The Trump administration’s gutting of the U.S. Department of Education in the name of government efficiency is wreaking havoc on universities across America. Its latest move to cut more than 1,300 employees from the agency, or half its workforce, is just the tip of the iceberg. Trump’s endgame is to dismantle the department altogether, which is something only Congress can do. But that doesn’t seem to be stopping him.
Trump has attacked the department, calling it a “big con job,” and along with new Education Secretary Linda McMahon, has a two-pronged attack: loot the Department of Education’s $268 billion budget by slashing budgets and firing staff, likely to free up money Trump desperately needs for his big tax cuts; and end “wokeness” in education (more about that below).
Universities forced to freeze hiring and rescind offers
As a result of the administration’s budget cuts and other attacks, many universities have instituted hiring freezes and reduced graduate programs and are even rescinding admission offers to grad students.
Universities depend on the Department of Education’s federal funding for financial aid, federal student loans, Pell Grants, and other research dollars. The cuts would chip away at American students’ already-hampered ability to afford and attend college. In all, it’s a big chaotic mess.
Harvard University, the University of Washington, and the University of Pittsburgh are the latest to announce hiring freezes, joining a number of other institutions, including North Carolina State University, Columbia University’s medical school, the University of Notre Dame, Emory University, Cornell University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and the University of California, San Diego, per NPR. And universities including Northwestern, Emory, and the University of Pennsylvania have gone one step further, instituting budget cuts, expenditure freezes, and capital spending reviews.
But the hiring freeze at Harvard, which has the largest endowment in the world, is particularly worrisome, underscoring just how concerned even the most well-funded universities are now about their financial futures.
Trump’s anti-woke political agenda for colleges
Gutting the Education Department is also part of the political agenda Trump ran on for president. He wants to end what he has ranted against as “left-wing indoctrination” and instead push his vision of education, which includes banning education on gender identity and structural racism, abolishing diversity and inclusion, and keeping transgender athletes out of girls’ sports. Or, in his own words, he wants to slash budgets at “any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content.”
Despite Trump’s huffing and puffing, the department has no power over what’s taught in schools. “It is not the business of the federal government to be involved in curriculum or personnel hiring,” Kenneth Wong, a professor of education policy at Brown University, told NPR.
However, Trump’s moves are attempting to use federal money as leverage over universities, which he likely sees as hotbeds of dissent, critical of his agenda and other conservative ideas.
The most recent example of what many have argued is the Trump administration trying to silence dissent was the unlawful arrest Saturday night and detention of Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A Palestinian student, who holds a U.S. green card, he was one of the lead negotiators on behalf of pro-Palestine protesters on campus last spring. Following his arrest, Khalil was sent to a detention facility in Louisiana without notifying his family or attorney, which is illegal.
“We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said shortly after news of the arrest and detension broke, alleging that Khalil is a Hamas supporter, which Khalil’s lawyer said was “false and preposterous.”
