In a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a coalition of groups ranging from labor unions to the NAACP urged her to push President Donald Trump to appoint an advocate for marginalized groups to head the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights division. The head of the Civil Rights division, while appointed by the president, is traditionally chosen with heavy input from the Secretary of Education.
Since the Education Department’s Civil Rights Office was revitalized by the Obama administration, it more aggressively investigates discrimination in the education system. The next leader of the Civil Rights division is essential to continuing this important work.
While DeVos may seem an unlikely ally for, well, anyone, given her boss, (and her own history of funding anti-LGBT+ groups) she reportedly fought racist Keebler elf doppelgänger/U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the issue of protections for trans* students who use the bathroom matching their gender. Sessions, who is horrifically transphobic, wanted to eliminate the protections, while DeVos apparently did not. The Trump administration’s recent revocation of the protections needed the approval of both DeVos and Sessions, and DeVos forced Sessions to go to Trump himself. Trump, however, sided with Sessions over DeVos, and DeVos begrudgingly approved the protections rather than resign or get fired. (Still cowardly, but at least not totally evil. It’s a start, Betsy.)
Secretary DeVos has a chance to make a difference. If she pushes for Trump to appoint a non-bigot to head the Civil Rights Office, she could keep schools safe for millions of students who rely on their school to provide a shelter from abusive, homophobic, or transphobic parents, and for millions more who just want to learn without discrimination hurting them at every turn.
We’re counting on you, Secretary DeVos.
The phone number for the Office of the Secretary of Education is (202) 401-3000. Call and leave a message stating your support for marginalized students, and urge Secretary DeVos to protect them with the Office of Civil Rights.
If you can find a better way to contact Secretary DeVos (the entire Department of Education website seems outdated, and no one answered the phone when I called, repeatedly), let me know on Twitter @kkeeltygartland.
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