Education Dept launches widespread civil rights probe: A look at what the agency does as Trump eyes shutdown
The Department of Education (DoEd) is launching discrimination investigations into 45 universities for allegedly engaging in "race-exclusionary practices" within their scholarship and graduate programs.
"The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination," Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said of the newly launched investigations. "Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin. We will not yield on this commitment."
The DoEd enforces nondiscrimination policies in federally funded schools through its Office for Civil Rights (OCR). As cuts are made to the department, the OCR will continue to "investigate complaints and vigorously enforce federal civil rights laws," Madi Biedermann, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications at the Department of Education, said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
Other main facets of the department include overseeing some funding, managing student loans, financial aid, and enforcing nondiscrimination policies in schools, while most education itself is dealt with at the state level.
The department acknowledges that "education is primarily a state and local responsibility in the United States," with about 92% of all school funding coming from non-federal sources.
President Donald Trump has been making significant cuts to the department as part of his goal to eventually close it "so that the states, instead of bureaucrats working in Washington, can run education." But the administration has said that the cuts that have been made "will not directly impact students and families."
One of the largest offices within the department is Federal Student Aid (FSA), which manages the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and provides about $120.8 billion in grants or loans to students each year, the department says.
The Trump administration recently cut nearly half the workforce at the DoEd. Yet, "[n]o employees working on the FAFSA, student loan servicing, and Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title funds — including formula and discretionary grants programs — were impacted," Biedermann said in a statement.
In its early years, the department made specific requirements when allocating funding to schools, such as requiring higher education institutions to offer a campus drug and alcohol abuse prevention program under the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, which was passed in 1989.
When it comes to federal funds, a contribution of about 8% to education funding, the allocation of some money tends to vary by administration.
A recent study previously reported by Fox News Digital found that under former President Joe Biden, the DoEd spent $1 billion on grants advancing DEI in hiring. The Biden administration reportedly spent $489,883,797 on grants for race-based hiring, $343,337,286 on general DEI programming and $169,301,221 on DEI-based mental health training and programming, according to a report by Parents Defending Education, a right-leaning nonprofit.
Meanwhile, in 2025, the Trump administration slashed hundreds of millions in the department's funding for DEI practices. The president warned that any federally-funded institutions of higher education practicing DEI initiatives could lose their federal dollars.
"The federal government provides 10% of the money, but with it effectively sets more than half of policy for public schools," Max Eden, a senior fellow specializing in education at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), told Fox News Digital.
"If the Department were cut, the federal financial contribution would likely remain stable, but schools would be fundamentally more free to govern themselves according to local priorities and values."
The department, however, does not develop curriculum requirements, which are left to the state and local school boards to decide.
In Oklahoma, since 2024, all public schools are required to incorporate the Bible and the Ten Commandments into their curricula for grades 5-10.
Meanwhile, in 2016, the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) set health education standards for public schools in the state that required children in kindergarten and first grade to learn that "there are many ways to express gender."
Additionally, the department does not accredit universities, meaning it does not determine whether a school meets a certain level of education standards to receive federal funding.
"The federal government does not control education — the states do, local school boards do. This is about opportunity," McMahon told Fox News' Laura Ingraham amid the workforce cuts. "That is why so many people are so mad about it, because they're just taking opportunity away from kids who don't have it."
