For decades, the higher education establishment has benefited from a firehose of taxpayer dollars through the Federal Student Aid program while imposing a brazenly anti-American political agenda onto generations of college students who are then forced to enter into the workforce with thousands of dollars of debt. At the same time, higher education has also embarked on a cozy relationship with foreign financiers that have given hostile governments a direct line into some of the nation’s most elite and prestigious institutions.
This corrupt status quo has been bolstered by the regulatory agenda of President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. Under their watch, the Department of Education imposed radical revisions of Title IX onto college students that forced schools to allow men in women’s bathrooms, attempted a blatant wealth-transfer program through the cancellation of student loans, and discriminately targeted for-profit and Christian colleges with punitive lawfare.
The Trump administration has a mandate and the power to put an end to it all, and when the president-elect takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, the work must begin immediately.
The administration must start by undoing the Biden administration’s dangerous regulations that have turned the college experience of so many students into a social experiment for liberal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. That means the Title IX rules must be rescinded and replaced with a regulation similar to the one enacted during the first Trump administration, and other regulations, such as efforts to expand existing student loan forgiveness programs and overhaul accrediting, must also be rescinded.
It is imperative that the work to overhaul the Biden regulations begins as soon as possible, given how time-consuming the federal rulemaking process is. The sooner the process begins, the sooner a new rule can be finalized.
When it comes to oversight of the day-to-day operations of higher education institutions, the Trump administration should start by aggressively enforcing the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which declared that colleges could not consider an applicant’s race in admissions decisions. Since the decision was handed down in 2023, colleges have already looked for ways to find loopholes in the ruling. The Trump administration must make it clear that no such loopholes can be exploited and that the odious practice of race-based discrimination for affirmative action is over.
At the same time, the administration must build on its work from the first term that showcased the extensive influence that foreign governments, such as the Chinese Communist Party, have wielded over colleges and universities. This work is even more crucial because colleges are increasingly looking to foreign students to fill classroom seats left empty by a national trend of declining enrollment.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Finally, the administration must enact a draconian policy of zero tolerance to colleges that have allowed antisemitism to fester on their campuses. These institutions should be duly investigated for creating a hostile environment for all students, but especially Jewish students. And if any of the terrorist sympathizers responsible for the chaos are foreign-born, they should be promptly deported.
For years, higher education has operated with free rein to push its radical agenda at the expense of the taxpayer. The new Trump administration can finally put a stop to it and end the era of campus radicalism.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
