AFT, AFT-MD, American Sociological Association file to challenge administration’s  “Dear Colleague Letter” in defense of students nationwide

Baltimore, MD – A coalition including nationwide groups of educators, teachers and sociologists have filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Education’s “Dear Colleague Letter,” which is a new policy that threatens to withhold federal funding for any education institutions that do not comply by February 28 with its unprecedented weaponization and undermining of civil rights laws. In addition to withholding funds, the letter also threatens educators and schools with potential investigations and prosecutions.

The suit, filed in federal court in Maryland, is brought by the AFT, AFT-MD, and the American Sociological Association. The complaint challenges a “Dear Colleague Letter” published by the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights on February 14, 2025, which threatened that federal funding would be withheld from education institutions that teach accurate history and lessons about slavery, diversity and inclusion, among other efforts. The complaint argues that the “Dear Colleague Letter” will do a disservice to students and ultimately the nation by weakening schools as portals to opportunity and incubators for creative, innovative, and critical thinking. 

“The Department of Education’s new policy, reflected in the February Dear Colleague Letter, seeks to undermine our nation’s educational institutions and is an unlawful attempt to impose this administration’s particular views, which are not based in the law, of how schools and teachers should operate. This is un-American and unlawful,” said Democracy Forward President & CEO Skye Perryman. “We will continue to pursue every legal opportunity to oppose and stop harmful attacks on freedom of expression and on the values like inclusion, diversity, and belonging that make us all and our nation stronger. We are honored to work with the American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Teachers-Maryland, and the American Sociological Association to fight back against Trump’s unlawful action.”

“It’s our job as educators to foster opportunity, dignity and engagement. We create safe and welcoming classrooms where students are cared for and accepted. We teach the skills and knowledge they need to navigate a diverse and complex world. And we value critical thinking, which requires us to present history in an open and honest way,” said Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers. “This vague and clearly unconstitutional memo is a grave attack on students, our profession and knowledge itself. It would hamper efforts to extend access to education, and dash the promise of equal opportunity for all, a central tenant of the United States since its founding. It would ban meaningful instruction on slavery, the Missouri Compromise, the Emancipation Proclamation, the forced relocation of Native American tribes, the laws of Jim Crow, Brown v. Board of Education, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. It would upend campus life. Federal statute already prohibits any president from telling schools and colleges what to teach. And students have the right to learn without the threat of culture wars waged by extremist politicians hanging over their heads. Our suit exposes these harms and shows how this memo’s arbitrary and capricious reasoning flies in the face of both American values and established law.” 

“Trump’s Department of Education is undermining the freedom of every student in Maryland and across the country to learn honest history, stoking more fear and division in the classroom. In a country where there should be no barriers on education, this broad-reaching and unlawful attack threatens the functionality of our public schools,” said AFT Maryland President Kenya Campbell. “We cannot meet the needs of every student, if we cannot teach the diverse and complex history of every student, and that is why AFT Maryland has joined this lawsuit – to ensure the honest education of all who learn in Maryland and across the country, from K-12 schools in our most vulnerable communities to our higher education institutions.”

“Sociologists examine society and group behavior, including race and racial inequality,” said American Sociological Association President Adia Harvey Wingfield. “Studying and teaching about social movements like the Civil Rights Movement, economic disparities caused by redlining, or immigration policies is impossible without acknowledging the central role of race in these and many other social phenomena. This memo doesn’t just hinder sociologists from doing our jobs or merely violate our right to free speech— it inflicts a profound disservice upon students who gain from a more comprehensive understanding of the world and upon society as a whole that benefits from our discoveries about human behavior.” 

Please find the full complaint here. 

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Democracy Forward is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.