WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump&#8217;s Education Department is investigating the University of California at Berkeley for allegedly failing to properly report hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign funding, The Daily Wire has learned.
The Education Department sent a notice of investigation and records requests to UC Berkeley on Friday, senior Education Department officials shared Friday morning. The notification came amid widespread media reports that Berkeley has received a substantial amount of money from foreign governments, the official said, specifically China.
These substantial amounts of money have not been reported to the department as required by law under Section 117&#8217;s Foreign Funding Disclosure Requirements for Universities, one official shared. The department is concerned about the university&#8217;s deep involvements with Chinese entities, particularly how it has shared the development and transfer of important technologies with China.
“They’ll have 30 days to respond with the records that we requested,&#8221; an Education Department official said, &#8220;and so we hope to have quite a volume of records and we’ll be able to verify the degree to which UC Berkeley is or is not compliant after our examination of those records.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_912241" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/education-department-investigating-uc-berkeley-for-improper-reporting-on-china-ties/sather-gate" rel="attachment wp-att-912241"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-912241" class="wp-image-912241 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1053601948-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1053601948-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1053601948-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1053601948-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1053601948.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Close-up of metalwork on Sather Gate, the iconic entrance gate to the campus of UC Berkeley in downtown Berkeley, California, October 9, 2018. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)</div>
“Over the course of the last two years, UC Berkeley has been cooperating with federal inquiries regarding 117 reporting issues, and will continue to do so,&#8221; a spokesman for UC Berkeley said on Friday. The univeristy declined to comment further.

UC Berkeley

Education Department Investigating UC Berkeley For Improper Reporting On China Ties

Berkeley, California

California

Department of Education

Donald Trump

University of California Berkeley

President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders on Wednesday, including multiple directives that seek to further cut diversity, equity, and inclusion policies from influencing education.
The orders covered a host of topics, including artificial intelligence, foreign funding of universities, accreditation associations, and school discipline policies. Trump signed them in the Oval Office with Education Secretary Linda McMahon at his side.
One of the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/reinstating-common-sense-school-discipline-policies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">orders</a> rolled back school disciplinary guidance issued during the Obama administration that told schools across the country that they could lose federal funding &#8220;if their disciplinary decisions ran afoul of a newly imposed disparate-impact framework under which race-neutral disciplinary policies, applied in an even-handed manner, may be improper if members of any racial groups are suspended, expelled, or referred to law enforcement at higher rates than others.&#8221;
Trump wrote that the Obama guidance &#8220;required schools to discriminate on the basis of race by imposing discipline based on racial characteristics, rather than on objective behavior alone.&#8221; The order mandates that schools do not consider race when enforcing discipline policies. 
Several executive orders focus on education at the university level, including <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/reforming-accreditation-to-strengthen-higher-education/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one</a> that goes after accreditors, whom Trump writes have &#8220;abused their enormous authority&#8221; by forcing universities to adopt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. 
Specifically named in the executive order are the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-medical-association-academic-blames-health-care-problems-on-cisgenderism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Liaison Committee on Medical Education</a> and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which calls for institutions to implement “policies and procedures related to recruitment and retention of individuals underrepresented in medicine,” specifically including racial minorities. 
&#8220;The Secretary of Education shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, hold accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition, accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate Federal law, including by requiring institutions seeking accreditation to engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of &#8216;diversity, equity, and inclusion&#8217; initiatives,&#8221; Trump wrote. 
Another higher education <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/transparency-regarding-foreign-influence-at-american-universities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> calls for greater transparency around the foreign funding of American universities and calls for the Education Department and the Justice Department to develop more stringent reporting requirements. 
&#8220;It is the policy of my Administration to end the secrecy surrounding foreign funds in American educational institutions, protect the marketplace of ideas from propaganda sponsored by foreign governments, and safeguard America’s students and research from foreign exploitation,&#8221; Trump wrote. 
<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/advancing-artificial-intelligence-education-for-american-youth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Another order</a> directs the formation of an artificial intelligence task force to &#8220;promote AI literacy and proficiency among Americans&#8221; by integrating AI into education, providing AI training for teachers, and &#8220;fostering early exposure to AI.&#8221; 
The final two education-related orders establish a White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/white-house-initiative-to-promote-excellence-and-innovation-at-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">initiative</a> for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, while another <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/preparing-americans-for-high-paying-skilled-trade-jobs-of-the-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directs</a> the creation of additional workforce development programs with the goal of enabling Americans &#8220;to produce world-class products and implement world-leading technologies.&#8221;
A separate <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/restoring-equality-of-opportunity-and-meritocracy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> directed the federal government to stop using disparate impact theory in government policy and regulations. The order defines disparate impact theory as the &#8220;presumption&#8221; that &#8220;unlawful discrimination exists where there are any differences in outcomes in certain circumstances among different races, sexes, or similar groups, even if there is no facially discriminatory policy or practice or discriminatory intent involved, and even if everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.&#8221;
Trump wrote that this theory undermines America&#8217;s values of meritocracy and a colorblind society while also violating the Constitution.
&#8220;It is the policy of the United States to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible to avoid violating the Constitution, Federal civil rights laws, and basic American ideals,&#8221; Trump wrote, revoking the use of disparate impact for Justice Department actions taken to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits government funding from going to entities that discriminate based on race.

