Quick Summary:
• Trump’s Department of Education has halted nearly all civil rights investigations, with only 20 new cases opened since his inauguration, compared to 110 under Biden.
• More than 12,000 ongoing complaints—including those related to racial discrimination, disability rights, and sexual harassment—have been effectively frozen.
• OCR attorneys have been ordered not to investigate cases from students and families, instead pursuing politically motivated cases like banning gender-neutral bathrooms and transgender athletes.
• The administration is threatening to cut federal funding from schools that maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, claiming they violate civil rights laws.
• Craig Trainor, acting head of OCR, has made public announcements about politically charged investigations, a break from the agency’s neutral history.
• Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has cut $900 million in DOE contracts, further weakening the agency’s ability to operate.
• Legal experts warn that the administration is systematically dismantling civil rights protections in education, leaving marginalized students without federal support.
In the three and a half weeks since Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has nearly ceased operations, grinding investigations to a halt.
At the same time, the number of new cases opened by the OCR has plummeted—dropping to just 20 new investigations since Trump’s inauguration, compared to 110 cases opened in the same period under Biden and 250 cases during the same time last year.
OCR, which has historically focused on discrimination complaints related to race, gender, national origin, and disability, is now being redirected toward Trump’s political agenda. The cases the administration has chosen to pursue include:
• Eliminating gender-neutral bathrooms in public schools.
• Banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
• Investigating allegations of antisemitism and “discrimination against white students.”
OCR attorneys have reported being barred from investigating complaints filed by students and their families.
“We have not been able to open any (investigations) that come from the public,” said one longtime OCR attorney, who requested anonymity. “We’ve been essentially muzzled.”
Before Trump took office, OCR was actively investigating roughly 12,000 cases of discrimination in schools and colleges across the country. These included:
• 6,000 complaints related to students with disabilities facing unfair discipline or denial of services.
• 3,200 cases of racial discrimination, including unfair discipline and racial harassment.
• 1,000 complaints of sexual harassment or sexual violence.
Students and families often turn to OCR when their schools refuse to act, as it has the authority to force institutions to change policies, provide services, and ensure compliance with civil rights laws.
Now, attorneys say the agency is effectively doing nothing.
“Many of these students are in crisis,” said one Department of Education employee. “They are counting on some kind of intervention to get that student back in school and graduate or get accommodations.”
Without federal oversight, these students have no alternative for seeking justice.
Since its creation in 1979, OCR has played a crucial role in enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws in education. It is mandated by Congress to uphold the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and protect students from discrimination based on race, gender, and disability.
Under Trump, however, OCR is no longer operating as a neutral enforcer of civil rights. Instead, the administration has:
• Blocked attorneys from communicating with students, families, and schools.
• Canceled scheduled mediations and meetings for open cases.
• Stopped listing new cases publicly, eliminating transparency.
Rather than following standard case procedures, the Trump administration has shifted to “directed investigations,” meaning the White House decides which cases OCR attorneys must pursue.
One high-profile case OCR opened under Trump’s direction is a federal investigation into an all-gender restroom at a Denver high school. The acting head of OCR, Craig Trainor, issued a press release about the case—something previous administrations have never done.
“Let me be clear: it is a new day in America, and under President Trump, OCR will not tolerate discrimination of any kind,” Trainor wrote in the statement.
Denver Public Schools spokesperson Scott Pribble called the investigation “unprecedented.”
“This is not the first all-gender bathroom we have in a school, but it’s the first time an investigation has been opened by OCR,” Pribble said.
OCR is also investigating:
• Minnesota and California high school athletics groups for allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.
• A complaint alleging discrimination against white students at Ithaca City School District in New York—a case previously ignored under Biden but now fast-tracked under Trump.
Legal experts say the agency is now being used to enforce Trump’s cultural agenda rather than ensuring civil rights compliance.
Beyond reshaping OCR’s priorities, the Trump administration has threatened to strip federal funding from schools that maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
In a letter to state education officials, Trainor warned that the department would begin “assessing compliance” with what the administration views as a misuse of civil rights law.
“Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” the letter stated.
The letter singles out DEI programs as a violation of federal anti-discrimination laws, declaring that schools and universities “will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this nation’s educational institutions.”
Critics argue that this sweeping order could affect everything from Black History Month events to cultural student organizations.
“It goes well beyond the Supreme Court ruling on admissions and declares illegal a wide range of common practices,” said Brian Rosenberg, visiting professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “In my career, I’ve never seen language of this kind from any government agency in the United States.”
PEN America condemned the directive, stating:
“This declaration has no basis in law and is an affront to the freedom of speech and ideas in educational settings. To enact government interference in the intellectual life of such institutions is to reduce our colleges and universities to the status of echo chambers, similar to those controlled by authoritarian states.”
OCR’s collapse is part of a broader effort to gut the Department of Education entirely.
• Trump has called the DOE a “con job” and signaled that he plans to issue an executive order dismantling the agency.
• Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has already slashed $900 million in DOE contracts.
• Linda McMahon, Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary, has refused to say whether she will cut OCR’s funding.
As federal oversight erodes, civil rights advocates warn that thousands of students will be left without protections.
• Trump’s Department of Education has stalled thousands of civil rights investigations, redirected OCR to focus on right-wing “culture war” issues, and threatened to cut federal funding from schools that promote diversity.
• Elon Musk’s cost-cutting measures have accelerated DOE’s collapse, eliminating funding and oversight mechanisms.
• Legal experts warn that OCR is being systematically dismantled, leaving marginalized students without federal protection.
With civil rights enforcement in crisis, the fight to protect students will now depend on legal challenges, congressional oversight, and grassroots activism.
COMMENTS