Trump administration readies for affirmative action fight

The Trump administration unintentionally fired a shot across the bow of liberal academia last week when The New York Times revealed Justice Department plans to take up the charge against affirmative action. According to a document leaked to Times reporters, the Justice Department is looking for in-house lawyers to join a new project on “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions.”

Affirmative action programs have long been subject to court challenges. The latest group to sue: Asian-American students who didn’t get into Harvard University. They could have a powerful new ally in the Trump administration. A Justice Department spokeswoman told The Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper, the new project would focus specifically on claims against the Ivy League school. The Justice Department has not “received or issued” any instructions about going after university admissions processes in general, spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement aimed to tamp down alarm about a widespread attack on affirmative action.

The would-be Harvard students claim the school penalized them for high performance, giving preference to other racial minorities. If the government finds the students have a valid case, it could deny federal funds to Harvard for violating Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Given that Harvard has the largest academic endowment in the world—a whopping $36.7 billion—it’s hard to imagine much hand wringing over a few federal pennies.

But the case, which most agree is headed for the U.S. Supreme Court, could force Harvard, and other universities, to stop considering race as a factor in the admissions process. Harvard has long maintained it needs affirmative action to shape a diverse student body. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 ruled in favor of a similar system used by the University of Texas, as long as administrators only used race as one of many factors considered when evaluating prospective students. In a dissenting opinion in that case, Justice Samuel Alito noted that while affirmative action helps some minority groups, it hurts others, notably Asian-Americans. Alito’s comments, when added to existing rumblings of discontent among the high-achieving student group, led court-watchers to predict the current legal challenge long before it was filed.

Students for Fair Admissions, founded by activist Edward Blum, championed the UT case and actively recruited Asian-American students for the Harvard suit. Blum, also a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told the Times he wanted to restore the “original civil rights vision,” that race should neither hurt nor help. He dismissed opponents’ claims that he wants to undo civil rights advancements.

“You cannot cure past racial discrimination with new racial discrimination,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Parents take fight against school bullying to court

Two families, one in New Jersey and the other in Ohio, are suing their local school districts after their children committed suicide. In both cases, the parents say school officials ignored relentless bullying that contributed to their children’s deaths.

Mallory Grossman, a 12-year-old sixth grader in Rockaway Township, N.J., died in June. She endured “vile and malicious” attacks on social media, according to the family’s attorney. Her mother, Dianne Grossman, said she told school administrators about the bullying, but they did nothing to stop it. In filing the lawsuit, attorney Bruce Nagel said the family hoped to “open a Pandora’s box” and “push against the hornet’s nest” to make sure no other child has to endure what Mallory went through. Nagel also told reporters the family might sue the parents of Mallory’s tormentors.

Gabriel Taye, an 8-year-old third grader at Carson Elementary School in Cincinnati, hung himself in January. After he died, his mother found out he’d been knocked unconscious following a bullying incident two days earlier. After being struck in the back of the head outside a bathroom, Gabriel lay on the ground for about seven minutes before anyone helped him. School officials told Cornelia Reynolds her son had fainted.

Gabriel’s death drew national attention in part because of his age. The Cincinnati coroner expressed doubt a child his age could even know what suicide meant. Partly in response to Reynolds’ plea for help, officials agreed to open Gabriel’s coffin to retrieve a tablet buried with him. After looking over the device, officials declined to change the cause of death ruling. But Reynolds maintains Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) bears the blame for her son’s suicide.

“If CPS had been honest with her about what happened in the bathroom, how long he had been unconscious, and the dangerous school environment Gabe had to navigate each day of third grade, she would never had let him return to Carson,” attorney Jennifer Branch said in a statement. —L.J.

School choice challengers rally referendum reinforcements

The most ambitious school choice plan in the nation probably won’t go into effect this year as planned. Opponents of Arizona’s education savings account law announced Monday they have gathered enough petition signatures to put a repeal effort on the ballot in November 2018. Until then, the law will remain on hold.

State officials still have to count and validate the signatures, but Save Our Schools Arizona gathered about 25 percent more than they need to force the referendum. School choice advocates remain skeptical about whether enough signatures are valid and vowed to carefully scrutinize each one.

Arizona first created Empowerment Scholarship Accounts for disabled students in 2011. Lawmakers have since expanded the program to include children attending failing schools, those living on Indian reservations, foster children, and children of military members. This year, lawmakers expanded the program to make all students eligible, capping participation at 30,000. Only about 3,500 students now use the accounts, which set aside $20,000 for disabled students and about $6,000 for others.

A recent survey showed Americans broadly support school choice measures, even though they know little about them. But other factors have the potential to sway the referendum’s outcome. Gov. Doug Ducey, who supported the choice program, will be up for reelection, and the program’s future likely is linked to his. Even voters’ outlook on national politics could play a role since President Donald Trump supports school choice and probably won’t be able to resist a tweet or two. —L.J.

Keep calm and study on

Starting in January, about half of England’s primary school students will begin using Chinese math textbooks. The British government announced the $54 million initiative last year, a bid to reverse the country’s dismal slide on standardized tests given to students around the world. Students from Shanghai consistently do well on the Program for International Student Assessment, whereas British students ranked 27th for math in 2015. The new textbooks, published by the educational division of HarperCollins, are direct translations of the Chinese originals and are “significantly more demanding” than books currently used in U.K. classrooms. The Chinese publisher claims U.S. educators also have shown interest in using its math materials. —L.J.