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New York Post
25-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump admin puts California put on notice over transgender athletes: ‘Clear violation'
WASHINGTON — California discriminated against women and girls by letting biological men compete on their sports teams and enter their bathrooms and locker rooms, a Trump administration civil rights probe concluded Wednesday. The US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights determined that California's Education Department and Interscholastic Federation, which has received state funding, were in 'clear violation of Title IX' for having 'actively prevented this equality of opportunity by allowing males in girls' sports and intimate spaces.' The civil rights office has given the Golden State 10 days to reverse course — or face 'imminent enforcement action' that could include a referral to the Department of Justice. Advertisement 5 The US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights determined that California's Education Department and Interscholastic Federation were in 'clear violation of Title IX.' Getty Images 'Although Governor Gavin Newsom admitted months ago it was 'deeply unfair' to allow men to compete in women's sports, both the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation continued as recently as a few weeks ago to allow men to steal female athletes' well-deserved accolades and to subject them to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions,' Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. 'The Trump Administration will relentlessly enforce Title IX protections for women and girls, and our findings today make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law. The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow.' Advertisement The 1972 law is meant to protect equal opportunities regardless of sex in schools receiving federal funds. 5 California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on his podcast in March that it was 'deeply unfair' to allow men to compete in women's sports. JOHN G MABANGLO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Most Americans — and as many as 69% of Democrats — support sex-segregated sports participation, a New York Times poll found in January. Several Western nations — including the UK — have also banned or severely limited the practice of hormone therapy and providing puberty-blocking drugs to children, citing physical and psychological harms and the need for further study of long-term effects. Advertisement Past research studies show that transgender female athletes maintain a competitive advantage over their biological female peers even after undergoing hormone therapy to transition genders. 5 Trump's Education Department's word of warning for California also comes after the US Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law prohibiting hormone therapy for minors. Image of Sports/Newscom via ZUMA 'It wouldn't be a day ending in 'Y' without the Trump Administration threatening to defund California. Now Secretary McMahon is confusing government with her WrestleMania days — dramatic, fake, and completely divorced from reality,' said a spokesperson for Newsom. 'This won't stick.' The Trump Education Department's word of warning for California also comes after the US Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law prohibiting hormone therapy for minors. Advertisement To reverse course, the California educational entities must inform any recipients of federal funding to 'adopt biology-based definitions of the words 'male' and 'female,'' according to Trump's Education Department. California's Interscholastic Federation must also 'restore to female athletes all individual records, titles, and awards misappropriated by male athletes competing in female competitions' — including Katie McGuinness, who placed second against a trans athlete in the long jump at the federation's Southern Section Final last month. 5 The US Education Department launched the investigation into California's interscholastic sports federation on Feb. 12 after the organization said it was going to flout the president's executive order. Getty Images California's Education Department must in addition 'send a personalized letter apologizing on behalf of the state of California for allowing her educational experience to be marred by sex discrimination.' And the state office will have to annually certify that any recipients of federal funds are in compliance with Title IX. In California, there are nearly 6 million K-12 athletes but fewer than 10 are transgender, a state official noted. Just around 10 are transgender of the more than 500,000 NCAA student-athletes nationally. The Education Department launched the investigation into the state's interscholastic sports federation on Feb. 12 after the organization said it was going to flout the president's executive order preventing transgender athletes from competing in women's and girls' sports. 5 Katie McGuinness placed second against a trans athlete in the long jump at the California state federation's Southern Section Final last month. FOX News Advertisement The department has dubbed June 'Title IX Month' and is 'commemorating women's continued push for equal educational and athletic opportunity.' Reps for California's Education Department, Interscholastic Federation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
New York Post
12-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
It's not just Trump — Biden found major civil-rights problems with Harvard too
