The Democratic senators said at a hearing on Thursday that the Trump administration is undermining its own goal of addressing anti -Semitism in the university campus dismissing federal employees who investigate civil rights problems in schools.
In recent weeks, the Trump Administration has opened dozens of research on schools as part of an effort to eliminate anti -Semitism in universities. He also took the unprecedented step to cancel $ 400 million in research funds for Columbia University on the grounds that he had not done enough to combat discrimination against Jewish students; After that, the school agreed to change some of its policies.
At the same time, however, the Department of Education ended half the staff in its civil rights office, the arm ordered with the agency’s congress that investigates the failures of schools to address discrimination. In mid -January, the office had 12,000 open investigations, but recently stopped updating its pending cases.
During an audience about the anti-Semitism of the Campus in the hands of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, Labor and Pensions Committee, Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash.
“You can’t simply cut an agency in half and pretend that everything is fine,” Murray said.
Rabbi David Saperstein, one of the witnesses of the audition and former ambassador of the United States in general for international religious freedom, agreed that the reduction of the Office of Civil Rights harms Jewish students, particularly because it will increase cases for researchers.
“They are stopping it,” Saperstein said, “and it is the students of America of all kinds who face discrimination who are going to suffer.”
Catherine Lhamon, head of the Office of Civil Rights under the Biden Administration, told NBC News earlier this month that the investigators averaged around 50 cases per person when he left the government in January. With the office now cut in half, the cases are expected to increase significantly.
The Department of Education and the White House did not immediately respond to comments requests.
Two weeks ago, the Department of Education began mass dismissals, and last week, Trump signed an executive order that asked the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the department. The agency can only be closed by an act of Congress.
All schools that receive federal funds must comply with civil rights laws, including those that protect students from discrimination based on ancestry, race and sex. When the civil rights office receives a complaint that alleges violations of these laws in the last 180 days, their own regulations require it to investigate. If it finds evidence that the law was violated, the agency will generally establish steps that a school must take to solve the problem and can initiate a process to extract federal funds if the school refuses.
Three other Democratic senators also presented the civil rights layoffs office during the hearing, as well as the witnesses who asked the Federal Government to put more funds, no less, in the office so that it could address their case portfolio.
Carly Gammill, Director of Legal Policy at the non -profit Standwithus Center to combat anti -Semitism, a non -profit organization, said schools must be responsible by the Government when civil rights laws are violated.
“There are often no people who are well qualified and equipped to address these things on the campus themselves,” he said.
Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, responded quickly and, as her Senate colleagues, highlighted the role of the civil rights office. “That is why we must ensure that the office continues to receive adequate resources,” he said.
