U.S. President Donald Trump began work to close the U.S. Department of Education on March 20 with an executive order stating that the federal government would return education to the states while student loan programs would continue to operate under different departments in the federal government. Trump continued actions on March 26 when he requested the Supreme Court terminate grants related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
Almost a fifth of Emory University students receive Pell Grants from the Department of Education to help them afford college. At the signing ceremony for the new executive order Trump said the Pell Grant program, other campus-based aid programs and student loans would continue to be distributed by other departments within the federal government and would not be affected by the department’s closure.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science Jeff Auerbach questioned the legality of Trump’s order, saying that Trump can not dismantle a department by executive order.
“My initial reaction was, ‘That’s not how this works,’” Auerbach said.
Auerbach said the department already has low levels of oversight in education and that this change would likely mean that the department’s activities, such as student loan funding and disability programs, would be relocated to different departments. However, Auerbach said that, in the process, Trump will likely eliminate programs that oppose his agenda.
“As you’re destroying the Department of Education, you will be doing your best to tear out and gut any parts that you don’t like to make things like disability and racial equity programs not work, to tear them out if you can,” Auerbach said.
Assistant Vice President of University Communications Laura Diamond referred The Emory Wheel to the Emory News Center page on University statements on federal directives and wrote that the University had nothing else to add about the executive order.
University President Gregory Fenves said at a Feb. 25 University Senate meeting that a Department of Education shutdown should be a cause of concern for the Emory community.
“I don’t want to get everybody worried, but [we] should be worried with the Department of Education and potential changes in that,” Fenves said. “Pell Grants are already underfunded. I do have concerns about the Department of Education’s support for student loans.”
Emory College Republicans President Si Kai Feng (28C) said he did not have a “major reaction” to the executive order, explaining that without support from Democratic senators, the order would likely have little “substantive impact.”
However, Feng said he was “glad” to see Trump dismantle an organization that has spent “$3 trillion” when “every single possible metric of education for American students has gotten worse.”
Feng added that students concerned about the order’s impact on their daily lives have little to worry about.
“It calls for the dismantling of the federal Department of Education, but it still will continue all critical functions, so I would say to students that are really worried, … there really isn't a reason to worry,” Feng said.
Young Democrats of Emory Executive Board Member Royce Mann (25C) called the shutdown a more symbolic, rather than effective, on DEI initiatives. Mann warned of the potential for students of protected classes to lose protections and said the impacts of the order could cause students to get “hurt.”
“Some of these basic protections for students with disabilities, for low-income students, for students of color, especially students who maybe don't have legal immigration status, we need a really strong first line of defense for them, because the fact is, the federal government is looking to attack students, students who are very vulnerable,” Mann said.
As of March 27, there have been no major updates as to how Trump’s order will affect the activities and resources of the department. Mann said that while the order seems to have little meaning, it is still crucial for Emory students to engage the surrounding community in advocating on behalf of school boards and local districts.
“If we do lose federal funding, if they do put control of education into the hands of the states, then we're going to need to be as vocal as we can be about what what the Georgia Government needs to be doing to support students,” Mann said.
Jacob Muscolino (he/him) (28C) is an assistant news editor at The Emory Wheel. He is from Long Island and plans to major in History and East Asian Studies. Outside of the Wheel, he is involved in Emory Reads and Emory Economics Review. You can often find Jacob watching the newest blockbuster for his Letterboxd, dissecting The New York Times and traveling to the next destination on his bucket list.