Many people assume federal civil-rights scrutiny of antisemitism at Harvard is a recent, partisan development. Headlines shout about President 'Trump's War on Harvard,' 'Trump's Harvard Vendetta' and 'His Harvard Hate Campaign.' In fact, such oversight is required by law and has been enforced consistently by both Republican and Democratic administrations, including the last one. Advertisement The Biden team raised concerns that Harvard's response to antisemitic-harassment complaints didn't fully comply with the Civil Rights Act's Title VI — with some echoing those found in the Trump administration's April 11 demand letter. Harvard quietly entered into a voluntary resolution agreement with the Biden Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights Jan. 17, days before the university settled two lawsuits with Jewish students — and days before Trump re-entered the White House. 5 The administrations of both Donald Trump (left) and Joe Biden examined Harvard's civil-rights problems. POOL/AFP via Getty Images Advertisement I've been working directly with Jewish Harvard students since the campus exploded in October 2023, so these findings did not surprise me. I witnessed firsthand the distress and frustration many experienced and watched closely as the university failed to respond effectively. In one glaring example, two students charged with assault and battery of a Jewish student during an Oct. 18, 2023, anti-Israel campus protest weren't disciplined. Instead, Harvard rewarded them. The Harvard Law Review gave Ibrahim Bharmal a $65,000 fellowship. Advertisement Bharmal, featured on the law school's admissions website, will spend his fellowship at California's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations — whose cofounder and executive director, Nihad Awad, said, 'I was happy to see people breaking the siege' with Gaza's Oct. 7 attack. The other student, Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, was voted a class marshal by his Harvard Divinity School classmates. Harvard let both students graduate without consequence. 5 Two students charged with assaulting a Jewish student during an October 2023 anti-Israel protest weren't disciplined. Twitter/AvivaKlompas The resolution agreement, which should help all students, is significant, but it barely made news. Harvard made no public announcement. Most media outlets ignored the story. Advertisement Instead, much coverage misleadingly frames federal scrutiny of campus antisemitism as beginning with the new Trump-era task force. I strongly support the rule of law and its being applied equally to all. I champion — at the same time — the First Amendment, federal funding of lawful basic research and robust enforcement of civil-rights protections. But let's be clear: Assault, discrimination, harassment, vandalism, trespassing and support for terrorist organizations are not protected speech. I write this as an American citizen and registered Democrat. The Office of Civil Rights launched its investigation into Harvard in November 2023, following allegations of discrimination and harassment against Jewish students. While it later closed this investigation — a standard practice when federal lawsuits are proceeding — it maintained its oversight. In a heartening development, even as the Biden team reviewed Harvard's handling of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students' harassment claims, it continued to examine records and information directly related to the harassment of Jewish students. 5 Harvard gave a funded fellowship to Ibrahim Bharmal, one of the students. Instagram/betterdays_arecoming25/ The OCR's Jan. 17 letter referenced the two federal lawsuits filed in 2024 alleging Harvard's 'deliberate indifference' and noted several disturbing examples. A federal court cited in one suit an allegation of 'student-on-student harassment' and denied Harvard's motion to dismiss both lawsuits. Students repeatedly told me they struggled to find the appropriate channels to report harassment. When they did file complaints, responses were often slow, inadequate or dismissive — falling short of the prompt and effective response Title VI requires. Advertisement Even more troubling, Harvard would not pursue investigations unless students revealed their identities to alleged harassers. This policy had a chilling effect, discouraging students from coming forward. Besides violating Title VI, the university may have breached its duty of care to ensure students' physical safety. 5 Elom Tettey-Tamaklo (left) spent time in Palestine before attending Harvard Divinity School. The OCR confirmed these failures and found Harvard often failed to create or keep records of complaints — a serious compliance lapse that undermines accountability. Advertisement At many Harvard schools, the offices generally responsible for handling discrimination complaints — formerly called Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging — appeared not to have fulfilled their duties. Harvard has since renamed these offices, but a new name is not enough. Notably, the Biden agreement, which required Harvard to submit revised policies and procedures to the Office of Civil Rights by May 17 for review and approval, closely mirrors language from the Trump administration's April 11 letter — which also called on Harvard to 'immediately reform its student discipline policies and procedures so as to swiftly and transparently enforce its existing disciplinary policies with consistency and impartiality.' Both administrations focused on reviewing Harvard's response to reports of a hostile environment during the 2023-2025 academic years. Advertisement The Biden deal requires Harvard to provide 'all formal and informal reports or complaints, received by the University alleging harassment based on shared ancestry, and the University's response to those reports or complaints.' Similarly, the Trump administration required that 'Harvard must investigate and carry out meaningful discipline for all violations that occurred during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years.' 