] that may have been in violation [of the law],” said Lisa Landreman, vice president for Student Affairs. “[These websites] often offer scholarships based on race or other identity characteristics that were not consistent with the law, regardless of the Dear Colleague letter.” 

Landreman also confirmed that Willamette did not have to alter any of the curriculum that was already being taught in its classrooms due to the institution being in Oregon, a state that did not have certain laws already in place that enforced the removal of DEI policies. 

Oregon would not have asked Willamette to alter any of its course content, Landreman said, and the point in the letter regarding curriculum “was one of the grounds where the provosts and the president said really clearly that we were not going to compromise on the integrity of the academic experience.” 

Additionally, Willamette continued to host speakers from various backgrounds and political views without feeling restrained by the letter. 

“We just had to make a change in the wording for some things to provide more clarity that our events invite all of our students to come and participate if they choose to. There were not a lot of changes we had to make,” said Juliane Corpus, director of the Office of Intercultural Engagement and Inclusion. 

Many public institutions and higher education campuses around the country have had to alter preexisting support programs, curricula and campus events in order to comply with the contents of the letter. Both Corpus and Landreman voiced that Willamette’s unique position as a private educational institution, however, allowed it to take the criticisms and guidelines from the letter without added federal pressure. 

“To me, it’s a privilege to say that we were not really impacted [by the letter],” Corpus said. “Everything’s been open to our students.”

Willamette does not receive very much monetary support from the government through grants or funding in the first place, Landreman said.

“I get to be in a career where I love showing up [to work] to create opportunities for our students to feel special, and I am happy to see that happen,” Corpus said.