Fox News Digital reached out to the DoEd for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
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Naval Academy Reinstates Hundreds of ‘DEI' Books
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The purge followed directives from Trump-appointed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has called DEI initiatives 'divisive.' Determined to ensure that students could still read the works, Marks began crowdfunding to replace them on April 5. 'The motto of the Naval Academy is 'from knowledge, seapower,'' said Marks, who served as a Navy commander for 22 years. 'What we mean is without knowledge, education and intellectual growth, we will never become a strong Navy. So this contradiction really struck me, that instead of encouraging knowledge and encouraging discussion, the Pentagon was actually suppressing knowledge and limiting discussion.' About 4,400 students, members of the Brigade of Midshipmen, attend the Naval Academy while on active duty in the U.S. Navy. After graduation, they are required to serve in the Navy or Marine Corps for at least five years. Women represent more than a quarter of the student body, while men make up over 70 percent of midshipmen. Initially, Marks hoped to fundraise $3,810, which he figured would be enough to cover the cost of the books pulled from Nimitz Library. Since Marks lives in Arlington, Texas, he tapped Old Fox Books & Coffeehouse in Annapolis, Maryland, home to the academy, to be his local partner. Donations have far exceeded his goal, topping $70,000. Jinny Amundson, an owner of Old Fox Books, said by the time she got the call from Marks, she had already heard about the books removed and had started compiling a list of them to purchase for the store's inventory. 'For a bookseller, the idea of censoring any kind of books just gives us heart palpitations,' Amundson said. 'And it's our community. The [midshipmen] think of our shop as a place that they love and one of their sort of unofficial bookstores. We have the mids, the faculty, the administration that come in and think of our space as their own.' Amundson said she understood that the removal of books was an order, which has to be followed within the military. But she found the loophole: Her bookshop could store the titles targeted. It is conveniently located about a block away from the Naval Academy gates. The day before the institution's May 23 graduation, Amundson learned that most of the pulled books were back on the library's shelves. She went to see for herself, took pictures of the books and sent them to many of the authors, who had personally contacted her when the restrictions on the works took effect. Now, just 20 books are being sequestered pending a formal compliance review, according to the Department of Defense. A Navy spokesperson did not provide details to The 19th about those titles. Ultimately, a narrowing of the search terms used to flag books for review resulted in the return of hundreds of books to the Nimitz Library, as the Department of Defense first issued broad guidance about book removals to the military services. 'What struck me was the very arbitrary and even cruel nature of the books that got removed,' Marks said. 'These books were a cross-section of American culture. They were important to the discussion of American history.' In an updated May 9 memo, the Pentagon instructed the military services to use 20 search terms to pinpoint books in their academic libraries that might need to be set aside because of how they engage race or gender. Among those terms were affirmative action; critical race theory; gender-affirming care; transgender people; and diversity, equity and inclusion. People across the political spectrum expressed alarm about the book restrictions, which have been widely opposed, according to Marks. 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The North Star for both sides is passing laws either in Congress or on the state level to fight against the executive changes that happen to these investigations every four years. 'I think the states have adopted laws that have prohibited boys in girls' sports,' Butcher said. 'All of these things that states are doing are codifying what the Trump administration is now supporting.' 'At the federal level, it'll definitely be up to Congress, of course, when it comes to putting something into law. And I think that federal lawmakers would do well to be mindful not only of what the Civil Rights statutes say on this issue, but also what voters are feeling like,' he added. 'Voters, I think, have made it clear through surveys that these positions on, again, boys getting access to girls' private spaces and sports, are unpopular.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
6 hours ago
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How civil rights investigations against schools have changed under Trump admin
Amid a flurry of civil rights and Title IX investigations, the Trump administration has reopened K-12 schools and universities, signaling a complete 180-degree shift in the interpretation of the mandates. The Trump administration is fighting schools over transgender athletes, bans on Native American mascots and Chicago's 'Black Students Success Plans.' The switch from the previous administration has caused whiplash for schools, with advocates warning students some complaints may not be worth pursuing. 'The Trump Administration has created dumpsters for so-called civil rights violations that are distractingly unresponsive to actual acts of violence, harassment, discrimination and abuse in our nation's educational institutions,' says Shaun Harper, a professor of education, public policy and business at the University of Southern California. 