It’s getting ridiculous at this point.
The Biden Department of Education added another front last month in its long crusade against Christian colleges and universities.
This time, the Department leveled a record $14 million penalty on Liberty University, one of the largest private Christian schools in the country. For advocates of religious freedom and educational choice — or any parent concerned about the creep of progressive “woke” ideology, for that matter — this action should be seen for what it is: an attack on Christian education and values.
Let’s be clear, this latest search-and-destroy mission was never about campus safety, students, or justice, no matter how the Administration tries to couch it. It’s about an agenda. For the past three and a half years, President Biden has sought to prop up conventional four-year universities amidst historic declines in enrollment and financial tumult. That’s because these bastions of wokeism provide the perfect catalyst to push the far-left’s social and political ideology.
But there’s been a hitch to the plan: Students aren’t drinking the Kool-Aid. They are fleeing these same brand-name colleges in favor of non-traditional options, like career colleges, faith-affiliated universities, and distance learning programs. Enrollment in career colleges, for example, has nearly doubled over the past decade, while enrollment at conventional four-year colleges has fallen to its lowest level over the same period.
It's not hard to see why students are bucking establishment institutions for higher education options that better suit their needs. The sticker price at four-year universities has increased nearly 200 percent since 1990, and these costs have grown more than twice as fast for low-income students compared to their wealthier peers. A third of students graduate with no growth in their critical thinking or analytical skills. Meanwhile, two-thirds feel the political and social climate on their campus prevents them from freely expressing themselves.
The Harvard Business Review, hardly a bullhorn for conservative values, put it bluntly: The conventional higher education model “no longer works.”
Religious and career colleges and universities offer students an alternative. These schools offer programs that align with students’ beliefs, teach career-applicable skills, and provide financial guidance to empower students to maximize their federal aid. Many have kept tuition flat. Liberty University, for example, froze tuition for the past six years.
That doesn’t sit well with the Biden team. In response, they have systematically singled out Christian colleges and universities. Their unprecedented investigation into Liberty University spanned nearly eight years, a record for the Department of Education. Months before any charges were formally filed, the Department leaked its investigation to the media, broadcasting its intentions and effectively poisoning the well of public opinion.
The Department’s penalty against Liberty University comes on the heels of a similar, equally outrageous action against Grand Canyon University (GCU), the nation’s largest Christian university. Last fall, GCU was slapped with a record $37.7 million fine for purportedly misleading students about the costs of its doctoral program. Even if one were to believe that ruse — GCU’s independent accreditor applauded the school for providing “clear and transparent” marketing and financial information, and it’s hard to believe doctoral students couldn’t be counted on to forecast their own costs — the penalty hardly fits to the so-called crime.
Neither does the fine against Liberty University. Consider that Michigan State University was penalized only $4.5 million for harboring Larry Nasser, who abused hundreds of students, or Penn State was fined just $2.4 million for failing to report Jerry Sandusky. The punishment against Liberty is more than twice those schools combined, despite its good-faith effort to improve campus security and correct reporting procedures.
Experts and leaders are standing up to this religious intolerance. In January, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, Congressman James Comer, and Congressman Bob Good called out Biden’s Department of Education for “targeting religious institutions.” They wrote, “It has become increasingly evident that the Department is prepared to make an example of Liberty University.”
In a letter calling for the penalty against GCU to be rescinded, Representatives Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar and Debbie Lesko did not mince words: “Since President Biden took office, your department [the Department of Education] has been keen to repeal robust protections of religious freedom.”
Sadly, Liberty University and GCU are simply the latest victims of Biden’s efforts to stamp religion out of colleges and universities, limit educational choice, and prop up a failing model of higher education. Left unchecked, this persecution won’t stop here, and ultimately our students — and the Christian values and beliefs they and we hold dear — will pay the price.