President Trump Signs Executive Orders Focused On Education In The Oval Office

Trump Takes Sledgehammer To DEI In Latest Round Of Executive Orders Targeting Education

Education

Executive

Executive Orders

Linda McMahon

Politics

As the Department of Education yanks $175 million of federal funding from the University of Pennsylvania for violating Title IX by allowing males into women’s sports, Secretary Linda McMahon should also consider cracking down on other, more common procedural violations of Title IX that have been routinely committed by colleges for over a decade: that is, violations against due process for students and faculty accused of sexual misconduct.
This status quo was created by the Obama Department of Education’s 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter, which gutted protections for the accused in the name of “victims’ rights,” under penalty of losing federal funding. The letter mandated that colleges use the “preponderance of evidence” standard — which only demands that the guilty be deemed over 50% likely to have committed misconduct — as opposed to the stronger “guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” standard employed in criminal trials in actual courts. It also allowed alleged victims to appeal the result of a disciplinary hearing — a form of double jeopardy otherwise barred by the legal system. Moreover, it discouraged cross-examination of victims, claiming this would “retraumatize” them, and enabled a single-investigator model, in which the person investigating the sexual misconduct claim would also adjudicate the sexual misconduct claim and decide as to whether or not the accused was guilty — giving the investigator the near absolute power to be “prosecutor, judge, and jury” at once, as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Education <a href="https://www.thefire.org/news/breaking-new-title-ix-regulations-undermine-campus-free-speech-and-due-process-rights" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> it.
Having received Obama’s memo, colleges went above and beyond — the Constitution, that is: even after President Trump took office for the first time and then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos rescinded the Obama-era “Dear Colleague” letter in 2017, colleges kept their kangaroo courts — and began to be taken to court themselves. In two notable cases, federal courts determined that accused students at the <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/09/26/us-appeals-court-finds-student-accused-sexual-assault-was-denied-due-process" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Cincinnati</a> and the <a href="https://www.thefire.org/news/court-holds-university-michigan-administrators-personally-liable-violating-students-due" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Michigan</a> had their constitutional rights to due process violated. Per a 2019 <a href="https://nyujlpp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Harris-Johnson-Campus-Courts-in-Court-22-nyujlpp-49.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> by Samantha Harris and K.C. Johnson, over 500 lawsuits were filed by accused students in the post-2011 period; 340 lawsuits went to federal court; colleges lost over 90 federal decisions; and colleges chose to settle over 70 lawsuits out of court before a decision could be made. This was around the peak of #MeToo and #BelieveAllWomen: in that cultural moment, anyone accused of sexual misconduct was essentially presumed guilty until proven innocent, a horrible inversion of the American rule of law.
Eventually, in 2020, DeVos established a rule ensuring Title IX proceedings would respect due process and treat both accuser and accused fairly. Because DeVos used the rulemaking process, rather than ruling by “Dear Colleague” fiat as her predecessor did, her decision was harder to reverse by the Biden administration. As a result, the Biden rule came toward the end of his administration in 2024, and, thanks to the administration’s overreaching attempt to rewrite Title IX to include “gender identity,” was immediately caught up in federal injunctions and barely implemented by the time Trump took office a second time and officially brought back the DeVos rule. That means that despite the change in administrations and attempted changes to Title IX by Biden, most colleges have been subject to the DeVos rule for most of the past five years.
Nevertheless, <a href="https://x.com/kcjohnson9/status/1893051067799060764" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuits</a> over the past several years have continued to be filed by accused students and faculty alleging that their colleges treated them unfairly in Title IX proceedings. Just this month, the Fourth Circuit <a href="https://www.carolinajournal.com/expelled-unc-student-can-pursue-reinstatement-not-money-in-federal-suit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruled</a> in favor of an accused student at the University of North Carolina, noting that due process, live hearings, and cross-examination are crucial in Title IX proceedings. The persistence of lawsuits from the accused suggests that colleges are still not treating the accused fairly, and, as a result, are not only potentially disciplining, expelling, and firing perfectly innocent people — mostly men — they are also undermining the validity of all allegations, which makes it more difficult for real victims — mostly women — to be taken seriously.
College bureaucrats act this way in part because they are concerned with their own interests first: the #MeToo zeitgeist of yesterday still has them convinced that the fallout from blatantly unconstitutional proceedings will be less damaging to them than the possibility of activists calling them “rape apologists” for treating accused students and faculty with fairness. The Department of Education can change this calculus by stripping federal funds from every institution violating the rights of the accused. Only harsh federal action and the potential for penalties where it hurts will show colleges that they will suffer more for presuming guilt and holding unfair proceedings than they will for presuming innocence and treating both parties fairly, as the American rule of law demands.
On a more human note, colleges are often the places where young men and young women form their opinions of the world and of each other. Especially at a time when relations between the sexes are <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2024/03/13/why-the-growing-gulf-between-young-men-and-women" target="_blank" rel="noopener">souring</a>, it is crucial that colleges be expected to follow the law if they are to continue to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.
* * *
Neeraja Deshpande is a policy analyst and engagement coordinator at Independent Women.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Views Of Yale University As Ivy League Pay Soars

‘Prosecutor, Judge, And Jury’: Why Campus Kangaroo Courts Should Lose Federal Funding

'Prosecutor, Judge, And Jury': Why Campus Kangaroo Courts Should Lose Federal Funding

