Just when it seemed that Trump might have turned down the heat in his attack on higher education, the Treasury Department released new rules Thursday that will reach more broadly and deeply into the landscape of both private secondary and higher education than anything his administration has done previously. As The New York Times reported, the new rules allow the Internal Revenue Service to “revoke tax-exempt status from any school offering targeted support to Black or other minority students.”
The Times rightly called the Treasury’s action “a sweeping change that opens another front in the president’s campaign to reshape American education.” Schools, colleges and universities that might have thought they were insulated from the brunt of that attack because they are not dependent on federal funding will now be in the crosshairs. They will find themselves in hot water if they provide minority-race students targeted help in anything from scholarships to academic programs.
As the Times notes, the rule will take effect beginning next June and apply to as many as 18,000 schools.
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