In his first week of office, President Donald Trump signed 36 executive orders regarding public health, immigration, gender and policies around diversity, equity and inclusion among others.

On his first official day in office on Jan. 20, Trump signed an order aiming to abolish birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrant citizens. This order will extend to citizens whose parents were undocumented and unlawfully in the U.S. at the time of their birth or if they were here temporarily — including those whose parents have visas.

On the same day, Trump signed an executive order that recognized only two genders, male and female, as well as an executive order to eliminate all DEI programs nationwide. 

Following the executive orders, some University of Oregon students are sharing their thoughts and expressing concerns for the future. 

“It sucks as a young, 22-year-old, African American Cuban woman, you know, I’m a minority so I support the diversity and the inclusion in jobs. Equity is also very important,” UO student Sophia Soleil said. “But the ‘D’ and the ‘I’ of DEI resonates with me and who I embody,” Soleil said. 

Major companies and corporations have reacted differently to the executive order regarding DEI policies, but some recognizable companies have removed DEI programs, including Target, Amazon and Meta. 

Soleil also said she and one of her friends are “boycotting Target because of their lack of DEI practices.”

UO student Juliet Wright said Trump’s decision to terminate DEI programs is a “slap in the face.” 

“In a way, it’s kind of like a slap in the face to say that people were hired just because of maybe their skin color or their race,” Wright said.

Wright also said she was discontent with Trump’s decision to leave the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change whose central mission is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming.

“That’s the thing that bothers me the most,” Wright said. 

Following Trump’s executive order that threatens to remove birthright citizenship, President of the Latinx Male Alliance Victor Cendejas said the situation “sucks” for undocumented immigrants.

“It sucks for undocumented people to be scared just doing what they wanted to do here in the United States, which is to keep going in life and have their kids be successful,” Cendejas said.

According to sophomore Daphne Jilot, a lot of her friends identify as non-binary. Following Trump’s executive order recognizing only two genders, male and female, her inner circle felt shocked.

“A lot of my friends who identify as non-binary were just confused and shocked by this order,” Jilot said. 

Similar to Jilot, UO student Lucian Gladstone said the executive order “doesn’t feel real.” 

“I think him (Trump) being so close-minded about gender and stating how he’s going to be (declaring) only two genders, it doesn’t feel real,” Gladstone said. 

UO sophomore Carlyn Jones said she believes Trump’s approach to eliminating DEI is “very targeted.”  

“(I) think his (Trump) approach is very targeted,” Jones said. “Trump is really strangling that area (DEI) for safety, at least in light of right now.”

In response to the growing concern among students regarding immigration and DEI policies, the university published various online resources including One Stop Student Resources and Immigration Resources, which both offer various avenues of support and information available to the UO community.

The UO currently serves 825 international students, according to the Office of the Registrar. 

According to UO Spokesperson Eric Howald, with ongoing discussions about immigration policies, the university is monitoring potential impacts on students. 

“The federal executive orders have generated plenty of questions about their impact on our students and research,” Howald said. “We’re (UO) looking closely at each executive order and agency request to understand the potential impacts on the groundbreaking research conducted by our faculty and benefiting the citizens of Oregon and beyond.” 

Howald said that neither Dean Jimmy Howard nor Associate Dean of Students Dianne Tanjuaquio would not be available to speak on the matter directly.