By CLAIRE WINTER

Since taking office in January of this year, President Donald Trump has rolled out more than 70 executive orders, on everything from IVF to an attempt to reverse birthright citizenship. Among the slew of new measures was a temporary freeze on all federal grant funding. By the end of the month, Trump pushed out a Title IX measure that reinforced “protections on the basis of biological sex” in federal schools. On February 14, Trump released a memo that threatened several colleges’ funding if they did not remove DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives in their financial aid or admissions decisions. Although there are no outlined criteria for what this means on a broad scale, it could affect anything from college essays to the elimination of requiring standardized testing.  

Beloit College is a private college, meaning that this onslaught of executive orders may not be hitting as if the college were more dependent on government grants. However, Beloit College still provides several grants to its students via the Federal Pell Grant and the Federal Direct Loan for college students. Both of these programs, while not directly linked to Beloit College’s funding, are critical for current or prospective students who might not otherwise be able to afford tuition. The predicted cumulative cost for the 2025-26 school year at Beloit, before scholarships or financial aid and with indirect costs and fees included, is $52,216.

Schools have made concerted efforts  to block, or simply not comply with, Trump’s initiatives in advance. Some smaller colleges, such as Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, report that, “For now, nothing has changed.” Others, such as Oregon State University, say that they believe their programs are already in full compliance with the Trump administration’s standards. 

Trump’s new EO’s aren’t just affecting college students and staff during their time at Beloit College. A January 27th executive order to freeze all federal grants and loans, while having been paused, is still a heavy threat to contend with. For students hoping for a summer program or internship, the loss of this federal funding could mean the loss of post-graduate work that many rely on. 

“There is some talk with my previous lab…I know that some other folks have partners who are working in labs…that are not getting that funding,” says Allison Nickel, a visiting professor of psychology at Beloit College. As of the time of reporting, the freeze is blocked by federal judges, and arguments are being heard. 

“[We] haven’t had anything formal from the college yet,” Nickel adds, “I think the biggest question right now is whether or not somebody’s actually gonna step in and prevent these things from happening.” On February 7th, a week before Trump’s DEI memo was released, several Beloit professors, including Rachel Bergstrom, Beth Dougherty, Klara Fredriksson, Pablo Toral, and Leslie Williams held a panel discussion about how the recent changes would affect Beloit students. And while the Dean of Students Office could not be reached for comment, recent emails from the Dean of Students, Ron Watson, stated that Beloit was “committed to doing what [they could] to connect students, staff, and faculty to available resources”. 

While Trump’s first few months in office have been filled with chaos, when asked if there was any sweeping change within the administration or faculty at Beloit College, Nickel said, “I haven’t made any changes to the way I teach…with DEI stuff. I haven’t revamped my syllabi yet. I do get the feeling that while we might have to make some concessions, that we’re not going to stop talking about any of that stuff…At this moment, none of the admin…are going to flip a switch and decide that we’re not going to try to protect the students in some way.” 

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