A major medical organization that accredits all graduate medical education programs, like internships and residency programs, announced Friday that it was suspending some of its &#8220;diversity&#8221; requirements.
The board of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education released a statement announcing it was pausing certain &#8220;diversity&#8221; requirements due to concerns about compliance with federal law. The announcement comes after President Donald Trump called out the accreditation organization in an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-takes-sledgehammer-to-dei-in-latest-round-of-executive-orders-targeting-education" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> asking the Education Department to crack down on accreditation bodies mandating universities adopt DEI programs.
&#8220;The ACGME has heard significant concerns from multiple constituents in several states and from federal Sponsoring Institutions about their ability to comply with some of the ACGME requirements addressing diversity in light of state or federal laws,&#8221; the organization said Friday, noting that it was suspending multiple diversity requirements because of &#8220;uncertainty&#8221; about their legality.
The organization said that it would be further addressing the requirements at its June board meeting.
The diversity <a href="https://www.acgme.org/globalassets/pfassets/programrequirements/800_institutionalrequirements2022.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">requirements</a> included mandating that institutions sponsoring medical education programs implement policies to recruit a &#8220;diverse and inclusive&#8221; workforce of residents and faculty.
&#8220;The Sponsoring Institution, in partnership with each of its programs, must engage in practices that focus on ongoing, mission-driven, systematic recruitment and retention of a diverse and inclusive workforce of residents/fellows, faculty members, senior administrative staff members, and other relevant members of its GME community,&#8221; the requirement reads.
<div id="attachment_919167" style="width: 2190px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-919167" class="size-full wp-image-919167" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-1.44.23-PM.png" alt="" width="2180" height="341" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-1.44.23-PM.png 2180w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-1.44.23-PM-300x47.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-1.44.23-PM-1024x160.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-1.44.23-PM-768x120.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-1.44.23-PM-1536x240.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-1.44.23-PM-2048x320.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2180px) 100vw, 2180px" />ACGME Institutional Requirements.</div>
The board also paused a <a href="https://www.acgme.org/globalassets/pfassets/programrequirements/cprresidency_2023.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">similar policy</a> for its residency program requirements.
In an April <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/reforming-accreditation-to-strengthen-higher-education/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a>, Trump mentioned the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education as one of the accrediting bodies he said had “abused&#8221; its &#8220;enormous authority” by forcing universities to adopt DEI policies.
“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 ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ initiatives,” Trump wrote.
The announcement from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education earned praised from Dr. Travis Morrell, a senior fellow at Do No Harm, an organization devoted to getting politics out of medicine.
&#8220;ACGME has finally cracked after three months of doubling-down on its commitment to radical identity politics. ACGME’s suspension of absurd diversity rules is an encouraging first step but now it must permanently eliminate these requirements – along with the equity in education rule it still enforces,&#8221; Morrell told The Daily Wire. &#8220;The sudden change of tune is a direct result of President Trump’s historic executive order dismantling accreditors’ ability to impose DEI requirements on schools. By prioritizing expertise over politics, we will slowly but surely restore a culture of meritocracy to American medical institutions.&#8221;

close-up of a doctor’s gown with stethoscope

Major Medical Org Changes Tune On DEI After Trump Executive Order

Department of Education

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Donald Trump

Education

medical school

U.S.

