In a commendable move toward meritocracy, the University of Denver has announced the elimination of race-based scholarships and a scaling back of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

This decision, driven by a $12 million budget shortfall and the need to align with recent Department of Justice directives under the Trump administration, reflects a growing recognition that such programs perpetuate division rather than foster unity and equality.

Chancellor Jeremy Haefner wisely noted that scholarships directed toward protected classes are now “clearly articulated as unlawful,” prioritizing compliance to safeguard federal funding for research and aid. By shedding these outdated practices, DU positions itself as a leader in higher education, emphasizing individual achievement over group identity.

This shift at DU is part of a broader national trend of American institutions abandoning affirmative action and DEI frameworks. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against racist, anti-Asian admissions at Harvard University, numerous colleges have reevaluated their policies.

In February 2025, the Department of Education issued directives instructing universities to suspend all race-based programs, including scholarships and DEI efforts, with threats to withhold federal funds. Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Iowa are among those reversing their DEI stances amid this surge of cuts.

In Ohio, higher education officials began reviewing diversity scholarships post-ruling, signaling a statewide pivot. These examples illustrate a collective awakening: policies once hailed as progressive are now seen as discriminatory.

At its core, racism is the practice of focusing on immutable genetics as more important than intellect and character — human qualities that have no nexus with a person’s ethnic lineage or skin tone. Giving special privilege to a person who is Black, Brown, gender dysphoric, or gay is to suggest that individual is inherently less capable than someone who is heterosexual, White, and grew up in privilege.

It is the promoters of race-based benefits who think the average White American is somehow superior, thus necessitating special treatment for those who don’t fit the whatever mold they consider normal. This discrimination, though disguised as equity and compassion, is not substantially different from the bias that manifested in segregated schools and Jim Crow laws.

Through eras of racism cloaked in seemingly righteous justifications, people of all colors, religions, creeds, and ethnic identities have battled through oppression and prejudice to cure diseases, invent legendary products, create timeless art, and set new standards of intelligence and achievement. The self-aggrandizing practice of cookie-cutter humans granting artificial advantage to those they deem different is nothing more than ugly old prejudice, racism, and bigotry wrapped in vellum and a bow.

Americans are on to the disguise like never before, so expect these practices to quickly go the way of “Latinx,” Blackface, and White educators promoting Ebonics. As DU and others lead this charge, we applaud their commitment to a colorblind society in which merit reigns supreme. True progress demands we judge by character, intellect, and achievement — not color — a principle that will endure long beyond diehard vestiges of racism disguised as virtue.