American Universities

Betsy DeVos

College

Due Process

Obama Administration

Opinion

Title IX

University of Michigan

University of Pennsylvania

Whoopi Goldberg appeared to stun her cohosts into silence when she put a positive — even passionate — spin on President Donald Trump&#8217;s stated goal of eventually dismantling the federal Department of Education.
During Tuesday&#8217;s broadcast of the ABC midday talk show, Goldberg — who still refuses to even say Trump&#8217;s name aloud on the air — said that getting rid of the Department of Education could be a net positive if it served as a catalyst to get more people involved and engaged at the local level to make sure kids were getting what they needed.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Whoopi Goldberg shocked The View by supporting Trump’s controversial proposal to eliminate the Department of Education, leaving the panel speechless as ABC producers abruptly cut to a commercial break. <a href="https://t.co/rM8WvBczxC">pic.twitter.com/rM8WvBczxC</a>
&mdash; Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) <a href="https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/status/1912200131996520853?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;What we have to always do, regardless of who you voted for, you still got to pay your rent, you still got to take care of your kids, you still got to take care of your business,&#8221; Goldberg began, adding, &#8220;And maybe some of what&#8217;s happening, like you know, they&#8217;re trying to take apart the Department of Education —&#8221;
&#8220;Yes,&#8221; her cohosts agreed, but then Goldberg threw them a curve and they all went quiet.
&#8220;Maybe that is a good thing,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Because maybe it will force us to make sure that our kids actually get what they need. Maybe it will force us to go to our states and say, &#8216;Listen, I want to make sure since you&#8217;re taking all this money from my taxes, I want to make sure that my kids get exactly what they need.'&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t have to wait for the government to do it, we can do it!&#8221; she declared, effectively making the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/linda-mcmahon-crashes-dem-press-conference-outside-education-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conservative argument</a> for returning control of education to the states and local school boards. &#8220;This is now in our hands. This is in our hands, and it&#8217;s going to be tough and nobody wants to do it because it&#8217;s a b****, but you know what? If it comes down to your survival, this is what you gotta do, you gotta take care of what you gotta take care of.&#8221;
Her cohosts remained silent as Goldberg wrapped up her thought, then pivoted quickly to announce that producers were telling her it was time for a commercial break.

Whoopi Goldberg

‘The View’ Hosts Shocked Into Silence As Whoopi Argues In Favor Of Trump Policy

'The View' Hosts Shocked Into Silence As Whoopi Argues In Favor Of Trump Policy

Media

The View

On Monday, the Trump administration’s Department of Education announced it would freeze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contract value to Harvard University after the university said it would not comply with the Trump administration’s demand that the university <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/research-funding/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2025/04/Harvard-Response-2025-04-14.pdf">claimed</a> would “invade university freedoms.”
Last Friday, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services sent a <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/research-funding/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2025/04/Letter-Sent-to-Harvard-2025-04-11.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to Harvard in which they stated, “The United States has invested in Harvard University’s operations because of the value to the country of scholarly discovery and academic excellence. But an investment is not an entitlement. It depends on Harvard upholding federal civil rights laws, and it only makes sense if Harvard  fosters the kind of environment that produces intellectual creativity and scholarly vigor, both of which are antithetical to ideological capture.”
“By August 2025, the University must adopt and implement merit-based hiring policies, and cease all preferences based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin &#8230;” the letter noted, adding that the same attitude must prevail in admissions policies. The correspondence also declared that by the same date, the university must “prevent admitting students hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the American Constitution and Declaration of Independence, including students supportive of terrorism and anti-Semitism.”
The university “shall commission an external party &#8230; to audit the student body, faculty and leadership for viewpoint diversity” by August 2025, the letter continued, in order to ensure that the leftist perspective that dominates the university should be contrasted with other viewpoints.
Alan Garber, the president of Harvard University, responded with a <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/president/news/2025/the-promise-of-american-higher-education/">statement</a> in which he said, “We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement,” contending, “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights” and claiming the administration’s demands violated “Harvard’s First Amendment rights &#8230; threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge.”
 “Our motto—Veritas, or truth—guides us as we navigate the challenging path ahead,” Garber continued. “Seeking truth is a journey without end. It requires us to be open to new information and different perspectives, to subject our beliefs to ongoing scrutiny, and to be ready to change our minds.”
The Department of Education’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/joint-task-force-combat-anti-semitism-statement-regarding-harvard-university" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> on Monday: &#8220;Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation&#8217;s most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws. The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.”
“The Joint Task Force to combat anti-Semitism is announcing a freeze on $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60M in multi-year contract value to Harvard University,” the statement concluded.

