The University of Montana last week directed leaders of all campus operations to conduct a thorough review of their programs and activities for compliance with new legal guidance from the U.S. Department of Education — the latest in a series of evolving developments around President Donald Trump’s fast-paced agenda to rid the federal government of “woke” policies.
According to a memo distributed by UM Institutional Compliance Director Jessica Weltman and obtained by Montana Free Press, the campuswide “compliance audit” comes in response to a trio of recent executive orders barring educational institutions from employing certain race- and diversity-based practices. Failure to comply could result in the Trump administration withholding federal funding from those institutions, though Weltman noted that UM “believes it is currently in compliance” with all new federal directives.
“We’ve never done race-based admissions or hiring or anything like that, but to do our due diligence, we are doing kind of a two-week kind of compliance review,” UM Director of Strategic Communications Dave Kuntz told MTFP on Feb. 21.
Kuntz added the review is being conducted by department heads across the Missoula campus, who were asked in the past few days to begin combing websites, grants, policies and recruitment and hiring practices for any potential “points of friction” with federal guidance. Those reviews should be submitted by Tuesday, Kuntz continued, at which point UM’s legal office, which is three employees and one compliance officer, will begin making determinations as to what may or may not violate Trump’s orders.
The risk of noncompliance to federal funding was emphasized in a Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter penned by the education department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor and sent to all colleges, universities and K-12 systems nationwide. In the letter, Trainor summarized the department’s latest legal interpretations of Trump’s orders as well as a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting race-based affirmative action programs in higher education. Trainor declared the administration would “vigorously enforce” those interpretations.
“The department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this nation’s educational institutions,” Trainor wrote. “The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.”
After MTFP’s initial conversation with Kuntz, a federal judge in Baltimore issued a preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s DEI-focused executive orders, raising further questions about the timeline for widespread compliance. Kuntz informed MTFP on Monday that UM is aware of the injunction but will “still press forward” with the process outlined in its memo last week. He again reiterated the administration’s confidence that UM policies and programs already align with the executive orders.
Courts have halted a string of executive orders from President Donald Trump impacting federal funding for campus-based research. In Montana, universities are keeping their work going while closely monitoring a situation that could affect their ability to maintain high-end equipment, labs and scientific innovation.
UM isn’t alone in taking action this month to probe its policies and procedures for potential violations. In the wake of the “Dear Colleague” letter, campuses across the country have begun taking similar steps to ensure they don’t lose access to federal funds. On Feb. 19, Montana Commissioner of Higher Education Clay Christian received a memo from his office’s chief legal counsel encouraging campuses to “be vigilant to ensure that they do not have programs or practices that do not provide universal access or that segregate students or distribute benefits or burdens based on race.”
The memo further stated that following the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education had investigated and determined that no campuses in the system use race-based classifications in their admissions process. It also affirmed that Montana Board of Regents policy already directs campuses in the system not to adopt employment or educational policies of their own that discriminate on the basis of “race, religion, creed, political ideas, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, national origin, or ancestry.”
The legal memo from Christian’s office also clarified a point Kuntz addressed in his interview with MTFP. Asked about the “Dear Colleague” letter’s effects on efforts to bolster Indigenous student recruitment and retention, Kuntz noted that a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court decision recognized tribal enrollment as a political classification, not a race-based one.
“We have this talk a lot during legislative sessions regarding the Native American tuition waiver and eligibility for it and the constitutionality of it,” Kuntz said. “The designation of Native American students is different from students of a race — of white, African-American, Asian descent, etc.”
Montana State University spokesperson Tracy Ellig echoed that position in an email to MTFP Monday afternoon, noting MSU’s support initiatives for Indigenous students are “not different from efforts across the campuses of the university system that have been reviewed and approved by the Montana Board of Regents over many decades.” Ellig added the campus’ processes and policies have already been crafted in accordance to nondiscrimination laws and constitutional provisions and that all programs, events and activities are designed to “open doors and broaden access without excluding anyone.”
“As indicated in the order from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, it is unclear whether programs that were developed under previous legal frameworks are now considered to be illegal,” Ellig wrote, referencing last week’s injunction. “MSU will continue to monitor the litigation and guidance, and if the legal standards change we will revise our programming accordingly.”
Miles Community College President Ron Slinger said via email he too was confident that his campus is already in full compliance with new federal guidance, having reviewed MCC’s policies and procedures against the “Dear Colleague” letter. Community colleges practice open enrollment by nature, Slinger wrote, “so as a basic practice, no one is ever turned away.”
The compliance audit at UM comes amid a growing list of questions about how the Trump administration’s agenda stands to impact other federally supported facets of the campus, including money essential for faculty and student research. In an email to MTFP on Monday, Vice President for Research and Creative Scholarship Scott Whittenburg echoed Kuntz’s stance that UM policies already preclude preferences on the basis of protected identities such as race.
However, he noted various federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of State have requested proof that certain awards and contracts do not contain DEI language. In some cases, Whittenburg said, research awards are being “canceled or modified without the opportunity for amendment,” potentially impacting sources of funding that support research infrastructure and income for technicians, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.
“In addition, some of the agency letters are asking that the university, as the recipient of federal funding, certify compliance with executive orders related to DEI,” Whittenburg wrote. “UM is undergoing a review of all of its content, processes and forms to assure compliance in good faith.”
Whittenburg added that both offices he oversees — the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship and the Graduate School — are working to gather the material requested by the UM administration. Elsewhere on campus, UM School of Journalism Director Lee Banville is exercising extreme caution in response to last week’s memo. Speaking with MTFP, Banville said he’s concerned with the vagueness of the education department’s “Dear Colleague” letter and believes that in rushing to submit a review of the journalism school’s activities, he may run the risk of underreporting or overreporting on potential compliance issues. Either way, he continued, the result could be negative for his program and UM as a whole.
“I honestly don’t know what they want, and that is scary because I don’t want to set the university up to fail because I didn’t supply the information they needed,” Banville said. “My focus is just on getting more information so that if and when I respond to the request, it’s accurate, it’s timely and it’s what they need to know.”
McKenna Gregg, spokesperson for the state Office of Public Instruction that oversees K-12 public schools, said via email that while the “Dear Colleague” letter was addressed to all educational institutions in the country, the impacts of the new legal guidance on public schools under OPI’s purview would be “limited.” Gregg added that the letter “does not have the force or effect of law, nor does it bind the public or create new legal standards.”
“We will continue to monitor the situation and remain in communication with various officials at the [U.S.] Department of Education,” Gregg said.
Kuntz stated that until the legal office has completed its review of the departmental compliance audits, UM too is waiting to see what unfolds.
“One thing I can say that’s incredibly clear is UM’s institutional commitment to tearing down barriers and providing educational opportunities and workforce training opportunities to all Montanans, that’s not going to waver and that’s not going to change,” Kuntz said. “We, though, also have the responsibility to follow the law, follow these executive orders, work with the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to make sure that we are compliant, too.”
Asked how UM President Seth Bodnar might approach any conflicts between the new federal guidance and UM’s guiding mission, Kuntz said it was too early to say for sure, noting that the campus’ compliance review will continue to unfold over the next 10 days.