5 The author, Clarence Schwab, has heard from countless harassed Harvard students. The resolution agreement is a step forward. Whether Harvard's revised policies and efforts will be enough remains to be seen. Advertisement The findings of Harvard's own Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias vindicated these concerns and the need for decisive action. The task force further recommends that Harvard develop a central hub for pluralism, implicitly acknowledging the need to protect academic freedom from Harvard's own monoculture — a culture that has driven away distinguished scholars and researchers and led to documented discrimination against Jewish students and others. Harvard also has to do more to comply with its January 2025 settlement with suing Jewish students. While all terms are not public, Harvard did commit to hiring someone to oversee all complaints of antisemitism — but still hasn't announced anyone for that position. I'm committed to helping Harvard return to its stated mission and to improving everyone on campus' safety and well-being. Equal civil rights, as guaranteed the Civil Rights Act's Title VI and Title VII, should be a nonpartisan, uncontroversial American value. Clarence Schwab is the founder and managing partner of Kronor Capital and a cofounder of Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
McMahon spars with Democrats over request to cut Education Department funding
Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Wednesday defended to House members the Trump administration's request to cut 15 percent from her department's budget. McMahon at times had contentious moments with members as she emphasized the request for a $12 billion cut as President Trump wants her to carry out the federal agency's 'final mission.' 'Madam Secretary, the legacy you will be leaving is that 'I shut down the Department of Education.' How we educate our children determines not just their future, but our own. But I think it's a sad legacy you will leave,' said Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) At the beginning of the hearing, McMahon said her three priorities for the department are school choice, literacy rates and returning education to the states. 'The fiscal year '26 budget will take a significant step toward that goal. We seek to shrink federal bureaucracy, save taxpayer money and empower states who best know their local needs to manage education in this country,' McMahon said. In his budget request, the president is looking to cut most education areas including preschool grants and the Office of Civil Rights. The only area the Trump administration looked to increase funding was for charter schools, by $60 million. The proposed cuts led to multiple discussions between the secretary and Democrats. 'I'm asking you, do you realize that to send authority back to the states, to eliminate your oversight, to eliminate your accountability, to eliminate your determination as to resources going to schools that are teaching public schools that are teaching underserved communities, this will result in the very reason that we had to get the involvement of our government in this, and that's a yes or no,' said Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) 'It isn't a yes or no, but I will not respond to any questions based on the theory that this administration doesn't care anything about the law and operates outside it,' McMahon responded. 'From the president of the United States conducting himself in a corrupt manner to his family enriching him and himself corruptly … I'm telling you, the Department of Education is one of the most important departments in this country and you should feel shameful [to] be engaged with an administration that doesn't give a damn,' Watson Coleman retorted. McMahon pushed back on statements that she is trying to get rid of the 8 to 10 percent of federal funding that goes to states, emphasizing she is looking to move the programs to other departments. Trump has previously floated, for example, moving student loans to the Department of Treasury and programs for students with disabilities to the Department of Health and Human Services. 'You don't want to come up with the 8 percent to help our kids succeed, to help their mental health, to help kids with disabilities,' said Dean. 'I've already said Title I funding, IDEA funding is still going to come out' through other departments, McMahon responded. Republicans largely praised McMahon for the work she has done so far to slash the Department of Education, an agency the party has tried to get rid of since its creation. But the end of the department is not possible without an act of Congress, a high bar the Trump administration is unlikely to clear. 'Secretary McMahon has wasted no time implementing President Trump's bold agenda to restore education to the states, and I want to commend her for efforts on hitting the ground running,' said Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), chair of the House Appropriation Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. 'Students need reading, writing, math, critical thinking for everyday activities to succeed in their jobs and to make life's big decisions,' he added. 'Federal funding has let things like social justice advocacy, divisive issues' overtake a 'focus on teaching students' core subjects. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Conservative group files federal complaint against UConn over DEI scholarships
