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On Friday afternoon, approximately 50 students gathered on the Main Green to protest the Trump administration’s recent actions targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programming and the Department of Education. The rally was organized by activist organization Students for Educational Equity and endorsed by the Undergraduate Council of Students.
“If they try to get rid of DEI programming, if they try to get rid of safe spaces for students, students will fight back,” SEE Co-President Nick Lee ’26 said in an interview with The Herald.
Trump has threatened to dismantle the Department of Education, and his administration has vowed to cut federal funding for universities that do not restrict race-conscious programs, including DEI initiatives.
In his remarks at the rally, Lee emphasized the importance of diversity in education and supporting students of different backgrounds. He said the Trump administration has been targeting students for their identities, which has “made learning dangerous.”
“I believe that the core of education is always the students, and therefore the movements defending it will start with us too,” Lee said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Lee also pointed to the federal government’s response to on-campus protests as making students more hesitant to organize against the administration’s recent actions.
On Friday, the Trump administration announced that it would cut $400 million in federal funding to Columbia, claiming that the school has failed to protect Jewish students from harassment. Trump previously vowed to cancel visas for international students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests. He also threatened last week to cut off funding for any university “that allows illegal protests.”
“Right now, protestors are scared,” Lee told The Herald.
In her speech at the rally, UCS President Niyanta Nepal ’25 said the current political climate has stifled protest participation.
“I think about how many people wish they could be here (at the rally), but don’t feel like they can be here because they feel like they’re putting their families at risk,” she said.
UCS endorsed the rally because the council believes it is “necessary to protect student’s civil liberties in light of the federal actions being taken,” Nepal wrote in an email to The Herald.
The rally also focused on the experiences of undocumented+ students at Brown and across the country following recent actions by the Trump administration to increase immigration restrictions and deportations.
Axel Martinez ’26, the co-founder of the Brown Dream Team — an organization that supports undocumented+ students at Brown — said in his speech at the rally that the undocumented+ community is “under attack.”
“We have to fight for the people that unfortunately do not have the same privileges as us,” Martinez said.
For Lee, federal policy regarding immigration, DEI and education are connected.
“The attacks on the (Education Department), on DEI, on transgender and queer students, on undocumented students and student protesters, are all part of the same attack on students’ civil rights,” Lee said.
Annika Singh is a senior staff writer from Singapore who enjoys rewatching Succession and cheating on the NYT crossword.
Sophia Wotman is a University news editor covering activism and affinity & identity. She is a junior from Long Island, New York concentrating in Political Science with a focus on women’s rights. She is a jazz trumpet player, and often performs on campus and around Providence.
