Dept. of Education disputes claim it targets Christian colleges, trade schools
Congresswoman Virginia Foxx’s office criticized a report showing 70 percent of penalties imposed by the Department of Education on universities were levied on Christian colleges or trade schools.
She is the outgoing chairwoman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
“Targeting Christian and career colleges is totally unacceptable and something that Chairwoman Foxx has been greatly concerned about,” AnnMarie Graham-Barnes, a spokeswoman for the committee and Rep. Foxx, told The College Fix via email.
The American Principles Project recently released a report documenting the disparate punishment of these schools.
“Nearly 70 percent of penalties imposed by the Office of Enforcement have been against Christian institutions and career colleges, even though these schools represent less than 10 percent of college students,” the report found.
The current administration and the Dept. of Ed. should find better ways to spend its time, according to Rep. Foxx’s office.
“The Biden-Harris administration should be focused on ensuring more students have the opportunity to pursue postsecondary education and rooting out the legitimately bad actors,” Graham-Barnes told The Fix, “not spending time penalizing schools who may not fall in line with the administration’s ideology.”
Foxx’s office criticized the Department of Education for its unprecedented $14 million fines against Liberty University for alleged violations relating to crime reporting under the Clery Act. Someone also leaked a copy of the report to The Washington Post before the university had a chance to review and respond to the allegations, as is common practice, according to the letter.
The fine against Liberty, along with a $37.7 million fine against Grand Canyon University, “total more than all other penalties assessed by the Department of Education over the past seven years,” according to American Principles Project.
However, not all of the department’s attempts have been successful. A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Department of Education unlawfully declined Grand Canyon University’s application to obtain nonprofit status.
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Jon Schweppe, director of policy for the American Principles Project and author of the report, is hopeful the court’s decision will pave the way forward for a reversal in policy under the Trump administration.
“The long-term goal should be to put rules in place to prevent this type of discrimination against Christian schools from ever happening again,” Schweppe told The Fix via email. Some of this can be done at USED, but Congress needs to play a role as well.”
However, Schweppe fears the damage may be irreversible.
“The effect of USED’s harassment campaign has been to financially and reputationally harm these educational institutions,” Schweppe said.
The department disputed the claims of the report, calling it a “false narrative.”
“A school’s religious affiliation or non-profit status has absolutely no bearing on our oversight and enforcement actions,” a department spokesperson told The Fix via email. “Our top priority is protecting safety and academic opportunity for all students at institutions of higher education.
But a former department official under the Trump administration said reform is needed – and the problem dates back years.
“The Obama and Biden administrations both executed severe attacks on Christian organizations, including Christian colleges,” Adam Kissel told The College Fix via email. “They wouldn’t tolerate beliefs that conflict with their policies.”
“The next administration should reform that office and freeze its investigations until it can be trusted,” Kissel, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told The Fix.
“The office, if it continues to exist at all, should have a very different focus starting next year.”
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IMAGE: House Committee on Education & the Workforce/YouTube
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