How to Achieve Your Equity Goals Under the Trump Administration

Harmonizing Equity and Survival in a Shifting Political Climate

Leaders, colleagues, and learners—

The federal government wants a fight. Here’s how we win. 

Here’s a quick-hitting, four-part strategy to win without even breaking a sweat.

👋🏿Oh, and there’s a treat at the end of this post📨.

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Part #1: Don’t Be Fooled

We know higher education has been America’s greatest engine of prosperity. Despite the flawed cost-benefit analyses being circulated in public discourse, we know the truth: college changes lives and communities! It is a source of immense national value, and it always has been.

For nearly a century, higher education has fueled economic and social mobility. I often remind people that the 1944 GI Bill, which enabled about 9 million Americans to attend college between 1944 and 1980, didn’t just expand opportunity—it built the middle class. From 1940 to 1980, college enrollment grew from 1.14% to 4.85% of Americans. That’s more than a fourfold increase! The promise of higher education was real. During this period, our field was an engine for diversity, equity and inclusion!

Our field has been the most successful vehicle for equity and for millions, it delivered.

Despite the rhetoric and the attacks, let’s be clear: America still needs the equitable outcomes that only higher education has consistently delivered. Whether we realize it, most people reading this post have far better lives today because of higher education’s equity contributions of yesterday.

When higher education rises, all sails rise with it—even those of its fiercest critics.

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Part #2: Be Victors, Not Victims.

We must remain focused on our mission even with chaos surrounding us. 

Right now, we’re facing something unprecedented: a federal government that seems intent on undermining the very institutions that have driven America’s progress. In this new kind of war—where colleges are painted as adversaries rather than allies—there’s a dangerous temptation to adopt a victim mindset.

We must resist that temptation.

I’ve attended four national conferences since Inauguration Day, and far too many sessions have been dominated by despair and complaints about the federal government’s stance on education. While these emotions are real, they’re rooted in a false narrative of powerlessness.

We are not powerless. We have agency. And despite the hostility, higher education can prevail. But we do it not by reacting with outrage—we do it by staying strategic, focused, and bold.

We must maintain a victorious mindset, especially while under siege. 

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Part #3: Maintaining Focus Is Your Real Fight

Recently, during a virtual meeting I hosted with college leaders across North America, a university president voiced the question on everyone’s mind:

How do we continue working toward our equity goals—goals that are central to our mission—without losing the federal funding we need to fulfill our mission?

Bingo! That was the right question.

I understand the instinct to fight. When one of my California clients decided to “lawyer up” and take the administration head-on, I respected their courage. But I advised them to choose a smarter path—not because they were wrong, but because I’ve seen how these fights go.

The federal government has virtually unlimited financial and human resources. They can outlast most institutions. Fighting them drains our most vital asset: focus. And once we lose that, we are losing the fight.

So my advice? Don’t fight. Win.

The best fighters win without working up a sweat—by using their opponents’ momentum against them. This administration’s plate will only get fuller. With conflicts brewing at home and abroad, fragmentation can work in our favor — if we allow it to do so. As the federal government’s focus switches, we must stay uber-focused on our mission. 

For us, winning means staying laser-focused on our mission: helping students grow, graduate, get good jobs, become lifelong learners and civic contributors. That’s where real equity lives. That’s how we meet our operational metrics and fulfill our institutional charters.

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Part #4: Align Your Methods With Your Mission

We have a window to solve a problem that I’m not sure many educators know we have had. College leaders have fallen in love with data dashboards. More precisely, we love what we perceive dashboards will deliver: accessible, actionable data that empowers us to make informed decisions and improve outcomes across our institutions. Instead, decisions often remain unclear, and improvements are minimal. Our current tools will not help us realize this promise.

Why? Because many dashboards are shaped more by technology industry interests than by academic principles. This disconnect limits their usefulness in our context. Now, we have an opportunity to shift our approach—and align our tools with our mission.

That shift begins with how we identify students in our data. Rather than relying on demographic categories that have become political flashpoints, we turn to academic performance indicators. We still know who needs support—and we can reach them effectively, without setting off alarms.

That’s why I created the AWF/Trench Data Dashboard. It helps institutions advance equity without relying on flagged identifiers. It keeps the work moving forward—strategically, quietly, effectively.

Click the Image Below To See what Trench Data can do for you.⬇️

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Conclusion:

The Americans who fought and returned from WWII are often called The Greatest Generation, in part because they made the American Dream real for many more Americans. But let’s not lose sight of how they did it.

They achieved this by expanding college access, diversifying who could attend and opening doors for people who had not been included. This expansion helped more Americans experience equity; they began to believe the American Dream included them. And with that new sense of equity came a deeper sense of inclusion, as more people saw real opportunities to improve their lives.

DEI may be under attack. But DEI will never die, because if it does, then so does the American Dream. And if we stop dreaming, how can we ever be great again?🤔

So, see yourself as a victor. You are not a powerless victim!

Stay focused on winning, not just fighting.

Let’s align our methods with our mission.

We can win. We can execute our mission.

We can exceed our enrollment goals, even in this unfavorable environment.

We can increase our outcomes — graduation, employment, and long-term impact.

And when these four years are over, we’ll hold our heads high, knowing we didn’t just survive.

We thrived!

These four parts are connected to a larger winning strategy. Please share your thoughts and solutions in the comment section. Your contribution is greatly appreciated!

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YOU ARE INVITED⬇️