US-ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN-CONFLICT-PROTEST

Trump Administration Freezes Billions In Grants For Harvard University

Anti-Semitism

Harvard Univeristy

Trump Administration

WASHINGTON—A special administration task force formed by President Donald Trump has launched investigations into the University of Maryland and Wagner College after they failed to protect a female athlete penalized for refusing to compete against a male who identifies as a female, The Daily Wire can first report.
The Title IX Special Investigations Team — a joint Education Department and Justice Department project — launched a directed investigation Monday into the University of Maryland over allegations that it not only allowed a male athlete to compete in the women&#8217;s category of the USA Fencing Tournament, but also allowed that male athlete to use women&#8217;s-only intimate facilities. 
The Special Investigations Team is also investigating Wagner College for its own practices and polices that allegedly allowed that male to compete in female sports and to use female intimate spaces.
Both colleges received letters from the Title IX Special Investigations Team on Monday, The Daily Wire has learned.
READ THE LETTERS TO THE <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/OCR-_University_of_Maryland_Directed_Investigation_NL-PII-Redacted-1.pdf">UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND</a> AND <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/OCR-_Wagner_College_Directed_Investigation_NL-PII-Redacted.pdf">WAGNER COLLEGE</a>
Officials black-carded and booted 31-year-old Stephanie Turner from a tournament at the University of Maryland for refusing to compete against Redmond Sullivan, a male who identifies as a woman and who formerly competed against males. USA Fencing allowed Sullivan, who competes for Wagner College, to compete in the women’s tournament, the organization <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/video-female-fencer-booted-from-tournament-after-refusing-to-compete-against-male-opponent?topStoryPosition=undefined" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> to The Daily Wire.
&#8220;The nation watched as a female competitor bravely took a knee and forfeited an inherently unfair fencing match after discovering that her opponent was a male,&#8221; Education Department spokeswoman Julie Hartman told The Daily Wire. &#8220;No woman should have to recuse herself from a match that she trained diligently for because she fears for her safety.
&#8220;As a tournament host, University of Maryland has a responsibility to follow Title IX by not allowing males to compete in female competitions and occupy female-only intimate facilities,&#8221; Hartman said. &#8220;Similarly, Wagner College has a responsibility to not allow males on female rosters.&#8221;
The University of Maryland had a responsibility to follow Title IX by not allowing men to compete in female competitions or be in women&#8217;s spaces, the Education Department is alleging, arguing that Wagner College also had a responsibility to protect female sports from males.
&#8220;Unlike the Biden administration, which weaponized Title IX contrary to its meaning to deny female athletes their civil rights, the Trump Administration’s Department of Education and the Department of Justice’s Title IX Special Investigations Team will not allow recipients of federal funding to deny women’s equal opportunity protections under the law,&#8221; Hartman said. 
<div id="attachment_907415" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-trump-launches-investigation-into-colleges-over-transgender-fencing-scandal/president-trump-signs-no-men-in-womens-sports-executive-order-3" rel="attachment wp-att-907415"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-907415" class="wp-image-907415 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2197857257-865x576.jpg" alt="" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2197857257-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2197857257-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2197857257-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2197857257.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" /></a>Trump signs the “Keeping Men Out of Women&#8217;s Sports” executive order (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
“I want to thank God for trusting me with this mission to fight for female exclusive sports and putting me in a place to effectively protest,” Turner told The Daily Wire in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/female-fencer-speaks-out-after-shes-expelled-for-protesting-male-opponent">statement in early April</a>. During the competition, she took a knee and forfeited the match to her male opponent.
About a week after the incident, Wagner College <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/09/sports/transgender-fencer-at-center-of-controversy-after-female-opponent-refused-to-compete-no-longer-on-womens-team/?itm_source=parsely-api#!">confirmed to Fox News Digital</a> that the male athlete is no longer on its women&#8217;s team.
The Trump administration created the Title IX Special Investigations Team after receiving a “staggering volume” of Title IX complaints. Both the Education and Justice Departments have been vocal about Title IX situations in California, Maine, and other states.
The agencies repeatedly point to Trump&#8217;s executive orders protecting female student athletes from having “to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males,&#8221; as well as Trump&#8217;s order &#8220;Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism.&#8221; 
“Under the Biden administration, Title IX was weaponized contrary to its meaning to deny women their equal opportunity protections under the law,” Hartman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-forms-special-investigations-team-to-probe-men-stealing-womens-opportunities?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Forms+%E2%80%98Special+Investigations+Team%E2%80%99+To+Probe+Men+Stealing+Women%E2%80%99s+Opportunities">told The Daily Wire earlier this month</a>. “Schools allowed male competitors to strip female athletes of their rightful accolades, threaten women’s safety, and subject them to the indignity of unfair competitions.”
“In America, this is the women’s rights issue of our time,&#8221; she added. &#8220;And the Trump administration will fight relentlessly to protect them.&#8221;

President Trump Participates In A Kennedy Center Board Meeting And Tour

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Launches Investigation Into Colleges Over Transgender Fencing Scandal

Transgender

The Department of Education has referred its investigation into the alleged Title IX violations of Maine to the Department of Justice.
The Education Department announced the referral on Friday, less than two months after President Donald Trump and Democratic Maine Governor Janet Mills had a fiery <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-white-house-says-top-staffer-for-maines-gov-had-meltdown-cursed-at-official-over-men-in-womens-sports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exchange</a> at the White House over males participating in female sports.
“The Department has given Maine every opportunity to come into compliance with Title IX, but the state’s leaders have stubbornly refused to do so, choosing instead to prioritize an extremist ideological agenda over their students’ safety, privacy, and dignity,” said acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in a statement.
“The Maine Department of Education will now have to defend its discriminatory practices before a Department administrative law judge and in a federal court against the Justice Department. Governor Mills would have done well to adhere to the wisdom embedded in the old idiom — be careful what you wish for,” continued Trainor. “Now she will see the Trump Administration in court.”
The Education Department plans to move forward with restricting federal taxpayer funds to Maine’s Department of Education, according to the statement.
The Trump administration has investigated Maine for weeks over the state’s policies allowing transgender-identifying athletes to participate in female sports. The administration has said that Maine’s policies violate Title IX rules against gender discrimination.
The Trump administration’s latest move against Maine came after state officials refused to sign a resolution agreement with the federal government.
“Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls’ and women’s sports teams,” Maine Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster said in a letter, according to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-admin-moves-withhold-federal-funds-maine-trans/story?id=120731338" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC News</a>. “Your letters to date do not cite a single case that so holds. To the contrary, various federal courts have held that Title IX and/or the Equal Protection Clause require schools to allow such participation.”
On Friday evening, a federal judge blocked a spending freeze already initiated on funds to Maine from the Department of Agriculture. U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock Jr. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-judge-blocks-trump-from-freezing-funding-to-maine-over-men-in-womens-sports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> the injunction, temporarily restoring lost funds to the state.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, known for her centrist record among Republicans, sided with the Trump administration on Friday and urged Mills to change course.
“People who are transgender deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. But that does not change the fact that Title IX mandated equal access to athletic resources and facilities on the basis of sex – not on the basis of gender identity. Safe and fair athletic competition has been one of the keys to the success of Title IX,” Collins said in a statement. “While I will continue to advocate strongly for federal funding for Maine, I disagree with the state’s position and instead support the original intent behind Title IX.”

