A former leader of the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights said she’s “frustrated” with schools that are changing DEI policies in an effort to keep federal funding.

Catherine Lhamon, who led the federal office during the Biden administration, said universities should stop responding to President Donald Trump’s request to end DEI programming unless he can put the force of Congress behind his words.

“We’ve put ourselves as a nation in the position where there’s a witch hunt about a set of activities that are perfectly lawful, that are actually public goods, that are actually consistent with our highest national aspirations,” Lhamon said on a panel in St. Louis at the Education Writers Association conference.

Hundreds of public and private colleges across the country have closed offices, changed hiring practices, ended scholarships and scrubbed websites. Some edits appear to be in name only, while others shift longstanding efforts to recruit underrepresented students and staff.

Ted Mitchell, president of the American College of Education, agreed with Lhamon’s critiques. He cited Alabama as a test case for Trump’s effort — and a warning of potential effects.

In 2024, Alabama passed a law that stopped universities from teaching “divisive concepts” or funding programs that support one race or group above another.

Alabama colleges closed DEI offices and ended support for some student programs.

This summer, schools cited federal pressure as they continued to make changes. The University of Alabama at Birmingham has ended a scholarship for Black medical students and the University of Alabama lost funding for a program that helped Black women study computer science.

Sydney Testman is a student at UAB and a plaintiff in a federal case challenging Alabama’s law.

“My university made the decision to pre-emptively comply and change their DEI office name, unfund student organizations and start stripping scholarships and stipends,” she said.

Testman said she lost her campus job and had to find other ways to pay for her tuition.

“Now that this office’s name has changed, their mission may have to change now, and once their mission has changed, they may not be able to help the same students that they helped before,” Testman said.

Another UAB student, Miguel Luna, said on a different panel that he was “pretty disappointed with how my university responded.”

UAB did not respond to a request for comment before publication Tuesday. A system spokeswoman previously told AL.com that, “We will continue our important work of expanding and supporting the community of students we serve, and we are grateful to our donors for their support of this mission.”

A February “Dear Colleague” letter from the administration warned colleges and K-12 schools that access to federal funding was at risk if they promote what the agency labels “pervasive and repugnant” racial preferences. Lhamon noted that courts have challenged that guidance.

Still, “a lot of schools are responding as if what is in that Dear Colleague letter is law,” Lhamon said.

Mitchell said presidents are experiencing fear and chaos.

“Every morning, Harvard loses money because it tripped on a trip wire it didn’t know existed,” he said.

“There’s no consistency, there’s no rationality, the world is turned upside down.”