Latest news with #OfficeforCivilRights
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump administration says New York mascot ban violates civil rights law
The Education Department had opened a civil rights investigation into the ban shortly after Trump weighed in. The ban had set off a backlash in Massapequa, a middle-class hamlet on Long Island's South Shore about 40 miles from Manhattan. Most residents voted for Trump last November. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The school district has used the 'Chief' nickname and logo for decades. The mascot's image, an illustrated side profile of a Native American man wearing a feathered headdress, is plastered across Massapequa campuses, welcome signs, and football fields. Advertisement The Trump administration's finding came after a particularly speedy version of what are typically lengthy inquiries. The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights often takes months to identify violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits the recipients of federal funds from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin. Such investigations seldom result in the loss of federal funds, and the Trump administration did not immediately threaten New York's bottom line. But the federal government has increasingly targeted public school and university ledgers. Advertisement The administration recently reached a deal with Maine to restore federal money for its public schools, after education officials initially moved to slash school aid because the state allows transgender athletes on girls' sports teams. New York was the state least reliant on federal funding for its public schools in 2022, according to the most recent nationwide data. Federal money accounts for less than 8 percent of the state's overall spending on public education. New York education officials described the mascot ban as part of an effort to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools. It came amid a broader national movement to eliminate logos and nicknames that Native American people may find disrespectful. Many local tribes support New York's policy, and had pushed for a statewide ban for more than two decades. But the federal Education Department decided that the policy amounted to discrimination. On Friday, Linda McMahon, the education secretary, traveled to Massapequa High School to speak with students, administrators, and Nassau County leaders, who said the mascot was meant to convey respect. McMahon said the department would demand that New York offer a formal apology to Massapequa, allow the district to maintain the Chief nickname, and permit other schools to choose their preferred mascots. She added that she was alarmed that New York would deny Massapequa the chance to celebrate its heritage, and accused the state of unfairly targeting Native American representation in education. 'This is a racist environment,' she said at a news conference at the high school, adding that if New York did not comply, her department would refer the case to the Justice Department 'because that's how serious we are.' Advertisement Trump has often promised to give control of education 'back to the states,' but McMahon said Friday that the government's intervention in Massapequa was warranted 'because this is incredibly important.' JP O'Hare, a spokesperson for the state Education Department, said that it was 'shocking, but not at all surprising, to see the secretary completely reverse course by inserting herself and the federal government into this local matter.' He called it 'troubling' that the nation's top education official would 'take time out of her schedule to disrupt student learning in the name of political theater.' 'The district claims that it seeks to honor the area's Native American past and its people, but has failed to get even the most basic facts right,' he added, noting that the mascot was a historically inaccurate representation of local tribes. The president had taken a special interest in the fight on Long Island, posting a photo on Instagram last month that showed him in the Oval Office holding a navy sweatshirt emblazoned with the phrase 'Massapequa Chiefs.' McMahon said Trump had told her: 'I need you to look into this because I think this is wrong.' Some former members of the Education Department's investigative office have questioned the basis for the mascot inquiry. Michael Pillera, a former longtime senior attorney in the civil rights office who recently left the department, said the Trump administration has argued that it is acceptable to restrict the teaching of Black studies, while saying that a Native American mascot ban is impermissible because it removes representation of a minority group. 'It's really hard to see how the department believes those two separate ideas coexist,' he said. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Trump — not trans athletes — is the real threat to women's sports
Despite what you may hear in conservative media or from the White House, it's Donald Trump — not transgender athletes — who poses a true threat to women's sports. Trump, who threatened to 'protect' women 'whether the women like it or not,' has weaponized hatred toward transgender people for political gain, borrowing a bigoted strategy used by other extremist movements (like Nazi Germany, for example). And this week, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the state of California because it's allowing a trans woman to participate in high school track-and-field finals. Trump has also announced a Title IX probe into the state for allowing trans participation in sports more broadly. As NBC 4 Los Angeles reported: The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced an investigation into whether a California law that allows transgender athletes to compete in girls high school sports violates the landmark Title IX federal civil rights law. The DOJ said it sent letters of legal notice to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the state's high school sports governing body, and the Jurupa Unified School District, which the agency said is a target of the investigation. The investigation will determine whether California's School Success and Opportunity Act, or AB 1266, conflicts with Title IX, the federal law that bans sex discrimination in schools or educational programs that receive funding from the U.S. government. For the record, Trump and the Republican Party's insistence that trans women's participation in women's sports constitutes a threat to the sanctity of women's sports is not supported by reputable science. Back in 2022, I wrote about a Harvard University panel that featured multiple experts on women's sports, who all pointed to things like patriarchal leadership structures, poor equipment and lack of media coverage as the real source of woe for women's sports programs and athletes. None of them mentioned trans competitors as a concern. So there's a deep irony in Trump using Title IX rules, which are designed to prohibit gender-based discrimination, to crusade against trans athletes. That's because, as ESPN reported in March, Trump's attempts to close down the Department of Education threatens the existence of the very sports he's claiming to defend. Specifically, the outlet reported, the closure threatens the department's Office for Civil Rights, with a purview that includes enforcing Title IX rules that provide support for girls' and women's sports programs: The Office for Civil Rights determines how K-12 schools and colleges and universities are supposed to provide equal opportunities for female athletes, which includes equitable financial aid, promotion, coaching salaries, equipment and travel, among other factors. The Trump administration has shut down the Education Department's regional Office of Civil Rights in California and fired all of its staff. Attorneys who remain at the agency have complained about their office being used as a weapon to wage right-wing culture wars. If one were truly concerned about making sure women's sports programs survive and thrive, it simply doesn't make much sense to fire the officials whose jobs are dedicated, in part, to that goal. Nonetheless, Trump's gutting of the Department of Education undermines the federal agency most responsible for supporting women's sports programs — all while he launches bogus investigations that allow him to pay lip service to defending women. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