Janet Mills

Trump Sics His DOJ On Maine Over Men In Women’s Sports

Department of Justice

Maine

Social Issues

Transgender Athletes

U.S.

A California university known for promoting leftist ideology removed racially-based eligibility requirements for its “environmentalist of color” scholarship program after facing legal questions over the discriminatory program. 
On Wednesday, the University of California, Berkeley, told The Daily Wire that it was investigating the program and was prepared to adjust it to comply with the law. Ahead of the investigation, it says that it has already renamed the program to the “Rooted in Joy” scholarship and taken away requirements that recipients “identify as a POC.&#8221;
“UC Berkeley is committed to complying with all state and federal laws regarding discrimination and related matters. We are looking into the matter regarding this particular program and if it is out of compliance, we will correct it promptly,” a spokesman for the university said. 
The rebrand comes after Defending Education filed a complaint with the Education Department, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watchdog-challenges-environmentalist-of-color-scholarship-at-notoriously-liberal-university?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Notoriously+Liberal+University’s+‘Environmentalist+Of+Color’+Scholarship+Is+Illegal%2C+Watchdog+Claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first reported</a> on by The Daily Wire, saying that the scholarship violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watchdog-challenges-environmentalist-of-color-scholarship-at-notoriously-liberal-university?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Notoriously+Liberal+University%E2%80%99s+%E2%80%98Environmentalist+Of+Color%E2%80%99+Scholarship+Is+Illegal%2C+Watchdog+Claims">Notoriously Liberal University’s ‘Environmentalist Of Color’ Scholarship Is Illegal, Watchdog Claims</a>
The scholarship program, which offers five students $2,000 per year, is administered by the Student Environmental Resource Center and administered by the Green Initiative Fund. 
The university later said that it had “updated the program website as a first step.”
These updates included removing from the website requirements that a recipient “identify as BIPOC” and completely renaming the program. 
<div id="attachment_905853" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-905853" class="size-full wp-image-905853" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Before/After.</div>
The university also adjusted the goals of the program, changing its language from bridging “institutional gaps in resources and funding” for “students of color” to “students.” Another goal changed from financially supporting “passionate students of color” to “passionate students.” 
The goals of the scholarship still include a racial angle as the award remains designated for students working at the “intersection of communities of color and the environmental field at UC Berkeley.”
The organizational rebrand also included removing a question from its FAQ on what it meant to be a &#8220;person of color.&#8221; In the previous iteration, the university said that being a &#8220;POC&#8221; can go beyond skin color.
“While navigating the complexities and nuances of this question, SERC recognizes that being a ‘person of color’ goes beyond just skin color, and can include an intersectional expanse of racial, ethnic, and cultural experiences and identities. If you identify as a ‘person of color,’ we encourage you to apply,” the Student Environmental Resource Center said.
Also gone from the program were discussions of how &#8220;BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Persons-of-Color) are frequently asked to exclusively call upon their experiences with racial trauma and violence&#8221; to now just asking students to &#8220;consider their identities from the lens of radical healing, joy, and growth.&#8221;
The rebranding comes as UC Berkeley is under <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/office-civil-rights-initiates-title-vi-investigations-institutions-of-higher-education-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation</a> by the Trump administration over potentially racially exclusionary practices in its graduate programs. The Education Department has warned all universities across the country to abide by the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision to strike down affirmative action or face penalties.

MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-11-16-AM-6016

Berkeley Tries To Rebrand ‘Environmentalist Of Color’ Scholarship After Legal Complaints

Civil Rights

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Environmentalism

One of the most notoriously liberal universities in the country maintains an “environmentalist of color” scholarship program, prompting a formal complaint from an education watchdog group. 
Defending Education on Wednesday filed a complaint with the Education Department alleging that University of California, Berkeley&#8217;s scholarship program violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prevents federal funding from going toward institutions that discriminate on the basis of race.
Defending Education Vice President Sarah Parshall Perry told The Daily Wire that the scholarship was “an express federal financial benefit granted unapologetically to students on the basis of race” in violation of federal law. 
“Eliminating race discrimination means eliminating all of it, as the Supreme Court has noted,” she said. “We look forward to the office for civil rights’s investigation of race discrimination in federally funded programs at UC Berkeley.”
The <a href="https://defendinged.org/complaints/ocr-complaint-university-of-california-berkeley/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complaint</a> urges the Education Department&#8217;s Office of Civil Rights to open an investigation into the university over the program. UC Berkeley is already under <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/office-civil-rights-initiates-title-vi-investigations-institutions-of-higher-education-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation</a> by the Trump administration for potentially racially exclusionary practices in its graduate programs. 
The yearly scholarship criticized in Defending Education&#8217;s complaint — <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250408145224/https://serc.berkeley.edu/resources/funding/sister-scholarships/environmentalists-color-scholarship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">administered</a> by the Student Environmental Resource Center and funded by the university’s Green Initiative Fund — gives five students who identify as a “person of color” $2,000. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/berkeley-tries-to-rebrand-environmentalist-of-color-scholarship-after-legal-complaints" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UPDATE: Berkeley Tries To Rebrand ‘Environmentalist Of Color’ Scholarship After Legal Complaints</a>
Program goals include bridging “institutional gaps in resources and funding for students of color to increase retention, and build radically inclusive social and environmental justice spaces on campus,” financially supporting “passionate students of color working in the environmental field at UC Berkeley,” and “eliminating barriers to entry and focusing on healing, joy, and growth rather than trauma.”
<div id="attachment_904879" style="width: 1959px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-904879" class="size-full wp-image-904879" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screen-Shot-2025-04-08-at-12.29.59-PM.png" alt="" width="1949" height="570" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screen-Shot-2025-04-08-at-12.29.59-PM.png 1949w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screen-Shot-2025-04-08-at-12.29.59-PM-300x88.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screen-Shot-2025-04-08-at-12.29.59-PM-1024x299.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screen-Shot-2025-04-08-at-12.29.59-PM-768x225.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screen-Shot-2025-04-08-at-12.29.59-PM-1536x449.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1949px) 100vw, 1949px" />Student Environmental Resource Center.</div>
To qualify for the scholarship, a student must “identify as a POC” and be “passionate about environmentalism,” according to the university. 
The university said that the definition of “person of color” goes beyond skin color, though it is unclear what this means. The university did not respond to requests for comment on whether a white person could be eligible for the award. 
“While navigating the complexities and nuances of this question, SERC recognizes that being a &#8216;person of color&#8217; goes beyond just skin color, and can include an intersectional expanse of racial, ethnic, and cultural experiences and identities. If you identify as a &#8216;person of color,&#8217; we encourage you to apply,&#8221; the Student Environmental Resource Center said. 
The university encourages students to focus on “joy” in their applications for the scholarship. 
“We recognize that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Persons-of-Color) are frequently asked to exclusively call upon their experiences with racial trauma and violence in applications,” the university says. “We aim to resist that tokenization by making space for applicants to consider their identities from the lens of radical healing, joy, and growth.”
The Student Environmental Resource Center offers a similar scholarship, called the Brian Gialketsis SERQueer Scholarship, for students who &#8220;identify as queer.” The university specifies that applicants can be “undocumented” or “formerly incarcerated.&#8221;
The goal of the scholarship is to “financially support queer-identifying students working in and passionate about the environmental field at UC Berkeley.”
After the complaint was submitted by Defending Education, the university said that it was looking into the program and would adjust as necessary.
“UC Berkeley is committed to complying with all state and federal laws regarding discrimination and related matters. We are looking into the matter regarding this particular program and if it is out of compliance, we will correct it promptly,” a spokesman for the university said.
President Donald Trump&#8217;s Education Department has warned universities across the country to comply with federal discrimination law and the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision to strike down race-based affirmative action programs. Already, 45 graduate universities are facing probes over racially focused programs.

