Free Republic

Editor’s note: This column was co-authored by Emmett McGroarty.Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is a bit of a puzzle. Every speech she gives is a grab bag of praiseworthy philosophical statements combined with dismaying practical proposals. Her recent presentation to the American Enterprise Institute is a good example.She began with remarks about the Common Core national standards. Especially in her home state of Michigan, conservatives were discouraged by DeVos’s nomination because of her past support of Common Core and her efforts (through organizations she founded and/or funded) to thwart the parents who opposed them. She disavowed her previous support and then...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos gave a far-ranging speech today in Washington at an American Enterprise Institute conference, “Bush-Obama School Reform: Lessons Learned.” She announced the death of Common Core, at least in her federal agency. DeVos also decried the federal government’s initiatives to improve education. “We saw two presidents from different political parties and philosophies take two different approaches. Federally mandated assessments. Federal money. Federal standards. All originated in Washington, and none solved the problem. Too many of America’s students are still unprepared,” she said. And she touched on a favorite topic, school choice. “Choice in...

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has kicked the hornets’ nest again, this time by changing the regulations for deciding if a student will be relieved of his or her obligation to repay federal college loans. The way our higher education finance system works, the federal government makes it easy for students to borrow money for college, no matter how academically weak and disengaged they might be. Many schools have been created to cash in on that money by providing educational programs (mostly with a vocational focus) for people who think they need some postsecondary education to land a job. All those...

CNN Anti-Trump Hack is BUSTED! Liberal CNN Hack Ana Navarro Caught Editing Photo to Trash POTUS Trump And Ana Navarro is reportedly the REPUBLICAN contributor at CNN! On Sunday morning Ana Navarro – a Hillary Clinton supporter – ripped President Trump and Republicans in a racist and sexist tweet. Navarro attacked the “orangey” hues of President Trump and accused him of only meeting with “10 old straight white men” at Camp David. Ana Navarro @ananavarro 10 old straight white men met in Camp David to set the legislative agenda for America. Oops! Let me correct myself. Paul Ryan isn't old....

The Trump administration is further delaying Obama-era protections for students defrauded by for-profit colleges, saying it needs more time to write new regulations. Tuesday’s announcement renewed criticism by Democrats and advocacy groups that the administration favors the interests of for-profit universities over students. The Education Department posted a notice in the Federal Register saying it wants to delay the borrower defense rule until July 1, 2019, while a new rule is being written. The department estimated that postponing the rule will save taxpayers $46 million. The regulation allows students to have their loans forgiven if their schools deceived them about...

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released the following statement on Secretary DeVos’ decision to further delay the effective date of the “borrower defense” rule for another two years, which provides relief to students who have been defrauded by predatory for-profit colleges, including Corinthian Colleges. In June, Secretary DeVos delayed implementation of the rule, which was set to go into effect July 1, 2017. Today’s notice delays the borrower defense rule until at least July 1, 2019.“Given the significant number of former for-profit college executives employed by the Department of...

State Senate Bill 169 would have codified Obama-era Title IX guidanceCalifornia Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed Monday a bill to codify the aggressive Obama-era campus federal sexual-assault guidance, echoing concerns about the rights of the accused raised previously by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Mr. Brown said it was “time to pause and survey the land” before moving forward with more regulations “when we haven’t yet ascertained the full impact of what we recently enacted” with California’s 2014 affirmative-consent law. “Since this law was enacted, however, thoughtful legal minds have increasingly questioned whether federal and state actions to prevent and redress sexual...

Brenda Tracy (left), talks with Sen. Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden and PSU President... Oregon’s colleges and universities must resist any Trump administration plans to walk back federal rules directing how schools respond to sexual assaults on campus. That was the takeaway from a Monday morning roundtable discussion at Portland State University. Oregon Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and sexual assault survivor Brenda Tracy held an informal discussion with PSU Title IX leaders and sexual assault prevention staffers. The meeting came less than a month after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rescinded Obama-era guidelines on how schools should handle...

Good news for college men: You’re welcome again on campus. On Friday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos ripped up the Obama administration’s one-sided rules on how colleges and universities handle accusations of sexual assault and misconduct. The rules, imposed in 2011, were so stacked against the accused — usually young men — that dozens of innocent male students were branded as rapists, kicked out of school and robbed of future job opportunities. Those with sufficient money and fortitude managed to get their names cleared in real courts of law — where rules of evidence, due process and reasonable standards of proof...

To those of us who have followed the Obama Administration's machinations on Title IX, and much else, it does not come as much of a surprise that the last two Secretaries of Education skirted traditional practice, if not legal guidelines, in consulting no one when they undertook their transformation of Title IX. "The Department imposed these regulatory burdens without affording notice and the opportunity for public comment," the new letter reads. "Under these circumstances, the Department has decided to withdraw the above-referenced guidance documents in order to develop an approach to student sexual misconduct that responds to the concerns of...