The Department of Education opened up an investigation on Thursday into Western Carolina University over reports that it housed a male alongside a female and retaliated against a student after she complained about the presence of a male in a female locker room.
The Education Department&#8217;s Office of Civil Rights announced that it had initiated a Title IX investigation into Western Carolina University over allegations that the university &#8220;has openly refused to comply with Title IX and to ensure sex-separated intimate spaces in federally funded institutions of higher education.&#8221; The announcement comes one day after the group Speech First <a href="https://speechfirst.org/news/foia-records-show-western-carolina-universitys-defiant-response-to-trump-administration-policies-on-gender/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> communications from the university showing that it was not planning on making changes in response to President Donald Trump&#8217;s executive order to keep men who identify as women out of female spaces.
“WCU’s reported contempt for federal anti-discrimination laws and indifference to, and retaliation against, girls who have spoken up about males invading their intimate spaces is simply unacceptable,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-educations-office-civil-rights-launches-title-ix-investigation-western-carolina-university">said</a>. “The Trump-McMahon Department of Education will continue to deploy every lawful means to eradicate this wholly unnecessary and egregious violation of women and girls’ civil rights.”
In response to the investigation, the university said that it was compliant with all federal regulations.
&#8220;Western Carolina University is compliant with all current state and federal regulations and will continue to adjust any necessary campus policies and practices to remain in compliance with future changes,&#8221; the university told The Daily Wire. &#8220;At this time, we have no further comment regarding this matter.&#8221;
The probe comes one day after documents posted by Speech First and first <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/western-carolina-university-refusing-to-comply-with-trump-order-protecting-womens-spaces-emails-show/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on by National Review show the school&#8217;s chief compliance officer stating that the university is &#8220;not making changes based&#8221; on Trump&#8217;s executive order called &#8220;Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.&#8221;
Another one of the components of the Education Department&#8217;s investigation is that the university launched a Title IX investigation into former student Payton McNabb after she complained about the presence of a male in a dress in a woman&#8217;s bathroom. While McNabb was later cleared of any wrongdoing, her lawyer <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/student-payton-mcnabb-wins-title-ix-case-over-trans-bathroom-dispute/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a> that the university had encouraged the complaint to be filed against her.
&#8220;In addition to my experience discovering a male in the women’s restroom on campus, men who self-identify as transgender are entering other women’s intimate spaces like restrooms, dorm rooms and locker rooms,&#8221; McNabb said Thursday. &#8220;Female college students will not sit idly by as men take over our spaces. I’m thankful to have an administration that will stand up for us.”
The department&#8217;s action was praised by Nicole Neily, the acting executive director of Speech First.
“Actions speak louder than words, and the Department of Education’s commitment to protecting women and girls is second to none,&#8221; Neily said. &#8220;This investigation sends a clear message to colleges and universities across the country: compliance with the law is not voluntary.”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon Visits “Fox & Friends”

Another University Facing Probe Over Defiance Of Trump Executive Orders

Civil Rights

North Carolina

Title IX

Transgender

Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Harvard University in a letter on Monday that it would no longer be eligible for new federal grants, saying that it has systematically violated federal law.
McMahon&#8217;s letter to Harvard President Alan Garber comes after the Trump administration has frozen more than $2 billion in federal dollars to the university over DEI and its handling of anti-Israel protests. President Donald Trump last week said that Harvard would lose its tax-exempt status.
&#8220;Harvard University has made a mockery of this country&#8217;s higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus,&#8221; McMahon wrote. &#8220;In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor.&#8221;
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Dear <a href="https://twitter.com/Harvard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Harvard</a>: <a href="https://t.co/XmMimXfkX0">pic.twitter.com/XmMimXfkX0</a>
— Secretary Linda McMahon (@EDSecMcMahon) <a href="https://twitter.com/EDSecMcMahon/status/1919517481313427594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Harvard University, despite amassing a largely tax-free $53.2 billion endowment (larger than the GDP of 100 countries), receives billions of dollars of taxpayer largess each year. Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right. Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students. Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law,&#8221; she added. 
She called for Harvard to institute &#8220;common sense&#8221; reforms, including merit-based hiring, ending programs that promote &#8220;crude identity stereotypes,&#8221; disciplinary reform, cooperation with law enforcement, and reporting compliance with directives from the Trump administration.
McMahon said the letter served as notice that Harvard should no longer apply for federal grants because &#8220;none would be provided.&#8221;
&#8220;Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution, and can instead operate as a privately-funded institution, drawing on its colossal endowment, and raising money from a large base of wealthy alumni. You have an approximately $53 billion head start, much of which was made possible by the fact that you are living within the walls of, and benefiting from, the prosperity secured by the United States of America and its free-market system you teach your students to despise,&#8221; she wrote. 
McMahon said that the primary issue the administration had with the university was its response to the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision to strike down affirmative action.
&#8220;Perhaps most alarmingly, Harvard has failed to abide by the United States Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling demanding that it end its racial preferencing, and continues to engage in ugly racism in its undergraduate and graduate schools, and even within the Harvard Law Review itself,&#8221; she said. Our universities should be bastions of merit that reward and celebrate excellence and achievement. They should not be incubators of discrimination that encourage resentment and instill grievance and racism into our wonderful young Americans.&#8221;
Trump has been sharply critical of Harvard, calling it a &#8220;threat to democracy&#8221; and &#8220;far left institution.&#8221;

