President Trump’s administration is working to end race-based housing by threatening legal actions of the perceived violation of the Fair Housing Act. Ending “affinity housing” is another step in implementing the anti-discrimination law that is spreading across many campuses in varying forms. An investigation was launched in March 2026 to determine the legality of the dorms and whether they were “open to all” students as stated on some of the college websites.
The ongoing attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is permeating through the nation’s educational system and cutting back opportunities for many students of color to attend and graduate from higher education institutions. Now, the eyes of the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are on campus housing and it’s looking to eliminate “race-based” dormitories.
The specialty housing at some institutions was created as a safe space for students of color to be united through culture and personal experiences. However, it’s now recognized as discriminatory and “anti-American propaganda” against students who land outside of those cultures.
Assistant secretary of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Craig Trainor, shared in a LinkedIn post, “When I joined the Administration on January 20, 2025, as one of President Trump’s top civil rights officials, I committed to use every available legal means to end unlawful DEI in the United States. As with most of the terrible ideas that have captured the moral imagination of elites over the last 60 years, ‘the rise of institutionalized separatism on the basis of race’ emanates from the fever swamps of academia.”
Trainor addresses “neo-segregation” after calling out the California State University’s “Black-only” housing, specifically, the Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community. The community is led by the university’s Department of Pan African Studies and “is designed to enhance the residential experience for students who are a part of or interested in issues of concern to the Black community living on campus by offering the opportunity to connect with faculty and peers and engage in programs that focus on academic success, cultural awareness, and civic engagement.”
The administration labeled the practice as a “disturbing trend” and has threatened repercussions of the housing rules aren’t followed. A study led by NAS researcher and Campus Correspondent for The Algemeiner, Dion J. Pierre, shows that roughly 46% of 173 colleges surveyed “segregate student orientation programs, while 43% offered “segregated residential arrangements” and 72% offered segregated graduation ceremonies.
HUD secretary, Scott Turner, told Fox News Digital, “Unlawful discrimination cannot be allowed to poison American communities or separate members of our next generation —especially in college and university housing.”
According to the right-leaning news organization, complaints have also been filed against the University of Connecticut and the University of Minnesota by the Equal Protection Project. The complaints alleged that “schools are operating dorm programs that may be steering students into campus housing services based on race.”
An anonymous UConn spokesperson spoke to Fox News Digital, and explained that "UConn is home to nearly 20 different interdisciplinary living and learning communities within on-campus housing, all of which are organized around students who may have similar interests, backgrounds or academic pursuits, including the three that were specifically named."
Trainor has vowed to stay vigilant in the dismantling of DEI in college housing and has stated that his full support of the president is the fuel that pushes his mission forward: “I put universities, colleges, and schools on notice that the Trump Administration ‘will no longer tolerate the unlawful racial discrimination in university housing that has gone on for far too long in this Nation’s educational institutions.’ The educational-industrial complex would do well to remember: I have not gone away.”
