President Donald Trump’s executive orders to halt all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and enact other workforce policies are reshaping institutions across the government and military, including programs — some of which have been in place for years — within the U.S. Coast Guard and its service academy in New London.
Over the past week, the Coast Guard started shuttering a number of DEI-related programs and offices and removing information about them from its websites. At the Coast Guard Academy, the Office of Culture and Climate has been disbanded, and staff are on paid administrative leave, according to a local union representing some of the workers.
Those actions are in compliance with Trump's Day 1 executive order, taking aim at DEI policies the White House calls "illegal and immoral discrimination programs." Initial guidance wanted agencies to submit written plans by Jan. 31 about reduction-in-force plans, while urging them to start immediately issuing RIF notices to DEI employees. A memo from last week provided more guidance on terminating such offices and staff.
"In accordance with that order, each agency, department, or commission head shall take action to terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and 'environmental justice' offices and positions within sixty days," according to a Friday memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
The shakeup comes in the wake of the abrupt firing of Admiral Linda Fagan, who served as the first female commandant. A senior official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard, cited an "excessive focus" on DEI policies as well as the response to Operation Fouled Anchor, an investigation into sexual misconduct claims at the Coast Guard Academy that was hidden for years.
The Coast Guard had prioritized DEI, particularly as a way to boost recruitment and retention among cadets as well as within the force. In a Coast Guard Academy diversity report submitted to Congress in 2024, Fagan wrote to lawmakers that such initiatives show progress was made "in attracting a workforce that is representative of the nation and preparing culturally competent leaders for the future."
It is unclear how recent changes and directives from the Trump administration could affect such recruitment efforts, particularly as the White House moves closer to reinstating a ban on transgender service members in the armed forces.
A bulletin from the Coast Guard went out Friday directing DEI-related programs to cease activity immediately. That included the Diversity and Inclusion Education and Awareness Program, the Leadership and Diversity Councils, the Coast Guard's Diversity Outreach Program and the Coast Guard’s Affinity Group Program, which started in 2021.
It also applied to the Coast Guard Academy’s Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan 2024-2026, which went into effect early last year. The plan sought to strengthen DEI initiatives at the academy and build an inclusive workforce "with a competitive edge in recruiting diverse candidates for cadets, faculty, and staff in service to our nation." Most of the actionable items had a deadline to be completed by the spring of this year.
At the New London academy, the Office of Culture and Climate shuttered last week, and its employees were placed on paid leave. They could be laid off or reassigned. The OCC has been around for years and was formerly called the Office of Inclusion and Diversity until the name change within the past year. It was tasked with executing the academy's goal to be "fully inclusive and equitable" and worked alongside some of the organizations that have also been forced to shut down in recent days.
The OCC employees, with the exception of the chief culture and climate officer, are represented by the American Federation of Government Employees. AFGE Local 219 has a bargaining unit of several hundred members of Coast Guard civilian employees across a number of states including Connecticut and mainly across the northeast.
Two of the four employees have been placed on paid leave. Officials said they believed the other two were currently on active duty and had not been serving in their roles on the OCC.
A federal law known as the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act or USERRA protects those on active duty and allows them to return to their civilian jobs after deployment.
"It’s really hard on employees right now. Some are very stressed and anxious and concerned," said AFGE Local 219 President Susan Bibeau, who used to serve as the academy's director of admissions before retiring in 2010. "The union is certainly representing any employees affected vigorously, and we’ll do everything we can under the law to protect their rights."
Links to these offices and programs have since been removed from the Coast Guard and Academy’s websites. Error messages like "Page Not Found" and "404" pop up on websites that use to house information about these initiatives.
The Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment about the termination of DEI offices, including the OCC staffers placed on paid leave at the academy.
An email was sent to federal employees last week about reporting continued DEI initiatives or efforts to mask them. Workers could face "adverse" consequences for not notifying the U.S. Office of Personnel Management within 10 days.
Whether cultural and social groups at the Coast Guard Academy can still operate is unclear.
Affinity councils were described as places where cadets "embrace the philosophical, intellectual, and operational value of diversity, equity, and inclusion," according to the Cadet Life Brief for the Class of 2026. Some open to all Coast Guard cadets include the Asian Pacific American Council, Women’s Leadership Council, Hillel, Compañeros, International Cadet Council, Tribal Council and Diversity Peer Educators.
Many of them have been part of academy life for decades. The Genesis Council was the first diversity council on campus that started in the 1970s to foster community around African American cultures. And the Spectrum Council was established in 2011 as the first gay-straight alliance at a military service academy and supports LGBTQ+ cadets.
Beyond DEI, the early days of Trump's presidency have rapidly sought to remake the federal government and reduce its workforce through other means. He signed another executive order last week to impose a hiring freeze of federal civilian employees and prevent positions that were vacant when he took office on Jan. 20 from being filled and to stop the creation of new positions.
This week, federal employees received emails giving them the option to resign by Feb. 6 and get paid through Sept. 30. But the deferred resignations have raised legal questions, and unions expressed caution to "not take the program at face value" because of OPM "vague" criteria and no guarantee resignations will be accepted.
But the hiring freeze order makes exceptions for military personnel of the armed forces and other jobs regarding "immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety." The day after it was implemented, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs requested the exemption of hundreds of thousands of health care jobs.
It remains unclear what exemptions could apply for employees at the Department of Homeland Security or the Coast Guard.
The administration has also asked agencies to provide a list of all employees who are still in their probationary period. Those who are within that one-year window have little recourse to appeal if they face termination.
This week, Trump signed more orders related to the military and DEI that could lead to another ban on transgender service members like the one from his first term in 2017. It comes a week after he reversed the Biden administration's policy to allow transgender people to enlist and serve. While the Coast Guard is not governed by the Pentagon like other branches, the new orders direct Homeland Security to update its guidance and directives with respect to the Coast Guard.
Trump and critics of DEI argue those policies disadvantage people in schools and the workplace in what should be a merit-based system.
But those opposed to Trump's orders contend they are anti-worker policies aimed at hindering apolitical civil service workers as well as a diverse federal workforce. Supporters of DEI believe it has helped fight back against years of discrimination that have kept people of color and other marginalized communities from advancing.
"Undoing these programs is just another way for President Trump to undermine the merit-based civil service and turn federal hiring and firing decisions into loyalty tests," AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a statement. "Our nation’s military leaders have said that eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within the Defense Department risks undermining military readiness."
The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
