On his first day of office, President Biden took action to begin to reverse some of the harmful policies affecting higher education that had been put in place by the Trump administration.
1) Biden repealed the travel ban that prevented individuals from African and Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
2) Biden signed a memorandum protecting the the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that was introduced by President Obama. The DACA program protects the deportation of undocumented individuals who were brought into the United States as children. He also proposed a bill creating a pathway towards green card status for these immigrants.
3) The moratorium on student loan payments was set to expire this month, but Biden extended the pause through September.
4) In September, President Trump signed an executive order banning diversity training within the federal government and to any organization receiving federal funds. This gave some universities a pass to put diversity, equity, and inclusion training on the back burner. Biden has since repealed this decision and signed a new order to advance racial equity and supports through the federal government.