Jewish Council for Public Affairs Condemns Executive Order to Dismantle the U.S. Department of Education

In response to President Donald Trump’s executive order calling on the Secretary of Education to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education, Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council of Public Affairs, released the following statement:

“President Trump simply does not have the authority to unilaterally dismantle the Department of Education – which will undermine the rights of students across the country without effective federal oversight and coordination. It will inevitably lead to more discrimination, posing a direct threat to the safety of Jewish – and so many other — students. 

While the Trump Administration claims to prioritize the fight against antisemitism, it has, in reality, repeatedly taken steps to gut the very tools we need to protect Jewish students. By dramatically cutting – and now seeking to shutter – the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights, which investigates questions of campus safety and civil rights, this administration is abandoning our students. No other agency can effectively play the same role. 

“We should also be clear that this executive order is part of a broader push to dramatically weaken our democracy, civil service, and academic institutions. The White House has frozen or terminated hundreds of millions of dollars in research, health and human services, and other critical federal grants to major universities – while at the same time exploiting our community’s legitimate concerns about antisemitism on campus to undermine due process, civil liberties, and the rule of law. 

While the Trump Administration claims that these moves will make Jews and other students safer, we know that the opposite is true — rather, they seek to pit the Jewish community against the strong education institutions and inclusive democracy that have been inextricably linked with our community’s advancement, rights, and safety.”

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