Latest news with #OfficeForCivilRights
Washington Post
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Education layoffs cleared by Supreme Court hit Nation's Report Card
The Supreme Court's decision on Monday to clear the way for the Education Department to lay off more than 1,300 employees revived questions about how the agency will carry out its legally required duties with a slashed workforce. The department has pledged to fulfill its statutory duties, but the absence of nearly half the agency's workers — most of whom were first removed from their jobs in March — has already affected operations, with the Institute for Education Sciences, Office for Civil Rights, Federal Student Aid office and English Language Acquisition office hit particularly hard.
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Trump administration says Columbia violated Jewish students' civil rights
The Trump administration on Thursday accused Columbia University of violating civil rights law by 'acting with deliberate indifference' toward discrimination against Jewish students, including what it said was a failure to investigate vandalism in its classrooms, such as drawings of swastikas. The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release that it had conducted an investigation over a 19-month period beginning on Oct. 7, 2023, the day Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip launched a surprise cross-border attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 people hostage. 'The findings carefully document the hostile environment Jewish students at Columbia University have had to endure for over 19 months, disrupting their education, safety, and well-being,' said Anthony Archeval, the acting director of the Office for Civil Rights. 'We encourage Columbia University to work with us to come to an agreement.' The announcement comes as the Trump administration is engaged in negotiations with Columbia over federal funding. The administration cut $400 million in contracts and grants to the school in March, saying the university had failed to sufficiently clamp down on acts of antisemitism on its campus. In October 2023, a swastika was found drawn on a bathroom wall at the university, according to the Columbia Spectator, the school newspaper. But there have been instances in which antisemitic images from earlier periods have been erroneously linked to the more recent pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia. The university said in an emailed statement that it is 'deeply committed to combating antisemitism and all forms of harassment and discrimination on our campus.' The school will work with the Departments of Health and Human Services and Education, it added. 'Releasing an investigation's findings like this is typically a necessary step before any resolution or deal can be reached between the government and university,' a person briefed on the talks between Columbia and the Trump administration said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk freely about sensitive negotiations. Israel's massive military campaign in Gaza that was launched in response to the Hamas-led attack in 2023 has killed more than 53,000 people in the enclave, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says that most of the dead are women and children. More than 400 Israeli troops have been killed in Gaza. The war triggered huge protests on university campuses across the United States against Israel's military campaign. At Columbia, pro-Palestinian protesters erected tents on lawns at the center of the school's Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan and refused to take them down. Although protests have receded this year, the Trump administration praised the actions of the university when it swiftly cracked down this month on pro-Palestinian protesters who rushed into the school's central library to unfurl banners, shout into megaphones and bang drums as people were studying for final exams. New York police arrested about 80 people in that incident. The Trump administration, however, has also faced accusations of violating free-speech rights as it sought or detained international Columbia students in connection with pro-Palestinian protests. More broadly, Trump officials have threatened universities nationwide with federal funding cuts and other administrative actions. On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard University's certification to admit foreign students. The Ivy League school has continued to resist Trump administration demands, including that the federal government have oversight of the school's hiring and student admissions decisions.
