On Tuesday, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) questioned DOE Secretary Miguel Cardona on the protests taking place on U.S. university campuses during a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Okay, Mr. Wahlberg, you're recognized for five minutes.
00:03 Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and thank you, Secretary, for being here.
00:07 The title of this hearing is Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Department of Education.
00:13 And I have to say I'm deeply concerned about how the department is choosing to prioritize its efforts.
00:20 The department has since 2020 to prepare for the new FAFSA rollout,
00:29 and yet the political leadership chose to spend time canceling student debt, rewriting Title IX.
00:35 And I would say to the detriment and endangerment of female athletes and females in general.
00:41 And making it harder for proprietary schools to exist,
00:45 schools that are preparing individuals for real world jobs with tremendous success.
00:51 And now we're witnessing an explosion of anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses.
00:57 I'm concerned the department is not living up to its obligation of upholding Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
01:04 And so, Secretary Cardona, as of this morning,
01:08 the Department of Education's website listed 145 open investigations
01:15 based on shared ancestry under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
01:20 On average, let me ask this question, on average,
01:24 how long does it take the Office of Civil Rights to conclude Title VI shared ancestry investigations?
01:31 On average.
01:32 >> Thank you.
01:33 So the anti-Semitism and shared ancestry cases have increased.
01:38 We've had over 100 since the attacks on October 7th.
01:42 >> 145 as of this morning.
01:43 >> Right, but just since October 7th.
01:46 So we have 145 open cases.
01:50 On average, it's hard to give an average because every case is different, but roughly six to eight months.
01:55 >> Currently, how many investigators does the Department of Education have on Columbia's campus?
02:03 >> I cannot comment specifically on one case, but I can tell you that we have investigators looking into the cases that we have open.
02:10 Which is why, sir, we're asking for an increase.
02:13 We have approximately 60 less investigators than we did in 2009,
02:18 and triple the number of cases.
02:20 >> Well, then it ought to be easy to tell me how many investigators you have on Columbia's campus,
02:25 on UCLA's campus, on George Washington's campus.
02:29 >> I'm sure you know, sir, I cannot speak on open cases.
02:32 What I can tell you is that we're taking these cases very seriously.
02:35 We condemn anti-Semitism and any forms of hate on campus, and we're moving as quickly as we can.
02:41 Your support of our budget proposal, sir, would help us move that along.
02:47 >> Well, let me go this direction then.
02:48 How many investigations has the department closed?
02:53 And how many of those investigations have resulted in resolutions and policy changes?
02:58 We can't comment on the investigations that are open.
03:00 >> Right. >> How many we closed?
03:01 >> Right.
03:02 There have been two cases that have been closed around anti-Semitism.
03:06 >> Two cases?
03:07 >> Correct, two cases.
03:09 And we are vigorously attending to the open cases now.
03:14 As you know, when Congress passed this regulation here, or this law,
03:20 we have to make sure that we're negotiating with universities on a compliance and how they're going to address the issue.
03:26 >> Well, as I understand it, the Office of Civil Rights case processing manual
03:31 indicates that the Office of Civil Rights has the authority to launch its own investigations.
03:36 Can launch that with your own decision making process.
03:40 You don't have to wait for specific complaints.
03:43 Have you launched any proactive investigations into anti-Semitism?
03:48 >> What I can tell you is as recently as this morning, we have provided guidance to all colleges, not just the ones where we might have issues.
03:54 So yet Friday, I sent communication to over 5,000 university leaders.
04:00 This morning we have a letter and-
04:02 >> So you haven't launched any investigations?
04:04 >> We have, as I said earlier, 145 open cases which
04:10 are woefully understaffed to handle the existing cases.
04:14 And I'm asking for a budget increase so that we can continue to get to those cases, sir.
04:18 >> Let me put it this way.
04:19 Will you commit to launching compliance reviews of campuses within the next 30 days?
04:24 >> We have a process where we're providing information to campuses.
04:27 We've done more in the last six, seven months than the previous administration has done in four years.
04:32 >> It's not working.
04:34 It's not working from what we've seen in the last two weeks.
04:37 I appreciate the fact that University of Michigan did not negotiate, ended up going on with their commencement, speaking parochially here.
04:45 But Jewish students are still in fear of their lives and
04:49 their academic success on that campus and many other campuses.
04:55 And the opportunity that you have to launch these reviews, you have solely.
05:00 It doesn't take Congress or anyone else to ask you.
05:03 I certainly hope you'll make this a priority because it's for the future and
05:07 present of students and universities and colleges under your priority supervision.
05:15 I yield back.
05:16 >> Thank you, Mr. Wahlberg.