On a blustery day in downtown Milwaukee, Sam Alford stood defiantly with about a dozen others at the entrance to Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) on State Street.
He's an MATC alumnus. And he was there to call out the 113-year-old college.
“You’re talking about one hundred-plus years of history maligned in less than one year," he said.
He was talking about the college's decision to cut four employees in its multicultural center last summer. The employees worked specifically with students of color.
MATC said the cuts were in response to pressure from the U.S. Department of Education to end any sort of race-conscious hiring. Two of the employees whose jobs were cut have taken jobs elsewhere in MATC working with students.
Now, all four who were fired have filed complaints with the state’s Department of Workforce Development arguing their rights were violated.
"Firing these four people is violent," Alford said. "Structural violence is defined by using laws or institutions to discriminate against people.”
The Trump administration says race-conscious hiring, admissions and financial aid decisions discriminate against white and Asian students. In a letter to colleges and universities, it called race-conscious practices "pervasive and repugnant."
In August, a federal judge ruled that that letter was legally unenforceable.
'We are not those institutions:' Small colleges may not be able to fight government mandates like Harvard
In this era, institutions that promote diversity and equity often find themselves at odds with the Trump administration.
Some universities have chosen to fight back. Harvard sued and won when the administration froze its research grants.
Others like Cornell and Brown Universities have chosen to pay settlements to the Trump administration. They’ve paid to end inquiries into campus policies and restore funding.
But what happens to smaller schools that don’t have name recognition and resources to take on the administration in court?
Dr. Anthony Cruz is the president of MATC. He says that cutting the multicultural staff and offering them different jobs was a way to serve students while complying with the Department of Education’s threat to its funding.
“I’ve been in public settings in the last several months and people have brought this up to me. They’ve brought up, ‘Why can’t you fight the federal government the way that Harvard does. Or Columbia does?'" Cruz says. "And the fact is, we are not those institutions.”
Cruz explains that if the college loses access to federal funding, 43% of students there would lose federal Pell Grants that they use to afford tuition there.
“Colleges like ours and other colleges across the country are at much more risk with everything that’s going on, than more selective or prestigious colleges and universities... that can rely on other resources to achieve their goals," Cruz says.
Education leader calls for 'moral courage' amidst Trump administration pressure to comply
But other education leaders say even small schools need to stand firm against federal pressure.
Lynn Pasquerella is the president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities. It represents 1,000 schools around the world.
“What we’re doing is more important than ever," Pasquerella says. "And we must exercise moral courage and standing up to unprecedented attempts to determine who gets admitted, what is taught, how it is taught and by whom.”
Pasquerella is a graduate of Brown University, and also a graduate of a community college in rural Connecticut.
“Smaller institutions, that are most reliant on federal funds, are being coerced into engaging in either preemptive compliance or over-compliance. [They're] going beyond what the law requires."
What's next for discrimination complaints against MATC?
The discrimination complaints filed by the fired MATC employees will be investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
MATC and the fired employees will either reach a settlement or hold a hearing in front of an administrative judge.
Meanwhile, the college — and many other small institutions across the country — will need to decide where they’ll stand if they face new pressure from the federal government.
So far, MATC has chosen to comply and has been able to keep its federal funding.
Katherine Kokal is the education reporter at 89.7 WUWM - Milwaukee's NPR. Have a question about schools or an education story idea? You can reach her at kokal@uwm.edu
