If you’re wondering why President Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos needs millions of dollars in security, this is one of the reasons. DeVos is trying to make improvements in her department but is being predictably cast as someone who doesn’t care about civil rights.
Erica L. Green writes at the New York Times:
Education Dept. Says It Will Scale Back Civil Rights InvestigationsThe Department of Education is scaling back investigations into civil rights violations at the nation’s public schools and universities, easing off mandates imposed by the Obama administration that the new leadership says have bogged down the agency.According to an internal memo issued by Candice E. Jackson, the acting head of the department’s office for civil rights, requirements that investigators broaden their inquiries to identify systemic issues and whole classes of victims will be scaled back. Also, regional offices will no longer be required to alert department officials in Washington of all highly sensitive complaints on issues such as the disproportionate disciplining of minority students and the mishandling of sexual assaults on college campuses.The new directives are the first steps taken under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to reshape her agency’s approach to civil rights enforcement, which was bolstered while President Barack Obama was in office. The efforts during Mr. Obama’s administration resulted in far-reaching investigations and resolutions that required schools and colleges to overhaul policies addressing a number of civil rights concerns.
This is why DeVos is making the changes:
That approach sent complaints soaring, and the civil rights office found itself understaffed and struggling to meet the department’s stated goal of closing cases within 180 days.The office’s processing times have “skyrocketed,” the Education Department spokeswoman, Liz Hill, said, adding that its backlog of cases has “exploded.”
Many of the same people who will be outraged by this news have stood silently by as speakers on college campuses have been shouted down by left wing students for years. What does consistency matter when there’s a narrative to be advanced?
And of course, right on cue, an investigation is being launched.
Emma Brown writes at the Washington Post:
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to investigate civil rights enforcement under TrumpThe U.S. Commission on Civil Rights voted Friday to investigate federal civil rights enforcement under President Trump, with the majority expressing “grave concerns” about the Trump administration’s proposal to cut spending and staffing on civil rights efforts at multiple agencies.“Along with changing programmatic priorities, these proposed cuts would result in a dangerous reduction of civil rights enforcement across the country, leaving communities of color, LGBT people, older people, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups exposed to greater risk of discrimination,” the commission, an independent watchdog created by Congress, said in a statement of concern approved on a 6 to 2 vote.The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division would lose 121 positions, and its stated priorities do not mention fighting discrimination against LGBT people or people with disabilities, according to the statement, which also identifies deep cuts to programs at Housing and Urban Development, Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Legal Services Corporation, which provides legal aid for low-income people.
This is the way it’s going to be for the next four to eight years, folks. Everything the Trump administration tries to do will be depicted as evil and uncaring.
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