The Trump administration on Friday scrapped Obama-era guidance on investigating campus sexual assault, replacing it with new instructions that allow universities to require higher standards of evidence when handling complaints. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said that President Barack Obama’s policy had been unfairly skewed against those accused of assault and had “weaponized” the Education Department to “work against schools and against students.” The change is the latest in Trump’s broader effort to roll back Obama policies. Women’s rights groups slammed Friday’s decision, saying it will discourage students from reporting assault. The guidance released in 2011 and then updated in...

College hearings into alleged misconduct ‘must be fair and impartial,’ education secretary saysEducation Secretary Betsy DeVos on Friday rescinded the Obama administration’s Title IX letter on campus sexual assault, sparking outrage from her foes but relief from those who have lambasted the policy for eroding due process by favoring the accuser over the accused. Ms. DeVos also issued an interim guidance for schools on “how to investigate and adjudicate allegations of campus sexual misconduct under federal law” while the department proceeds with its rulemaking to replace the 2011 policy. “This interim guidance will help schools as they work to combat...

A mercenary air force that became a symbol of the U.S. occupation of Iraq is back in action—this time in Central Africa, supporting a shadowy American U.S. Special Forces commando operation targeting the Lord’s Resistance Army. In late January, a source on the ground in Central African Republic spotted a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter with the registry number N408RC carrying American Special Forces troops. The LRA, a cultish band of thieves and rapists led by warlord Joseph Kony, is most active in the forested region where Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo meet. In 2010, President...

It is very rare for a federal agency to admit having made a mistake and rarer still for the secretary of a cabinet department to announce a U-turn in policy in a heavily publicized speech. But that is exactly what Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos did on September 7. Speaking at George Mason University, Secretary DeVos went straight after the most contentious element of the Obama Administration’s higher education policy, namely its interpretation of Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972. The language of the statute was twisted by bureaucratic fiat (a “Dear Colleague” letter) from prohibiting discrimination...

University of Baltimore president Kurt Schmoke defended his decision to invite U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to speak at the school’s fall commencement, even as dozens of students protested against the invitation Monday and hundreds more signed a petition demanding he change his mind. Schmoke, a former mayor of Baltimore, said students should reserve judgment on the controversial member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet. Hosting DeVos, he said, is “in the best tradition of the university.” Dozens of students participated in a “class walk out” demonstration Monday afternoon, the first of two protests planned for today. UB junior Tracy...

"One university leader was rightly appalled when he was asked by an Office for Civil Rights official: 'Why do you care about the rights of the accused?'" – Betsy DeVosOne of the many disasters the Obama Administration put in place was a reinterpretation of Title IX that led to colleges setting up kangaroo courts that were heavily stacked against men in rape cases. Men were not given due process; the standard of guilt was changed from beyond a shadow of a doubt to “a preponderance of the evidence;” men were denied meaningful counsel; men were not allowed access to information...

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos vowed Thursday to replace what she branded the “failed system” of campus sexual assault enforcement, to ensure fairness for victims and the accused. “Instead of working with schools . . . ,” DeVos said, “the prior administration weaponized the Office for Civil Rights.” “We must do better because the current approach isn’t working,” she said. DeVos spoke to about 100 invited guests at George Mason University, where protesters had gathered outside, worried that she would announce changes to the way sexual violence cases are handled on campuses across the country. “One rape is one too many,”...

Oregon's plan to evaluate schools' performance, help schools judged to be weak performers and otherwise carry out federal education mandates fully meets federal government standards, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos told Gov. Kate Brown Wednesday. "I am pleased to approve Oregon's... plan," DeVos wrote to Brown and state schools chief Salam Noor. "I congratulate you on this significant accomplishment." All states are required to file plans showing how they will comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Unlike the widely despised No Child Left Behind law, the new federal K-12 law leaves a lot of discretion to states....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is donating three months of his salary to the Department of Education. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump chose to give the department $100,000. His first quarter salary donation went to the Department of Interior. (TWEET-AT-LINK) Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says the donation is being used to pay for a science, technology, engineering and mathematics camp sponsored by the department.....

“This is not a drill,” NEA President Lily Eskelsen García told the 2017 NEA Representative Assembly. “We stand in a dangerous place. We stand between a profiteer and his profits. We have a president who resides at the dangerous intersection of arrogance and ignorance and travels with a moral compass that always points to his own self-interest.” In her keynote address on Sunday, Eskelsen García laid out in stark terms the dangers posed by the agenda of President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, but reminded the 7,500 delegates gathered in the Boston Convention Center that “we can win. We...