The Education Department’s civil rights office has been one of the most impacted by layoffs, with the Trump administration closing seven of its twelve regional offices and firing off over half of its employees.
One current employee described the changes as a “soft closing” of the office. “This will completely halt the vast majority of cases that we can take in, evaluate, and investigate,” said the staffer, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation.
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) seeks to protect students by holding federally funded schools and colleges accountable for combatting antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and discrimination against students with disabilities.
On Tuesday, the Department of Education informed approximately 1,300 employees that they would be laid off. According to a nonpartisan Ed Reform Now report, the civil rights office lost the most personnel of any of the programs affected, 243 out of 557.
Multiple sources inside the department told CNN that the regional offices in New York, Cleveland, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Chicago had been closed, with their entire personnel put off.
Employees expect the civil rights matters currently handled by these offices to be reallocated to the regional offices that remain open in Seattle, Denver, Atlanta, Kansas City, and Washington, DC.
Another current OCR staffer told CNN that they are concerned about the office’s capacity to manage its caseload given the large staff reduction.
“There was already a case backlog, and now these cases will simply fall by the wayside,” the employee told CNN. “This work cannot be completed without staff. The narrative that this will boost efficiency and allow OCR to continue to perform its statutorily mandated goal is a deception; students will suffer harm as a result, which will have long-term consequences for many of them.
“To better serve American students and families, changes are being made to how OCR will conduct its operations,” Madi Biedermann, the department’s deputy assistant secretary for communications, told CNN. “OCR’s team consists of high performers with extensive expertise implementing federal civil rights laws. We are certain that OCR’s devoted staff will fulfill its statutory responsibilities.”
Current OCR staffers are also concerned about which civil rights investigations would be deprioritized, given the Trump administration’s emphasis on combatting anti-Israel and antisemitic activities on college campuses.
On Monday, OCR sent letters to 60 colleges and universities under investigation for alleged violations of antisemitic harassment and discrimination. The letters warn institutions of potential consequences if they do not take necessary measures to protect Jewish students.
“The political appointees at OCR seem more concerned with politically-motivated directed investigations that rile up their base and that they can investigate through headlines rather than with complaints filed by everyday folks – regular taxpayers – who believe their civil rights have been violated and need help,” a former employee of the agency told CNN.
On March 7, OCR acting assistant secretary Craig Trainor issued a memo to staff, stating that the office must address the backlog of antisemitism accusations and blaming the previous administration for failing to effectively respond to these instances.
While the document, acquired by CNN, states that it should not be understood as “deprioritizing” other cases, employees point out a fundamental inconsistency in their new directions.
“With a skeleton crew staff and direction to act on one category of cases, the others are necessarily de-prioritized,” a current employee stated, pointing out that issues concerning race and disability, for example, would be deprioritized.