Dismantling the Department and Columbia University

Hello everyone and welcome back to another week of Politics Explained. We hope you all are having a lovely end to March and spring break for some of you students! If you are brand new here, we post a weekly blog about the happenings on Capitol Hill and in American politics. This week was a lighter week but still very important. This week we will talk about the dismantling of the Department of Education* and Columbia University agreeing to President Trump’s demands. Without further ado, let’s dive right in. 

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, which was established in the late 1970s. The order stated that the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, should start right away to dismantle the Department. Trump signed this order in the East Wing with lots of school children at desks surrounding him. While Trump can sign an order that stated that the Department should be dismantled, he can’t fully abolish it without Congressional approval. The only way for a bill to abolish the Department to pass the Senate is if there are 60 votes for it to be abolished, forcing the Republicans to find at least 7 Democratic Senators to agree with them. We will keep you posted if a vote happens, so check out our Instagram, X, and TikTok to get the latest information right away. 

Also during this week, Columbia University caved to President Trump’s demands. Last month, President Trump revoked Columbia’s $400 million in Federal research funding, stating that the University “failed to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitic harassment.” The deal states that masks are banned from campus. During several protests at the University, many protestors used masks to hide their faces and identity. The Trump administration also said that the school needed to appoint a new Senior Vice Provost to oversee the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. Lastly, the school will also add 36 new campus police officers who can arrest students. 

*Definition of the Week (Department of Education): The federal agency that is tasked with handling the administration of federal assistance programs and overseeing national education policy.