WASHINGTON – The Trump administration inactivated more than 1,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture training programs in February in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion and “gender ideology extremism.”

In the mix of cancellations, however, are courses that don’t appear to be related to diversity or gender.

Internal documents obtained by The Spokesman-Review through a public records request show 1,176 courses in USDA’s “AgLearn” software, used to train employees, were cut in February as a result of President Donald Trump’s goals to end DEI and “gender ideology” in the federal government in order to “defend women,” a January executive order states.

Despite that stated goal for the training cuts, courses terminated include training about preventing harassment and sexual harassment in the workplace; how to handle conflict and bullying; and women in technology, science or fire-related professions.

Other courses eliminated include: “Veterans Day Event – Our Story” and “Veterans Day Celebration Remembering Many Honoring All” were inactivated due to DEI, documents say. So was “Americans with Disabilities Act: An Overview for Managers,” “Autism in the Workplace,” “Start Young for Your Best Retirement” and a harassment course titled, “Workplace Violence – Hostile Environment Claims.”

Courses that have seemingly little to do with diversity were also scrapped, such as training about minerals and geology, plants or trees, how to analyze data, and courses about managing security risks.

“When I opened the document, I was shocked,” said Dariely Rodriguez, acting co-chief counsel of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Not only did it include things that I expected, like eliminating bias or addressing bias, but also courses that are impartial to ensuring a workplace is safe and respectful – courses that, frankly, you need to comply with the mandates of Title VII, prohibiting discrimination in the workplace. It’s heartbreaking to see.”

Trump’s anti-diversity push made waves across the country when federal employees working in diversity-centric offices were laid off. He went on to rescind a 1965 order establishing equal opportunity policies for federal contractors, effectively eliminate mentions of transgender people within government, freeze funding for organizations that didn’t adhere to his DEI standards and ax endowments and grants for cultural organizations and museums. Earlier this month, the administration sent a letter to state education departments across the U.S. warning them to sign a certification pledging against DEI practices in their schools or lose federal funding.

The purge of DEI-related topics has created disarray within some federal agencies constantly at the whim of back-and-forth changes – in March, the Trump administration wiped at least a dozen online pages honoring female Air Force pilots for spotlighting gender and sex. Some of those included retired Maj. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, the first female fighter pilot, pages about World War II female pilots and other photos and videos, according to the Air Force Times.

Some pages removed after an administration anti-DEI order, such as one highlighting the military career of Jackie Robinson or the Tuskegee Airmen, were restored after public backlash.

“We are seeing really absurd and outrageous results,” Rodriguez said. “History is being silenced. It’s an attempt to rewrite it.”

Rodriguez, an attorney who is bar-certified to present to the U.S Supreme Court and who has successfully assisted a Chicago women’s trade organization win a temporary restraining order against Trump for his DEI orders, was previously appointed by the Biden Administration as the chief of staff in the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor.

She believes the new federal DEI policies are vague. When presidential orders are blurred with little sense of direction, she said , “it’s sweeping up courses that have nothing to do with advancing DEI.”

Some of these courses could have been inactivated “by mistake,” according to a Feb. 5 memo posted on the AgLearn page. If a user believes a course was swept up in an accident, the memo urges them to contact their lead administrator. The administrator then must submit a plea as to why the course should be reinstated, the memo states.

Employees can also submit a plea as to why they think a course is “out of compliance” with Trump’s executive order and should be removed. All final decisions are made by the Office of Human Resources Management in partnership with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.

Included in the training eliminations were 860 USDA courses deemed “DEI criteria,” 82 deemed “defending women criteria,” and six courses deemed “environmental justice criteria.”

Some of those courses and policies “are designed to ensure effective internal policies and processes to ensure the agency is functioning,” Rodriguez said, such as the course on autism in the workplace. If those courses or others training people on how to report sexual harassment are barred from government agencies, it’s going to create more risk, she said, especially legally – for the employers and employees alike.

Sexual harassment or harassment training, for the most part, gives employees a sense of direction on where to go to report it and what to do when it happens. When that training is eliminated, it puts both employers and employees at risk because there may not be a unified understanding of how to address a complaint, Rodriguez said, “a defense that is embodied in case law.”

“Every workplace has to have that to ensure people who have complaints of harassment are able to go somewhere so their employer can do something about it,” she said. “It’s troubling to me that courses that focus on educating employees on how to navigate a harassment complaint process are gone.”

A USDA spokesperson said in an email that the agency is continuing to review all of the AgLearn content to comply with the president’s orders. Trainings deemed relevant will be reposted with updates as they become available, USDA said. It’s unclear what sessions will be reposted.

It’s also unclear how the USDA decided which courses to scrub. A deleted course from 2023 that was presented by the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center to staff at the National Resources Conservation Service intended to educate staff about how to respond to confrontational or threatening behavior in the office.

A 2022 “Understanding and Addressing Harassment” training was “offered to explain harassment terms and discuss processes for addressing harassment in the workplace,” the USDA said. A course that gave employees tips on how to “properly and legally conduct interviews” was eliminated for DEI reasons. So was the “Inside the mind of an Aspiring Data Scientist” online class, terminated for “gender” reasons, the document shows. That class in particular teaches learners about the role and career path of a data scientist, how to hone data skills and “where to focus your energy” as a beginner, according to a LinkedIn page featuring the class.

USDA did not respond for further inquiry. While a White House administration official said the trainings were being reviewed but not specifically related to DEI, they did not respond for further questions after receiving the document.

One of the main misconceptions people have about DEI is that it only applies to people of color, Rodriguez said, when DEI in the workplace benefits anyone who might face unknown barriers to gain employment.

A hypothetical situation she suggested is a hiring requirement in which one would need to have attended college to stock pallets in a warehouse. A person could have been working in warehouses for decades with no degree and would suddenly be turned away from this job for not meeting that criteria, even though they have more than enough experience.

Eliminating the barrier of a degree to obtain a warehouse job is considered a DEI policy, Rodriguez said, “because a democracy is where everyone gets a fair shot.”

“Employers need to have access to all qualified workers,” she said. “If employers are not paying attention to unnecessary barriers keeping people out of jobs, it’s going to harm businesses, our country and economy.”

Editor’s Note — This story was updated to better reflect the criteria of President Donald Trump’s executive order.

Written by Alexandra Duggan for the Spokesman-Review ~ April 13, 2025