The Education Secretary dodged a question from a GOP senator about how cuts to the Office for Civil Rights would impact the fight against antisemitism
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Secretary of Education Linda McMahon prepares to testify before a House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing on the budget for the Department of Education, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on May 21, 2025.
Speaking at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon laid out the administration’s expectations for campus antisemitism policies, but sidestepped how the administration will execute on those directives while making substantial cuts to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
“We’re saying we mean business, these programs and policies have to have teeth, they have to be enforced,” McMahon said.
She outlined a series of policies the Trump administration wants to see campuses enforce, including banning encampments, prohibiting the use of masks and better vetting of students and professors. Professors, she said, must not teach ideology.
She added that the Office for Civil Rights has opened “many cases” on campus antisemitism and is taking enforcement actions, including pulling funds from multiple schools.
But she failed to directly address concerns from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), the subcommittee chair, that cuts to OCR could hamper the administration’s ability to adequately address campus antisemitism.