Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Newsmax on Thursday she hopes the deal the Trump administration cut with Columbia University over campus antisemitism becomes a template for other schools.
"We've had three great triumphs, I think," McMahon said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "If you look at Columbia, that was, I think, the biggest deal that we announced, they will pay a $200 million fine and then a $20 million fine that will go into a fund to pay for ... abuses in hiring. That was an incredibly big deal at Columbia, and it also dealt with having protests on campuses. You can protest, as long as you have peaceful protests, but you can't wear masks. If you have to wear a mask for religious purposes, then you have to have your ID that you're willing to show. There were just many parts of that Columbia deal that I hope will become the template for others."
Columbia reached a landmark settlement with the Trump administration last week, agreeing to pay $221 million, reverse racially discriminatory practices, and address Jewish students' civil rights violations.
The settlement was the result of four months of negotiations which began when the administration froze approximately $400 million in federal grants to the Ivy League school. Under the terms of the settlement, most of that money will be returned to Columbia.
McMahon said that the Education Department is "still negotiating with Harvard," but noted that it "had a great success with the University of Pennsylvania in getting rid of the Title IX violations."
"They [UPenn] apologized to the woman [athlete] whose title was taken away," she said. "They took the title away from Lia Thomas, the man who was competing in women's swimming. So, we've had some really big successes, not only with Columbia, with University of Pennsylvania, and then yesterday signing the Brown University deal, in which they also are paying a fine of $50 million.
"[Brown] will be investing that money in workforce development programs in the state," McMahon said. "They also have agreed on the Title IX and defining women as women and men as men. So, these are really big accomplishments for three big universities. I'm hoping Harvard is going to stay at the table for negotiations, and then we have several other investigations going on as well, but these are big wins."
With a new school year just weeks away, McMahon said that her top priorities are expanding school choice, so parents can send their children to the school that best fits their needs, and returning much of education back to the states. She said her department is "working with Congress to do that."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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