Tree Hugger

Notoriously Liberal University’s ‘Environmentalist Of Color’ Scholarship Is Illegal, Watchdog Claims

Fourteenth Amendment

Stocks slow their fall as President Donald Trump stands firm on his tariff and trade plan. The Trump administration pulls billions of dollars in federal funding from Ivy League colleges over their handling of anti-Semitism. And Female athletes across the country are opting to take a knee rather than compete against men allowed on the same playing field.
It’s Tuesday, April 8, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
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<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trump-trade-war-defunding-the-ivy-league-4-8-25/id1576594336?i=1000702668343" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
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<h2>Market Unease As Tariff Talks Continue</h2>
<div id="attachment_904461" style="width: 820px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-904461" class="size-large wp-image-904461" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donnie-Does-Bidness-810x576.jpg" alt="" width="810" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donnie-Does-Bidness-810x576.jpg 810w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donnie-Does-Bidness-300x213.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donnie-Does-Bidness-768x546.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donnie-Does-Bidness-1536x1092.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donnie-Does-Bidness-2048x1456.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px" />(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: President Trump is holding firm on his unprecedented tariff policy as markets swing and trade partners look to potentially make a deal.
The market rollercoaster continued Monday as uncertainty remains over how long Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs will stay in place and what they’ll mean for the cost of goods. Stocks in Hong Kong saw their worst day in nearly thirty years, plunging more than 13%. It was a similar story for markets across Europe and the rest of Asia. On Wall Street, we saw wild swings throughout the day, but ultimately, the DOW, S&amp;P, and NASDAQ each ended up within one percent of where they began when markets opened.
President Trump continued urging Americans to trust his plan. &#8220;It would be nice to serve a nice easy term, but we have an opportunity to change the fabric of our country. We have an opportunity to reset the table on trade&#8230; I don&#8217;t mind going through it because I see a beautiful picture at the end.&#8221;
Fake News: Around 10:10 yesterday morning, a popular X account posted that President Trump was considering a 90-day pause on all tariffs — that post understandably went viral. By 10:15, a CNBC guest repeated the claim, and markets soared, gaining trillions of dollars in value in minutes. The S&amp;P 500 spiked 7%, going from down 4% to up 3%. But moments later, the White House issued a statement calling the report “fake news,” and markets fell back down, erasing all of those gains.
“The market hates uncertainty,” Kenny Polcari, the senior market strategist for Slatestone Wealth, told Morning Wire when analyzing the aforementioned swing.  “It can take bad news. As long as there&#8217;s some certainty to it, the market can then adjust. But when the market remains so uncertain, the anxiety level rises, volatility rises, and it&#8217;s at that shoot first, ask questions later.”
China Doubles Down: Rather than expressing openness to a deal &#8211; as we’ve seen from dozens of other countries &#8211; China responded to Trump’s tariff with an additional 34% tariff of their own on American imports. Officials in Beijing accused President Trump of “bullying” their country, and in a remarkable twist, the Chinese Embassy in Washington posted old clips of then-President Ronald Reagan expressing his distaste for tariffs to contrast his position with the current administration’s. President Trump similarly expressed a willingness to go tit for tat, warning China on Monday: “If that tariff isn’t removed by tomorrow at 12 o’clock we’re putting a 50% tariff on above the tariffs that we put on.”
While Trump’s position has remained steady, there has been considerable backlash on Capitol Hill. A number of senators have crafted the Trade Review Act of 2025, a new bill that would require Congressional approval for future tariffs and give Congress the power to dissolve unilateral tariffs issued by the president. Seven Republicans have already joined a number of Democrats in endorsing the measure — including Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. They argue that Congress is the branch of government with power over foreign commerce and should be the leading voice on trade policy. The Trump administration said the bill “would severely constrain the president’s ability to use authorities long recognized by Congress and upheld by the courts to respond to national emergencies and foreign threats.” President Trump threatened to veto the legislation if it’s passed. 
&nbsp;
<h2>Trump Administration Suspends University Grants</h2>
<div id="attachment_904463" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-904463" class="size-large wp-image-904463" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Harvard-Campus-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Harvard-Campus-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Harvard-Campus-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Harvard-Campus-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Harvard-Campus-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Harvard-Campus-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />(Photo by janniswerner via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: The Trump administration is suspending hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding for elite colleges and universities over their handling of anti-Semitism and DEI programs. 
The administration revoked grants to various American universities, mostly those issued under the Department of Health and Human Services umbrella for research projects. The White House says schools are not eligible for this taxpayer money if they fail to protect Jewish students and uphold new civil rights standards, which includes doing away with race-based admissions.
