Linda McMahon

Campuses and universities should be about open debate and discussion. What they should not be about is violence, attacking other students, attacking faculty to put forth their anti-Semitic views. These are attacks on Jewish students, Jewish faculty.

We want to raise scores, not continue to let scores get lower. And the president is really convinced that the bureaucracy of the Department of Education is a hindrance in that.

This is not a question of free speech. This is a question of violence on campus. This is a question of students being afraid to go to class or to walk around campus. Jewish students who are just really being discriminated against.

If confirmed as secretary, I will work with Congress to reorient the department toward helping educators, not controlling them.

I believe, as he does, that the best education is closest to the child and not certainly from Washington, D.C.

Yes. It is not the president's goal to defund the programs. It is only to have it operate more efficiently.

I'm not quite certain, and I'd like to look into it further and get back to you on that.

No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that I would like to take a look at these programs and fully understand the breadth of the executive order and get back to you on that.

Hold on.

Well, thank you very much, Chairman Cassidy, and I know this is a very... I'm sorry.

But I certainly very much would like to be sure that we are looking to diagnose issues like dyslexia early because we have found that it can be turned around. So I'd like to work with you and understand how we could have a better approach.

When you see students barricaded in the library, people pounding on the glass saying death to USA, death to Israel. And I've talked to students at Columbia, Jewish students who told me that they were afraid to go across campus and a lot of the Jewish interaction on campus has been driven underground. And that's just not the way our education should be.

Is this the first step on the road to a total shutdown? Yes, actually it is because that was the president's mandate. This directive to me clearly is to shut down the Department of Education, which we know we'll have to work with Congress to get that accomplished.

We restructured the department and removed some departments. We did it, I think, very thoughtfully. We made sure that there was a great severance package in place for those people who are no longer with the department. And we did it as humanely, I think, as you can, knowing that you are impacting and affecting people's lives.

The best education, the president certainly believes, and I share that belief, is that that is closest to the child. It's best determined when education can be tailored to local communities by governors, by state superintendents, by teachers and parents' involvement. And we've seen that already in states who have been innovative with their programs.

We want to see scores go up, and we want to do it more efficiently.

I am really all for the president's mission, which is to return education to the states. I believe, as he does, that the best education is closest to the child and not certainly from Washington, D.C.

Yes. Okay. It is not the president's goal to defund the programs. It is only to have it operate more efficiently.

Asked about what exactly the administration meant by DEI programs, here's what Secretary McMahon said. We need to continue to focus on where these funds need to be spent, but making sure that we are treating everyone equally. We're not taking away the rights of anyone to serve the rights of another.

There's been confusion around how state and local leaders should respond to the latest threat to poll funding. Many say they already follow civil rights laws, including New York and Minnesota's education departments, which pushed back against a federal directive saying there is nothing illegal about diversity programs at schools. The U.S.

Department of Ed has not said how they will enforce the ban on DEI. Janaki Mehta, NPR News.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon made the announcement on X. The establishment of this team will benefit women and girls across this nation who have been subjected to discrimination and indignity in their educational activities.

Let's go back to Harvard for a minute, when they have almost a $53 billion endowment. Now, there's a small tax that's on endowments that's currently in place. It's about 1.4%. And that's on universities that have at least 500 students that are on tuition. So that's at about, I think, $500,000 per student is kind of the barometer they look at before the taxes start.

So this is really going to increase that. But it's about two million dollars per pupil that gets, you know, sort of way before the taxes start. But it's a ton of money if you look at it. Sure. It is going non-taxed, even though universities will say we use most of our endowment for student aid and for research. Well, don't you think that's what they should be using those endowment dollars for?

Well, we'd like to see them do the things we've asked them to do in the letter. We would like for them to let us come in and sit with them and see exactly what they're doing. Show us what you're doing. They're doing a lot of talk about the things they're doing.

But, you know, if they really are doing these things, then they should not object to allowing the task force or other members that have been assigned to come in and take a look at exactly what they are doing.

And I believe that they are on the right track so that we can now move forward. Does that mean that the money will be unfrozen? That means that we are on the right track now to make sure the final negotiations to unfreeze that money will be in place. Okay, so not yet. We're working on it. Okay.

Oh, he's just made it abundantly clear until they can come on board and fight anti-Semitism, obey the laws that the Supreme Court have put in place about the kind of admissions policies they should have, stop driving the Jewish students, you know, almost underground with their anti-Semitism and just many more things. And we've written, we've talked to them.

Their answer to us was filing a lawsuit on freedom of speech and i've uh... have said that is not the issue it's a civil rights issue on campus relative to the uh... anti-semitism uh... and they've just said that we're trying to dictate to them how they should run their university which is clearly not the case but why should taxpayers

continue to give money to a university that has an endowment of over $53 billion. It just doesn't make any sense.

We wanted to make sure that we kept all of the right people, the good people, to make sure that the outward facing programs, the grants, the appropriations that come from Congress, all of that are being met. And none of that's going to fall through the cracks. Congress appropriates the money that is going through Title I, through IDEA programs. What's that stand for? Well, do you know what?

I'm not sure I can tell you exactly what it stands for, except that it's the programs for disabled and needs.

Republicans are sweating the margins in special elections in two Florida districts.

Well, 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. 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 death to USA, death to Israel.

And I've talked to students at Columbia, Jewish students who told me that they were afraid to go across campus. And a lot of the Jewish interaction on campus has been driven underground. And that's just not the way our education should be.

In a few moments, I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the Federal Department of Education once and for all. I told Linda, Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job. I want her to put herself out of a job.

I don't know. I don't want to get ahead of the president. I think you'd have to check with the White House. I think he certainly intends to sign the order, and we've talked about it. He's made it crystal clear since the time he was running for president that this is his intent.

That was the president's mandate, his directive to me, clearly, is to shut down the Department of Education, which we know we'll have to work with Congress, you know, to get that accomplished. But what we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat.

And that's not to say that a lot of the folks, you know, it's a humanitarian thing to a lot of the folks that are there. You know, they're out of a job. But we wanted to make sure that we kept all of the right people, the good people.

That was the president's mandate. His directive to me clearly is to shut down the Department of Education, which we know we'll have to work with Congress, you know, to get that accomplished. But what we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat.

And that's not to say that a lot of the folks, you know, it's a humanitarian thing to a lot of the folks that are there. You know, they're out of a job. But we wanted to make sure that we kept all of the right people, the good people,