Court Orders Department of Education to Reinstate Southern Education Foundation’s Equity Assistance Center Grant While Case Proceeds
May 22, 2025 (ATLANTA) – A judge in the District of Columbia District Court granted Southern Education Foundation’s (SEF) motion for preliminary injunction on Wednesday in SEF’s case against the U.S. Department of Education (Department) seeking reinstatement of its Equity Assistance Center program grant. The court ordered the Department to reinstate the grant terminated on February 13, 2025, and reimburse SEF for all outstanding expenses, finding that the Department’s termination likely violated federal law.
The grant allows SEF to operate the Equity Assistance Center-South (EAC-South), which serves public school districts and state agencies in 11 Southern states by providing technical assistance, at their request, to support compliance with federal civil rights law. Equity Assistance Centers were originally known as Desegregation Assistance Centers. In its grant termination letter, the Department alleged SEF conducted illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. SEF’s mission for more than 150 years has been to advance educational opportunity for Black students in the South, dating back to the late 1800s when it supported education for individuals recently emancipated from enslavement.
“In view of the history of race in America and the mission of SEF since the Civil War, the audacity of terminating its grants based on ‘DEI’ concerns is truly breathtaking,” the court wrote in its May 21, 2025 opinion.
The court order pertains only to a preliminary injunction and not the overarching case, but the court found that SEF is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that the Department acted unfairly and unlawfully when it ended the grant.
In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court held that racial segregation in public education was unconstitutional and ordered its elimination “with all deliberate speed.” “The Department’s decision contravenes the very principle of ‘deliberate speed’ mandated by Brown I.,” wrote the court. “‘Brown never contemplated that the concept of ‘deliberate speed’ would countenance indefinite delay in elimination of racial barriers in schools.’ (citation omitted) Nor did President Eisenhower and the courageous judges in the South who interpreted Brown. They could hardly have imagined that some future Presidential Administration would hinder efforts by organizations like SEF – based on some misguided understanding of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ – to fulfill Brown’s constitutional promise to students across the country to eradicate the practice of racial segregation.”
“With this order, the court takes a stand for the Rule of Law annunciated in Brown and for the prohibition against racial segregation as congressionally enacted by the 1964 Civil Rights Act. ,” said SEF President and CEO Raymond Pierce. “This decision represents an important step toward protecting what never should be under threat – federal support for equal education opportunity regardless of race.
This work is not controversial. It’s constitutional. When the more than 130 active school desegregation court orders across the South have been fully resolved, and all students enjoy the full educational opportunities guaranteed under federal law, SEF will be the first to suggest closing out this grant. Until then, we seek to continue to uphold the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown by providing technical assistance to schools through the EAC-South.”
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