The DOJ announce last week that it is investigating ASU after recent viral videos found the school guilty of discrimination based on race, according to the press release.
Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said that the U.S. is “committed to keeping universities free of unlawful discrimination — especially when they try to hide illegal conduct to avoid oversight and compliance.”
While not officially stated as the source of said videos, Accuracy in Media found seven different ASU staff members that bragged about including DEI in their curriculums. The State Press reported in February and March on AIM’s previous videos exposing four staff members. AIM also posted videos in April and May, and in their most recent video, an ASU administrator admitted the school engages in DEI practices.
The university then ignored AIM's request for further comment on the viral videos.
In 2025, President Donald Trump issued a federal executive order that aimed to crack down on DEI in higher education. This caused public universities to eliminate or rename DEI programs, to remove DEI wording from websites and policies and to review programs to stay in compliance or risk the loss of federal funding.
However, the work done at colleges across the country by AIM shows that these anti-DEI measures are not hard enough on DEI in colleges and universities.
Adam Guillete, president of AIM, says that he thinks the anti-DEI laws are rarely, if ever, enforced.
“I'm not really aware of anywhere where it is being enforced, and that's because most of the state bans on DEI aren't worth the paper they're printed on,” Guillete says.
Guillete believes that states need to draft a law like the state of Florida's, which restricts curriculum by prohibiting universities from promoting identity politics. He also says that states need stronger consequences for those found guilty of being in violation of the law.
“Anybody caught breaking a law while working for the taxpayer should never be allowed to collect a taxpayer funded paycheck again, and they should be stripped of their pension,” Guillete says.
The Civil Rights Division of the DOJ has yet to reach any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation.