“The President has made it incredibly clear that he expects that students who are going to universities can go to a safe campus without discrimination,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Fox News last week. “What we saw across Columbia and other universities was that the universities were not living up to that. I mean, when you see students barricaded in the library, people pounding on the glass, saying, &#8216;Death to USA, Death to Israel&#8217;…a lot of the Jewish interaction on campus has been driven underground, and that&#8217;s just not the way our education should be.”
Columbia University was the first school to have its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-shuts-off-spigot-for-numerous-research-grants-at-princeton">funding suspended</a> in early March, to the tune of $400 million. The campus was an epicenter of unrest during anti-Israel protests last year. The University of Pennsylvania, Trump’s alma mater, is losing about $175 million in federal funding over a biological male swimmer who previously competed on the women&#8217;s team. The school still hasn’t changed its policy on transgender athletes. $210 million in research grants to Princeton University were halted last week over charges of anti-Semitism, and $510 million in funding to Brown University was cut for the same reason.
Harvard University currently has $9 billion in grants and contracts under review pending an investigation into its handling of anti-Semitism. Former Harvard President Larry Summers commented to the Wall Street Journal that if Harvard folds, every school will. But so far, Harvard has been threading the needle carefully. Harvard’s current president, Alan Garber, acknowledged the anti-Semitism problem on campus and warned that losing $9 billion would &#8220;halt life-saving research and imperil scientific innovation.&#8221; It’s still unclear if the school will comply with all of the new federal standards.
Christopher Eisgruber, president of Princeton, told <a href="https://x.com/business/status/1907766531745853812">Bloomberg News</a> that this funding “has been fundamental to the excellence of American research universities, and it has contributed tremendously to the prosperity, health and security of our country.”  On Sunday, Eisgruber told <a href="https://x.com/business/status/1907766531745853812">NPR</a> that the funding halt was “a threat to academic freedom” and the “greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare.”
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<h2>New Title IX Task Force</h2>
<div id="attachment_904465" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-904465" class="size-large wp-image-904465" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Title-IX-Task-Force-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Title-IX-Task-Force-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Title-IX-Task-Force-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Title-IX-Task-Force-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Title-IX-Task-Force-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Title-IX-Task-Force-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Title-IX-Task-Force-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Title-IX-Task-Force-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Despite Trump’s executive orders against biological males in women’s sports, many trans-identifying males are still being allowed to compete against women.
The Trump administration has announced a new “special investigations” team that will probe schools violating Title IX by permitting males to play on the girl&#8217;s team.  The Education and Justice Departments announced a joint task force to protect female athletes from “the pernicious effects of gender ideology in school programs and activities.” The Education Department receives a “staggering volume” of Title IX complaints. The task force will have investigators and attorneys “thoroughly&#8221; review potential violations, including males in women’s sports and males in women&#8217;s spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms.
Simultaneously, there’s been a trend of female athletes taking a stand against competing against males, and several have made headlines in recent weeks. Professional disc golfer Abigail Wilson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/most-likely-ended-my-career-disc-golfer-who-protested-trans-competitor-says-she-has-no-regrets">walked off the course</a> at a tournament in Nashville on Friday to protest the participation of a male player in the women’s division, stating, “Females must be protected in our division. This is unfair, I refuse to play.”
Stephanie Turner was disqualified from a fencing tournament last weekend at the University of Maryland after<a href="https://x.com/icons_women/status/1907487751664247154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1907487751664247154%7Ctwgr%5E2cec98633dfd3b71e0297338e34237489f9fe9e7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Fvideo-female-fencer-booted-from-tournament-after-refusing-to-compete-against-male-opponent"> forfeiting</a> a match against Redmond Sullivan. Sullivan used to compete as a male, but after switching to the female division, he won first place at the Connecticut Division Junior Olympic Qualifiers. Turner told <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsbod8p6SJQ">Fox and Friends</a>: “Women’s sports are designed to demonstrate female athletic excellence and that gets lost when there are men in the tournament.”
A UN <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/10/23/world-news/un-reveals-how-many-female-athletes-have-lost-medals-to-trans-opponents-in-explosive-report/">report</a> found last year that “over 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals [to men] in 29 different sports.”
Last week, the Department of Agriculture <a href="https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/04/02/usda-freezes-funding-promises-further-action-if-maine-continues-violating-federal-law#:~:text=USDA%20Freezes%20Funding%2C%20Promises%20Further%20Action%20If%20Maine%20Continues%20Violating%20Federal%20Law,-Published%3A&amp;text=(WASHINGTON%2C%20D.C.%2C%20April%202,for%20certain%20Maine%20educational%20programs.">paused</a> federal funding to Maine’s athletic programs following Democratic Governor Janet Mills’ refusal to comply with President Trump’s executive order on Title IX. On Monday, Maine’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the funding cut. It&#8217;s the first such suit over a Title IX dispute and will likely not be the last.

