Conflict of interest statement: While writing this article, I found it very hard to refrain from adding my personal opinion on the results of the election, as well as new executive action from President Trump. To prevent bias, I pulled my information directly from Trump’s White House website, and only used other sources to support this. Insomuch, the only personal statement in this article is the last sentence. Regardless of my political identity, or of yours, I urge you to take this article into consideration and think about the consequences of these executive actions. To create a well-rounded article, I attempted to interview people who had different opinions, however I struggled in the short amount of time I had. I invite those who have different opinions to write to Brackety-Ack and continue to share your opinion. However, this article is not political by any means. Several of these actions and those revoked will create human rights issues. I urge you to approach this with an open and empathetic mind, because these actions will affect your classmates, your professors, your family, and the rest of the world.
On his first day in office Donald J. Trump, the 47th President of the United States, signed 20 new executive orders. These actions can be found on the White House website, which upon visiting you are greeted with a screen-wide image of Trump himself. Within the first week of his presidency, he made changes regarding energy, AI investments, as well as race and gender relations. According to the White House, “common sense has been restored to the government.”
Within these actions was a mandate that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) federal staff be placed on leave. Trump also revoked the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1965 (Executive Order 11246), which required affirmative action and prohibited discrimination regardless of race or sex in the federal hiring process.
Trump also revoked several executive orders from former president Joe Biden. On the day of his inauguration, January 20, 2025, Trump revoked 78 “harmful executive orders and actions”, including orders that prevented discrimination, COVID-19 Pandemic response orders, climate action, as well as infrastructure and job investments.
President Trump revoked Executive Orders 13988, 13985, 14050, 14075 and 14021, which prevented discrimination against gender, sexual orientation, and even race; as well as 17 other actions that prevented discrimination and created equal opportunity for minorities. He did this because “The injection of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ into our institutions has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy,” according to the White House website.
Many executive actions promoting clean energy and combating climate change were also revoked in this process, and new investments have been made in the energy sector in the state of Alaska. The Trump Administration states on the White House website, that they will work through environmental and business regulations to “unleash Alaska’s resource potential”. This executive order states they will revoke agency action that was adopted between January 20, 2021 and January 20, 2025 to achieve this.
Donald Trump has also put a pause on health communication by silencing health agencies within the government, such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the Washington Post, this has limited communication between these agencies and local healthcare systems, affecting the health of Americans everywhere.
“The Trump administration’s approach to public health is dangerous. It is unstable and unsafe. From a pathogen’s point of view, ripe for exploitation,” said Professor of Biology Jonathan Joyce, “They have taken a sledgehammer to public health. All this in service of cheaper eggs and a cheaper gallon of gas.”
Now Donald Trump sought to suspend federal grants and loans, which could have included federal grants and loans given to universities for research. The White House claims that “The use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars”. Federal courts shut this attempt down on January 28, according to NPR.
Questions still remain as to what is next for the current administration, and if students and faculty at Roanoke College will be affected by future grant and loan shut-downs. If so, then the price of gas better be cheaper.
Kara Hopkins
Staff Reporter
