Philly Democrat calls on Sen. Fetterman to condemn Trump’s war on DEI

State Sen. Anthony H. Williams railed against the University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday for axing several diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives following President Donald Trump’s threats to pull funding from schools hosting those programs.

As part of his appeal, Williams (D., Philadelphia) encouraged more action from Democrats in Washington and expressed frustration with Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, in particular.

“To date, to my knowledge, he has not said a word about this,” Williams said at a news conference before, adding: “And, well, I won’t get into that.”

The passing comment reflected a larger fissure at play within the Democratic Party as some have given full-throated condemnations to Trump’s first months in office, while others, wary of their minimal leverage, take more muted approaches.

Williams, in a follow-up conversation, said he was frustrated with the lack of engagement from higher-ranking Democrats in his party who he fears see the debate around DEI as a politically fraught issue.

“There would be no Democratic Party that we know unless the ‘60s and the Civil Rights Movement happened,” Williams said. “This is nothing to do with liberal, progressive, conservative or moderate … we’re supposed to be organizing around the weakest link and protecting the most vulnerable, and when you don’t do that, you don’t resound with me.”

Williams directly called on Fetterman to condemn Penn for taking down DEI websites at several colleges and for its plans to dissolve DEI committees at its medical school, amid threats from the Department of Education to pull federal funding from schools that use race as a factor in admissions, hiring or other areas.

Williams, whose own political upbringing is rooted in Philadelphia’s Civil Rights Movement, argued Penn is capitulating to Trump at the harm of people of color, while the matter is still playing out in courts. (Several other Philadelphia universities have not taken the steps Penn did even after Trump threatened to go after federal funding.)

“I’m calling him out because the base of the Democratic Party is on the line right now,” Williams said. “I want to see what Fetterman’s gonna be. Is he for Fetterman or those of us who are vulnerable in Pennsylvania? That’s what I want to see. DEI does not mean affirmative action. He should be saying that aggressively and publicly.”

Fetterman did not return a request for comment. He has not made any public comments about Trump’s executive order on DEI or his administration’s directives stemming from its view that students should be “assessed according to merit, accomplishment, and character — not prejudged by the color of their skin” and that schools’ DEI initiatives institute a “repressive viewpoint monoculture.” Critics have countered that DEI initiatives help level the playing field for students and staff who have historically been denied opportunities at universities.

Following the Supreme Court’s June decision to restrict affirmative action, Fetterman called the ruling “cowardly” in a statement and said it “tries to erase the very simple fact that historical racism exists in this country.”

As Trump’s first weeks in office have unfolded, Fetterman has encouraged his party members not to panic and taken varied responses to the administration’s bold actions. He called on Trump to rescind an order that paves the way for a ban on transgender people from serving in the military.

Fetterman voted with Democrats against the confirmation of Pete Hegseth, Trump’s controversial pick for secretary of defense who was ultimately confirmed after Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) provided the key vote Senate Republicans needed to nominate him.

But in other instances, Fetterman has voted with Republicans. He cosponsored the GOP-led Laken Riley Act and was one of 12 Democrats in the Senate to vote for the legislation, which would require federal authorities to detain undocumented immigrants arrested for theft-related crimes. He was the lone Democrat to back Attorney General Pam Bondi’s confirmation. Bondi, who represented Trump in his first impeachment trial, was a vocal denier of Pennsylvania’s election results in 2020 and took part in Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn them.

A recent poll showed Fetterman’s favorability among Republicans in Pennsylvania has doubled in the last three months while support from Democrats has slipped slightly.

While Fetterman has shown increased openness to working with the GOP, he’s faced little public criticism from within the Pennsylvania Democratic Party as its most senior representative in the Senate.

City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, whose West Philadelphia district includes Penn, attended the news conference with Williams and said, in general, she thinks Democrats need to be more forceful in pushing back on Trump. She introduced a resolution condemning Trump’s language referring to himself as a “king” last week in Council.

“I want to see more of an aggressive condemnation around what the president is doing in terms of the xenophobia we see coming out, the targeting of immigrants, DEI, which they have now transformed into this word or term that somehow means Black people are less than or not qualified,” Gauthier said. “These things are … very dangerous concepts.”

Gauthier commended Fetterman’s staff in Philadelphia but said she’d like to see more vocal opposition from the Democratic senator.

“As much as I appreciate the senator, I would like to see more. I don’t feel like this is an area where anyone can operate in the gray. There is no gray anymore. You are on the side of right or wrong and people need to be clear about that and communicate it clearly in this moment.”

Staff writer Aubrey Whelan contributed to this article.