Golden bull and bear on stock data chart background. Investing, stock exchange financial bearish and mullish market concept.

Morning Brief: Market Unease, Defunding The Ivy League & New Title IX Task Force

China

Communist China

gender ideology

higher education

Tariffs

Women's sports

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump&#8217;s Departments of Justice and Education have created a joint task force to protect female athletes from &#8220;the pernicious effects of gender ideology in school programs and activities.&#8221;
The move is due to &#8220;the staggering volume&#8221; of Title IX complaints, the Education Department said in a Friday press release <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-and-us-department-of-justice-announce-title-ix-special-investigations-team">announcing</a> the “Title IX Special Investigations Team.&#8221; Both the Education and Justice Departments have been vocal about Title IX situations in California and Maine, as well as other states around the country.
“Under the Biden administration, Title IX was weaponized contrary to its meaning to deny women their equal opportunity protections under the law,&#8221; Julie Hartman, an Education Department spokeswoman, told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Schools allowed male competitors to strip female athletes of their rightful accolades, threaten women’s safety, and subject them to the indignity of unfair competitions.&#8221;
Hartman explained that creating the team is &#8220;an unprecedented action&#8221; through which experienced investigators and attorneys will &#8220;thoroughly investigate violations and expeditiously enforce Title IX to restore women’s civil rights.&#8221;
&#8220;In America, this is the women’s rights issue of our time — and the Trump administration will fight relentlessly to protect them,&#8221; she said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday emphasized that protecting women and women&#8217;s sports was a &#8220;key priority&#8221; for the Justice Department.
“This collaborative effort with the Department of Education will enable our attorneys to take comprehensive action when women’s sports or spaces are threatened and use the full power of the law to remedy any violation of women’s civil rights,&#8221; she said.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon echoed Bondi&#8217;s pledge.
&#8220;To all the entities that continue to allow men to compete in women’s sports and use women’s intimate facilities: there’s a new sheriff in town,&#8221; McMahon said. &#8220;We will not allow you to get away with denying women&#8217;s civil rights any longer.”
The Title IX Special Investigations Team includes the Education Office for Civil Rights investigators and attorneys, the Justice Department Civil Rights Division attorneys, Education&#8217;s Office of General Counsel attorneys, Education&#8217;s Student Privacy and Protection Office case workers, and an FSA Enforcement investigator.
The move complements President Donald Trump&#8217;s executive orders on &#8220;Keeping Men Out of Women&#8217;s Sports&#8221; and &#8220;Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism.&#8221;
&#8220;From day one, the Trump Administration has prioritized enforcing Title IX to protect female students and athletes,&#8221; McMahon said. &#8220;Traditionally, our Office for Civil Rights (OCR) takes months, even years, to complete Title IX investigations. OCR under this Administration has moved faster than it ever has, and the Title IX SIT will ensure even more rapid and consistent investigations.&#8221;

NCAA SWIMMING: MAR 18 Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships

Trump Admin Forms ‘Special Investigations Team’ To Probe Men Stealing Women’s Opportunities

The Department of Education sent letters on Thursday to state education commissioners, warning them to end unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at K-12 schools or face loss of federal funding. 
The letters, sent to all state commissioners overseeing state education agencies, told the officials that they must certify within 10 days their compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws and the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision to strike down affirmative action. If schools retain programs with identity-based stipulations, their federal funding could be slashed, the education department warned.   
“Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right. When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal antidiscrimination requirements,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/ed-requires-k-12-school-districts-certify-compliance-title-vi-and-students-v-harvard-condition-of-receiving-federal-financial-assistance">said</a>. “Unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics in clear violation of Title VI.”
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act stipulates that federal funding cannot go toward programs or entities that discriminate against a person based on their race.
Trainor said the letters were meant to ensure that states comply with the majority decision in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard, which ruled that affirmative action admission programs at universities were unconstitutional because they violated equal protection under the law.  
“No student should be denied opportunities or treated differently because of his or her race,” Trainor said. “We hope all State and Local Education Agencies agree and certify their compliance with this legal and constitutional principle.” 
The letter gives state commissioners until April 13 to sign a <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/reminder-of-legal-obligations-undertaken-exchange-receiving-federal-financial-assistance-and-request-certification-under-title-vi-and-sffa-v-harvard-april-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">certification</a> signifying that they reached out to all local education agencies in their states and agreed to comply with Title VI and the Supreme Court affirmative action decision. The certification document specifically mentions DEI programs as being problematic.
The certification said that DEI programs were unlawful and impermissible if they were designed &#8220;to advantage one’s race over another.&#8221; If these programs were continued, federal funding could be cut off, school governing boards could face legal action from the Justice Department and potential legal fines.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education has aggressively sought to crack down on DEI, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/education-dept-slashes-600-million-in-grants-promoting-divisive-ideologies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slashing</a> $600 million in grants that funded training teachers in concepts such as Critical Race Theory, DEI, social justice activism, and “anti-racism.”
The department also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-launches-end-dei-portal-for-reporting-schools-discriminatory-practices" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> a portal for parents and teachers around the country to submit complaints of alleged racial or sexual discrimination happening at their schools. Officials will use these submissions to identify locations for possible investigations. 
At the same time, Trump has been pushing to send more educational responsibilities back to the states and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-signs-order-dismantling-department-of-education" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> an executive order last month directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure” of the department.

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‘A Privilege, Not A Right’: Trump Admin Gives K-12 Schools Ultimatum On DEI

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