Trump Signs Executive Order To Begin Dismantling Education Department

Harvard Gets More Bad News From Trump Admin Amid Funding Fight

Funding

Harvard University

Linda McMahon

Politics

The Trump administration this week slashed $1 billion in so-called &#8220;mental health&#8221; grants for educational institutions, many of which were going to promote leftist ideology and train leftist activists.
The Education Department <a href="https://apnews.com/article/school-mental-health-grants-trump-biden-dei-00bec2d96371f023ac56fe3f32f3e92f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> Wednesday that it was making cuts to grants handed out by the Biden administration ostensibly for the purpose of &#8220;mental health&#8221; because of the focus of many of the recipients on racially-focused programs. In a notice to Congress, the administration said it was going to &#8220;re-envision and re-compete&#8221; the funds allocated for mental health at schools in a gun control bill signed by former President Joe Biden.
&#8220;These grants are intended to improve American students&#8217; mental health by funding additional mental health professionals in schools and on campuses,&#8221; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications Madison Biedermann <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-administration-discontinues-1-billion-school-mental-health/story?id=121360858" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;Instead, under the deeply flawed priorities of the Biden Administration, grant recipients used the funding to implement race-based actions like recruiting quotas in ways that have nothing to do with mental health and could hurt the very students the grants are supposed to help.&#8221;
The move was first reported on Tuesday by Christopher Rufo, who <a href="https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1917314079406055660" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on X that there would be &#8220;no more slush fund for activists under the guise of mental health.&#8221;
In March, the conservative organization Defending Education <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-education-department-spent-100m-funding-university-leftist-activist-programs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">put out a report</a> finding that the Department of Education had given at least $100,964,880 in grants to 25 universities to increase their social worker training programs ostensibly for the purpose of mental health. Defending Education found that many of these grants were going to programs steeped in leftist ideology.
This money was allocated through the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program and the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program.
For example, Portland State University was <a href="https://ktvz.com/news/government-politics/2023/04/11/dept-of-education-awards-1-6-million-to-help-osu-psu-train-school-based-mental-health-professionals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">awarded</a> $1,189,801 by the Department of Education to increase the number of social workers. DEI principles are built into the school’s Master of Social Work program, the stated <a href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A42f35593-1dd0-3ca0-b163-1b9431eec989&amp;viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover" target="_blank" rel="noopener">goal</a> of which is to train social workers to dismantle “systems of oppression; build[] racial equity and social, political, and economic justice.”
&#8220;The grants were meant to support school counselors and mental health staff. In reality, they became a pipeline for training activist educators steeped in DEI, CRT, and gender ideology. Federal dollars went to universities pushing &#8216;anti-racist social-emotional learning&#8217; and racially preferential hiring,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/nickineily/status/1917947212341875076" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Defending Education President Nicki Neily on Thursday. &#8220;Parents want real support for children in crisis, not counselors or social workers trained to divide, shame, and re-educate. Good on the Trump administration for ending this. Now, let’s make sure the replacements actually serve students.&#8221;

Department Of Education Plans To Lay Off Half Of Its Staff

Trump Admin Deals Blow To Taxpayer-Funded Leftist Activist Training Program

Joe Biden

Mental Health

Trump Administration

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

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

Executive

Executive Orders

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

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:
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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>
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&#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

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

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

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

Environmentalism

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