A conservative group that's pursuing anti-DEI complaints against more than a dozen state universities on Wednesday targeted the University of Connecticut, accusing the school of violating civil rights law by setting aside numerous scholarships exclusively or chiefly for minority students. The Rhode Island-based Equal Protection Project complained to the federal education department's Office of Civil Rights that UConn illegally invoked race, ethnicity or gender in awarding several scholarships. 'That racially discriminatory scholarships exist at a major public university is disheartening. It is time for higher education everywhere to focus on the inherent worth and dignity of every student rather than categorizing students based on identity groups,' according to William A. Jacobson, founder of the campaign. Numerous universities and colleges maintain 'minority-focused' scholarships, internship programs, summer residencies or other financial aid tools aimed at increasing enrollment by Black, Hispanic or other student groups. Educators contend that affirmative action programs are important to overcoming a historical pattern in which minorities have been under-represented in higher education. But the Equal Protection Project insists that race- or nationality-based financial awards are unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 ruled that two 'race conscious' admissions programs in higher education violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. This year, the nonprofit Equal Protection Project has sharply stepped up its campaign of anti-discrimination complaints. Since January it has gone to the Office of Civil Rights to contest scholarships at the University of Oregon, the University of Alabama, the University of Nebraska, Drake University, Bowdoin College, the University of South Carolina and about 15 others. On Wednesday, the organization announced that it's challenging the legality of four UConn scholarship programs. UConn said late Wednesday that it had not yet gotten a copy of the complaint or been told which funds it involves. 'Generally speaking, UConn continually reviews its scholarship and financial aid criteria against current legal requirements and adjusts as needed to ensure compliance,' UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said. 'Some such scholarship funds are currently paused following the recent Dear Colleague letter and other related federal guidance, and UConn is working with donors and departments to make any necessary revisions.' In mid-February, the U.S. Department of Education issued a 'Dear Colleague' letter ordering educational institutions that get federal funding to stop using race preferences as a factor in deciding admissions, discipline, hiring, scholarships and more. The Equal Protection complaint quotes UConn's mission statement: 'UConn has a strong commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ). We aim to support diversity, equity, and inclusion through offering support for success for people of all backgrounds.' Jacobson's group argues that that's illegal when it blocks non-minority students from being eligible for aid or awards. 'We are asking UConn to live up to the law and its own rules, and remove the discriminatory eligibility barriers it has erected,' the organization said in a statement. 'Racial and ethnic discrimination are wrong and unlawful no matter which race or ethnicity is targeted or benefits. All applicants are entitled to equal treatment without regard to race, color, or national origin.' In February, Jacobson told ProPublica that his organization opposes any discrimination, saying 'If there are programs that exclude Black students, we want the department to go after that, but I am not aware of such programs.' At UConn, he contends that Bryan K. and Alice M. Pollard Scholarship rules are discriminatory. They say 'Applicants must have overcome obstacles such as socioeconomic or educational disadvantage, be members of underrepresented groups at the university, including students of color, or have experience living or working in diverse environments.' The complaint alleges that the Sidney P. Marland Jr. Fund for Educational Leadership is also being run illegally because the criteria say 'The award provides scholarships for minority undergraduate and graduate students in educational leadership.' He also is challenging a dietetics program diversity scholarship that states 'priority given to candidates of an ethnic or racial background which is underrepresented at UConn,' as well as the Philo T. Pritzkau Fund for graduate students in the Neag School of Education, where the rules say 'priority consideration will be given to African American, Hispanic American and Native American students.' Long-time civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center condemned the Supreme Court's decision when it came out in 2023. Voters the next year elected President Trump, who is working to dismantle DEI initiatives across the country. Soon afterward, the federal education department's civil rights office stopped or slowed its review of thousands of civil rights complaints, according to ProPublica. At the same time, it began an investigation into whether universities show bias against white students. 'Let me be clear: it is a new day in America, and under President Trump, OCR will not tolerate discrimination of any kind,' Craig Trainor, acting director of the office, told ProPublica. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights takes a different view. 'The American Dream is not equally available to all. In 2023, the Department of Education reported that it received the most civil rights complaints in its history, most of which allege race, sex, or disability discrimination,' according to the group. 'While the number of Black people with college degrees has increased over the last two decades, Black people remain relegated to lower wage jobs and less lucrative industries compared to white people with similar levels of education, and Black women experience some of the largest pay gaps,' it said.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
There's a lot to learn about crime. Trump's orders are making it harder to get answers.
