Scholars Platform
The Education Department requests Harvard to disclose foreign gifts/contracts, echoing Trump's scrutiny of university funding & international ties. Harvard contests claims of non-compliance with federal law regarding foreign contributions.
Trainor then on February 14 issued a “Dear Colleague” letter, drastically expanding the definition of discrimination to include the consideration of race, gender, or other identity in scholarships, financial aid, graduation ceremonies, and student life.
AFT alleged the department had “unlawfully shut down access to income-driven repayment plans for student loan borrowers” and requested a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction forcing it to reopen statutorily required parts of the program.
“The administration’s cruel choice to cut off access to affordable repayment options passed by Congress and enshrined in millions of borrowers’ loan contracts comes at the same time as they are wreaking havoc on communities and families across our nation,” Persis Yu, SBPC deputy executive director, said in a statement Monday.
The Education Department is considering terminating its contracts for thousands of call center employees hired to answer families’ questions about federal student aid, and may replace them with an artificial intelligence–powered chat bot, The New York Times reported Thursday.
On Wednesday, 96 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Carter requesting an "urgent" meeting to discuss the Trump administration's plans for what they say is to "illegally dismantle or drastically reduce" the Education Department.
The letter — signed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut — expresses concerns about a number of actions at the Education Department since Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.
Or Hen, a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-founder of Kalaniyot, a faculty-led initiative focused on deepening ties between MIT and Israeli researchers, said that he has witnessed systemic failures in discipline for protesters and protection for Jewish students.
The rapid pace of the new Trump administration's efforts to abolish the U.S. Department of Education has caught many student advocates off guard and on the defensive while bringing praise from those supportive of less federal bureaucracy and more local control.
"Our ability to advance both economically and technologically, our country's entire intellectual and cultural life depend on the success of our great educational enterprise," Carter said in the 1979 speech, according to The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
An August survey of chief online learning officers found that two-thirds wanted to create virtual versions of classes and programs their colleges offered on campus.
This blueprint of leaving the fundamentals of curriculum development to the states while providing best practices and tools and targeting funding to achieve big national goals is exactly what we need going forward.