The Department of Education: What Will Happen to Its Office of Civil Rights?

This article first appeared in New English Review.

It is well known that President Trump is working to abolish the Department of Education (DOE). Staffing has already been cut, and his Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, is on board with the idea of eliminating the department altogether. While not everybody in Congress is on board, DOE is clearly on the cutting block.

Personally, I am not an expert on the question, but I have no objection to DOE’s would-be funding being sent directly to the states. I have never been convinced that bureaucrats in Washington know more than those in the states. Of course, during the Civil Rights era, it was necessary for the federal government to step in when segregation was practiced in schools and other aspects of life in the South. This was prior to the establishment of DOE under the Carter administration, but we did have a Department of Justice that intervened-with the help of a (nationalized) National Guard. 

While I don’t share many of the concerns of the Democrats (like who is going to administer student loans), I do have one concern if DOE is abolished. That is the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR). 

For the past several years, DOE’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has been very active in investigating complaints of campus anti-Semitism in our universities. Their level of effectiveness has varied depending on which administration was in power. They were especially active investigating anti-Semitism when Kenneth Markus was heading the office from 2018-2020 before returning to his present position as director of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under the Law. This non-governmental organization is taking a prominent role in fighting campus anti-Semitism. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Markus on a couple of occasions in Southern California when we were having so many problems on the University of California at Irvine campus. (On those occasions, he was representing the Brandeis Center, as I recall.)

To be fair, DOE/OCR also initiated several investigations of university campuses under the Biden administration, especially after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the resultant demonstrations of support for Hamas on many campuses. Under Trump, their role is more enhanced than ever. 

During the May 7, 2025 hearings on campus anti-Semitism held by the House Committee on Education and the Work Force, one troubling bit of news was brought out, ironically, by a Democrat, Representative Mark Takano (D-CA). In answer to his question,  Georgetown Law Professor David Cole (former National Legal Director of the ACLU) stated that 7 of OCR’s 12 regional offices have already been closed, resulting in a backlog of cases for the remaining 5 offices. If true, that is a problem that must be fixed quickly.

Thus far, I have heard nothing concrete as to what would be done with OCR. McMahon reportedly favors transferring OCR to the Justice Department, which seems like the natural choice. It is my understanding that OCR will likely go either to DOJ or to the Indisciplinary Anti-Semitism Task Force under Leo Terrell and experts from various agencies. What is important is that investigations are still being opened, and we are finally seeing concrete action being taken against anti-Semitism in our universities and secondary schools. That important work must not be interrupted. If DOE is dissolved, the staffing and functions of OCR should be transferred as smoothly as possible.