United States Department of Education opens disability discrimination investigation into Green Bay Area Public School District
(WFRV) – The United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on Wednesday that it is opening a Title VI and disability-discrimination investigation into the Green Bay Area Public School District. A release from the Department of Education's OCR said the investigation is based on a complaint from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. The complaint alleges that the Green Bay Area Public School District discriminated against a student with dyslexia based on their race. Groups gather outside Senator Ron Johnson's Oshkosh office to voice concerns over possible Medicaid & Medicare cutsA According to the release, the complaint specifically alleged that the District prioritizes its special education services to students based on racial priority groups. The complaint also said that the student in question did not fall into the group because he is white, the OCR release said. The complaint continues, alleging that the District 'discriminated against the student based on disability and failed to provide timely and adequate special education services.' The statement below is from the Department of Education's press release: 'In America, we do not 'prioritize' students for educational access, nor do we judge their worth, on the basis of skin color. Schools must provide special needs students access to supportive educational resources on an equal footing and on the basis of need, not on the basis of race. The Trump-McMahon Education Department rejects the false and patronizing idea that certain forms of discrimination are 'benign.' We will vigorously investigate this matter to ensure that the Green Bay Area Public School District is not discriminating against its students on the basis of race and disability.' Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor The statement below is from the press release, referring to the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty: 'We are grateful to Secretary McMahon and the Office for Civil Rights for opening this investigation into Green Bay Area Public School District. It is heartbreaking to think that, in America, a school would consider whether or not to provide services to a disabled student based not on that student's need, but on the color his skin. This is not only unlawful – it is an affront to the character of the American people. We are proud to work alongside the Department of Education to hold schools accountable for their antidiscrimination obligations and to ensure that no student is denied their equal opportunity protections under the law.' Cory Brewer, Education Counsel at Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty Menasha school district negotiating to take over Fox Cities childcare center The full release can be viewed here. The official complaint is available here. Local 5 will provide updates on this situation as needed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hans India
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Trump admin says Columbia University violates Jewish students' civil rights
Washington: The Trump administration has 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 on Thursday that it had conducted an investigation over a 19-month period beginning on October 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, reports Xinhua news agency. "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 US dollars 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," reported The Washington Post about the move. This comes against the backdrop of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cancelling Harvard's certification to use the SEVIS system -- Student and Exchange Visitor Information System -- in an escalation of US President Donald Trump's attack on the Ivy League school. The DHS decision had also told the university that foreign students on its rolls currently must transfer to another college or lose status. There are an estimated 780 Indian students and scholars at Harvard. However, a US judge in the state of Massachusetts on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration's order.
Epoch Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
HHS Investigation Finds Columbia University Violated Civil Rights of Jewish Students
Columbia University violated federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish students from harassment, according to the findings of investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights. Findings from the office, announced on May 22, showed that the university acted with 'deliberate indifference' toward the harassment of Jewish students by other students from Oct. 7, 2023—when Hamas-led terrorists launched attacks on Israel, prompting an Israeli military counteroffensive in Gaza—through to the present, the Office for Civil Rights said in a Anthony Archeval, the office's acting director, said the findings document the 'hostile environment' that Jewish students at Columbia endured over the past 19 months, disrupting their education and well-being. The university allegedly failed to investigate or discipline students who vandalized classrooms with drawings of swastikas and other universally recognized hate symbols, according to the office. The investigation also found that Columbia did not enforce restrictions on campus protests, follow its own policies when handling complaints from Jewish students, or establish remediation mechanisms to combat anti-Semitism until last summer. The office stated that the investigation included witness interviews and a review of written policies, media reports, and reports from the university's task force on combating anti-Semitism on campus. Related Stories 5/7/2025 5/6/2025 'We encourage Columbia University to work with us to come to an agreement that reflects meaningful changes that will truly protect Jewish students,' Archeval stated. The notice of violation to Columbia was jointly issued and signed by the Office for Civil Rights at HHS and the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Columbia University did not return a request for comment by publication time. Recent Protest at Columbia University The findings were released just days after protesters occupied a reading room at Columbia's Butler Library on May 7, leading to the Columbia's Acting President Claire Shipman Shipman said that people involved were repeatedly asked for identification and to leave the premises. They were also warned of potential consequences for failing to comply with university protocols. At Columbia's commencement ceremony on May 21, Shipman faced loud jeers and chants of ' In her 'We firmly believe that our international students have the same rights to freedom of speech as everyone else, and should not be targeted by the government for exercising that right,' Shipman said. Khalil, a lawful permanent resident in the United States but not a citizen, was arrested on March 8 in his university apartment—the first of several arrests resulting from the Trump administration's policy of deporting students who took part in the protests and riots at major universities across the United States in 2024. Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that Khalil qualified for deportation under the under the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, which allows the secretary to make the determination that a noncitizen's continued presence in the United States poses a risk to the government's foreign policy aims. People take part in a pro-Palestinian protest at Butler Library on the campus of Columbia University in New York on May 7, 2025. Ryan Murphy/Reuters In March, the Department of Education revoked more than $400 million in federal research funding to Columbia University over its alleged failure to adequately address anti-Semitism on campus. The move forced Columbia to lay off nearly 180 staff members, which represent about 20 percent of university employees who were funded by the now-terminated federal grants. Columbia's leadership The university stated that the financial strain is 'intense,' which caused it to reduce expenditures and scale back research infrastructure in some areas. Rachel Acenas and Rudy Blalock contributed to this report.
