Project 2025 is 48 percent complete, raising national concern about the state of American governance and democracy amidst political division.
Also known as The Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, Project 2025 is a 900-page manual authored by former Trump administration officials. It was originally published by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, in 2023. The document outlines the restructuring of the executive branch and is designed to consolidate presidential power, according to the Center of American Progress.
While several Project 2025 trackers state that the militarization of Washington, D.C is part of Project 2025 — particularly in areas characterized by communities of color — the 2024 mandate, which outlines the policy changes for implementing Project 2025, does not explicitly mention this militarization.
For D.C. natives such as Robinson Woodward-Burns, a political science professor at Howard University, the current situation with law enforcement is a big change.
“Having lived in the District my whole life, it far exceeds normal interpretations of the object of statutory authority,” Woodward-Burns said. “What’s happening now comes from existing statutory powers like section 740A of the Home Rule Charter Defense Authorization Act, not directly from the 2024 mandate report … A lot of what we’re seeing in D.C right now is probably not legal.”
Section 740A of the Home Rule Charter Defense Authorization Act grants the president temporary authority to reassert federal control over D.C., including deployment of the city’s police force during declared emergencies.
Despite Project 2025’s stated policy aims to “restore family as the centerpiece of American life,” “defend national sovereignty” and “secure individual rights” — its implementation has deepened national polarization according to NBC News.
Project 2025 divides its restructuring plans by federal agency, outlining how each should be re-staffed, reorganized or dissolved. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was effectively dismantled, firing nearly half of its staff after Trump’s proposed budget imposed a significant funding cut intended to gradually close the agency, according to BBC News.
The Department of Education faces a similar overhaul, banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory, “gender ideology” and eliminating the PLUS loan program that many Howard students rely on.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has focused much of its restructuring on immigration enforcement. Policies currently in progress include “reinstate Remain in Mexico,” which requires migrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court date, and “repeal the diversity lottery,” which would end the program that provides visas to individuals from countries with historically low immigration rates to the U.S.
According to the Project 2025 tracker launched jointly by Governing for Impact (GFI) and the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR), officials have begun removing language related to “diversity,” “abortion” and “gender equality” from all federal rules and regulations.
The State Department has begun the process of withdrawing from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and suspending visas for nationals of countries that refuse to accept deported migrants. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is cutting grants to states and localities that do not comply with the administration’s immigration agenda according to the Project 2025 tracker.
Many Howard students feel these federal changes acutely.
“These policy decisions are not distant,” said Hannah Rose Williams, a senior honors political science and Spanish double major. “They’re happening right here in this city, and we need to be aware of what is going on.”
As part of a broader higher education reform which aligns with the Project 2025 agenda and ideological alignment, the Trump administration has attempted to silence institutions. Harvard University, for example, has had billions in federal research grants frozen under the pretense of enforcing civil rights law, according to a press release by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The targeting of the Department of Education (DOE) could directly imperil Minority-Serving Institutions, including Howard, which relies heavily on federal funding and student loan programs, both of which are projected for overhaul.
“Even though the Trump administration has not directly chartered [Howard], there is still the potential for a chilling factor –- if we see crackdowns on free speech at other institutions, we might have the tendency at our institution to want to silence ourselves, but I urge our students to continue studying and speak in the ways that they want to speak,” Woodward-Burns said.
Students such as Williams echoed this call for resilience and awareness amidst national change.
“When we think about social justice and action, we’re thinking about this big thing, like we’re trying to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders,” Williams said. “But just by being informed, that’s a way of shaping the future we want to see.”
According to an article by CNN, Project 2025’s proposed mass layoffs would destabilize the local economy and reduce the number of stable federal jobs — a traditional career path for many Howard graduates, particularly those in public administration, policy and STEM as per The Dig at Howard University.
By restricting federal funding for studies on race, gender and equity, Project 2025 threatens higher education’s ability — especially at HBCUs — to teach about systemic racism, simultaneously jeopardizing free speech and academic freedom. For Williams, a solution is fostering awareness and academic freedom through open dialogue.
“Policy changes feel very abstract until they reach our communities,” Williams said. “Don’t wait for it to reach your community to know what’s going on — just being in spaces where you can talk about policy changes and how they’re affecting you is the best possible way to take action.”
Copy edited by Damenica Ellis