The Trump administration is quickly trying to reshape America's criminal justice system. Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi cancelled hundreds of Department of Justice grants centered on crime prevention to shift its focus toward illegal drug enforcement and the eradication of DEI policies. On April 28, the president signed executive orders to limit police reform and rescind consent decrees that hold police agencies accountable. And recent reporting details how the department's Office of Civil Rights is transitioning from enforcing civil rights laws to bringing cases against universities and cities passing liberal policies, leading hundreds of attorneys to resign in protest and effectively gutting the division. But all the news about what these directives are doing can distract from what exactly they're undoing by rapidly curtailing public access to information about crime and criminal justice. In the early days of the Trump presidency, government agencies began deleting web pages that promoted 'gender ideology' or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. As reported by the Journalist's Resource, pages about gender-based violence and structural racism were taken down and remain offline. The Bureau of Prisons removed from its website its Transgender Offender Manual, which outlined policies for interacting with transgender people who are incarcerated. Plus, an overview of definitions and data on hate crimes is no longer accessible on the National Institute of Justice's website, although some of the material exists on other Justice Department webpages. Though each change may be minor on its own, together, they interfere with the public's understanding of the causes of violence, successful crime prevention strategies and the workings of the criminal justice system. Ultimately, without access to this kind of information, it becomes harder to hold the government accountable for its policies around policing and incarceration. The information ecosystem wasn't perfect under the Biden administration, either. Around 2020, methodology changes and bureaucratic reshuffling led to significantly less reporting on deaths in custody, a problem that continued throughout Biden's presidency. In 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation finished switching systems for collecting crime data. The Marshall Project reported that 6,000 of 18,000 police agencies did not transition in time, leaving a gaping hole in a primary resource for national crime statistics. The Trump administration, however, has gone beyond bureaucratic hiccups by actively impeding access to public information. In March, the White House removed an advisory declaring gun violence a public health issue and listing statistics on shootings. According to Mother Jones, major layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have threatened the future of the dataset known as WISQARS, which tracks information on gun violence injuries and deaths and has become a critical resource for researchers. Data collection is often the first step toward addressing serious societal problems. Take the issue of 'wandering cops' who transfer between police agencies without their histories of abuse or misconduct following them. In 2022, the Biden administration created the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, a central place for police departments to search for information about federal law enforcement officers with criminal convictions and misconduct violations. Trump decommissioned the database on his first day in office. State and local agencies come to rely on tools like this to gain insights from other jurisdictions and compare the success of different programs, but that work is becoming increasingly challenging. Federal agencies are also removing research staff, cutting funding and eliminating grants that, over time, build a portfolio of knowledge around criminal justice issues. There are plenty of examples on the topic of gun violence alone. At the Department of Homeland Security, officials discontinued an advisory board that was developing evidence-based best practices to prevent school shootings. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the research team studying gun violence was decimated by layoffs, losing about three-quarters of its staff. As for the funding cuts at the Department of Justice at the end of April, the changes have far-reaching implications for researchers trying to better understand crime patterns and prevention strategies. An analysis of the list of canceled Justice Department grants published by Reuters shows that at least 44 grants worth more than $47 million were slated for research projects, including research on juvenile justice, violent extremism, elder abuse, policing strategies and reentry programs. The Justice Department also cut all funding to the Prison Rape Elimination Act Resource Center. Passed unanimously by Congress in 2003, PREA mandated data collection on incidents of sexual assault in prisons to identify paths to prevention. The act led the National Institute of Justice to fund the Culture of Prison Sexual Violence study, the largest ethnographic study of incarcerated people ever conducted, which resulted in a long list of recommendations for prisons and jails. The study found that more than 9% of incarcerated people were aware of a rape committed by a correctional staff member. Follow-up research projects are now in limbo due to the federal government's funding cuts. In a seeming contradiction, the Trump administration is hoping to streamline and encourage data collection on crime rates. The April 28 executive order on policing included a mandate to 'increase the investment in and collection, distribution, and uniformity of crime data across jurisdictions.' Project 2025—a conservative policy blueprint for the Trump presidency—wrote favorably of the Justice Department's National Crime Victimization Survey, saying officials 'should prioritize and sufficiently fund it.' Trump has already implemented several Project 2025 recommendations for the Justice Department. For the data and information that is now shielded from public view, there are a number of organizations racing to restore access. The Project on Government Oversight has a searchable database of 160 investigative records taken offline in February that document alleged abuses by the Department of Homeland Security. Harvard University has compiled data on health equity and environmental justice and made the information available online. The Data Rescue Project is archiving millions of records on youth behaviors, education, COVID-19 and more. There's also the Wayback Machine, an easily accessible tool for finding older versions of web pages that have since been altered or removed from the internet. It offers users an option to archive websites as they exist today. Have you seen examples of how data and research on the criminal justice system are changing under the Trump administration or have data to share? Share them with Jill at jcastellano@ This story was produced by The Marshall Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system, and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
