The Department of Education (DOE) launched an “End DEI” web page that allows people to report “illegal discriminatory practices at institutions of learning,” but critics are already finding creative ways to retaliate.
The move follows President Donald Trump’s outcry against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, where he has signed executive orders against DEI and threatened punishments for schools and federal agencies that don’t comply.
But Trump’s definition of DEI is broad. He’s connected teachings of structural racism as too “woke,” and said the January plane collision that killed 67 people in Washington, D.C. “could have been” due to diversity hiring.
The DOE’s web page asks for your email, school location and a maximum 450-word description of the incident you want to report. It also gives you the option to upload files such as photos or videos to support your claim.
It said it will “utilize community submissions to identify potential areas for investigation.”
Some are encouraging people to spam the website with useless information. Instagram account @lgbt told its over 2 million followers to file false reports, such as using the response box to “transcribe the lyrics to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’” or “tell the White House about an interesting sandwich you once ate.”
OutSFL reached out to the DOE to see if it had received an overwhelming number of false reports but did not hear back at the time of publication.
Instagram users commented on the @lgbt post to share the creative ways they trolled the DOE. Some took a humorous route: User nelehjrcatnip wrote, “Finally. Someone to read my fanfiction…”
Others said they filed claims that sounded real, so they didn’t immediately get flagged for spam. User onairplanemode__ wrote, “I submitted 15 reports against Moms for Liberty,” which is a far-right anti-government organization that advocates against LGBTQ and race-related topics in schools.