'It is painfully apparent that destructive politicized attacks on DEI are far more important to them than are efforts to ensure the actual civil rights of American students, families and educators,' he added. The most drastic change has been in the handling of cases involving transgender athletes. The Biden administration notably moved to add protections for LGBTQ individuals to Title IX, a civil rights law that protects students against sex-based discrimination. Former President Biden also proposed protections for transgender students, such as forbidding overarching bans on transgender women in girls' sports, but withdrew the proposal before President Trump took office, so the new president could not take the provision and alter it. Under the Trump administration, dozens of schools have come under fire with alleged Title IX violations over transgender athletes. The biggest threat occurred against California after the Trump administration said it would pull federal funding from the state following a transgender high school track and field athlete qualifying to compete in the state championship. 'It's definitely been tough to have students come to us who are considering filing an Office of Civil Rights (OCR) complaint because they've experienced discrimination at their school, and have to sort of say, 'I'm not even sure if it's a good idea at this moment,' given the way that the Trump administration is enforcing Title IX,' said Emma Grasso Levine, senior manager of Title IX Policy and Programs at the Title IX advocacy project Know Your IX. 'Having OCR suddenly stop being an option for many students because of the discriminatory way that the Trump administration is operating … really does limit mechanisms for accountability to ensure that schools are handling Title IX cases and preventing sex-based harassment,' she added. In a statement to The Hill, Department of Education spokesperson Julie Hartman said the Trump administration is 'restoring civil rights law and reversing the damage inflicted by the Biden Administration, which stretched the scope of federal anti-discrimination law beyond its statutory purview.' Hartman added, 'By enforcing the law as it is written, the Trump Administration's OCR is using its personnel and resources responsibly to protect all Americans and eliminating wasteful and unfounded investigations.' While the Trump administration has been vague in its definition of what diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are at schools, the civil rights investigations the Education Department is opening gives a glimpse at its meaning. Chicago Public Schools is currently under investigation over 'Black Students Success Plans' the district made, without making similar plans for students of other ethnicities. The Education Department launched a probe against New York State's Education Department after the state department threatened to strip funding from a school for having a Native American mascot. 'Forcing them to change the name, after all of these years, is ridiculous and, in actuality, an affront to our great Indian population. The School Board, and virtually everyone in the area, are demanding the name be kept,' Trump said about the incident. Supporters of the president are encouraged by the rapid switch in gears in what investigations are brought to schools, pointing out some families have been waiting four years for this. 'The [Biden] administration had a pretty clear stance in favor of what they called equity, but I argue was really racial favoritism and an ideology in favor of identity politics,' said Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman senior research fellow in education policy at the Heritage Foundation. 'The Trump administration is, I believe, appropriately viewing the Civil Rights Act in terms of colorblindness and meritocracy and trying to preserve, or at least restore those things to American public life and in public law,' he added. 'It should be a relief to local educators and families who are concerned that the transgender movement has taken over our view of what it means to be male and female.' The relief by some parents – and fear by others – of what cases will be prioritized highlights the struggle with the political ping pong that occurs when the Education Department switches hands. 'Even with the ping ponging, it doesn't mean that the Trump administration is accurate, and they're putting forward an unlawful and wrong interpretation of the law by distorting the law and using it as a way to require discrimination against students, and especially students from vulnerable communities,' said Shiwali Patel, senior director of Safe and Inclusive Schools. There are concerns about how the Trump administration is using the Office of Civil Rights, but also if it will even exist by the end of his presidency. Many employees in the office were fired during the Education Department's reduction in force and Trump has floated moving OCR to the Department of Justice. Some advocates have said the Department of Education will be unable to uphold its legal obligations, especially as OCR cases were already backlogged before the layoffs. 'They're prioritizing weaponizing these laws to require harm against students, against vulnerable groups of students, with the few resources that they have, because now we're now dealing with an OCR that is at almost half of what it used to be because of all the cuts and the layoffs that the Trump administration has engaged in,' Patel said. The North Star for both sides is passing laws either in Congress or on the state level to fight against the executive changes that happen to these investigations every four years. 'I think the states have adopted laws that have prohibited boys in girls' sports,' Butcher said. 'All of these things that states are doing are codifying what the Trump administration is now supporting.' 'At the federal level, it'll definitely be up to Congress, of course, when it comes to putting something into law. And I think that federal lawmakers would do well to be mindful not only of what the Civil Rights statutes say on this issue, but also what voters are feeling like,' he added. 'Voters, I think, have made it clear through surveys that these positions on, again, boys getting access to girls' private spaces and sports, are unpopular.'
