Report: Biden’s Department of Education disproportionately targeted Christian schools

A new report indicates almost 70% of penalties imposed by the Department of Education’s Office of Enforcement (OE) targeted Christian educational institutions.

With the attendees of Christian schools making up less than 10% of college students nationally, some advocates say the data is proof the Biden administration has selectively persecuted Christian establishments.

“Employing a scrutinize-and-penalize strategy and executive regulatory fiat, the Department has targeted Christian colleges and universities with baseless accusations, sensationalized public-opinion campaigns, and egregious penalties – with the goal of shutting down these schools, which do not comport with the administration’s ‘woke’ agenda,” writes Jon Schweppe, director of policy for American Principles Project (APP), in the November report.

The report goes on to analyze data released by Department of Education (DOE) in August 2024 that details the volume and intensity of penalties enforced against Christian institutions through the OE.

“The Office of Enforcement’s record fines against Grand Canyon University (GCU) and Liberty University – two of the country’s largest Christian universities – totaled more than all other penalties over the past seven years combined,” the APP analysis notes.

The data, while illuminating, has only exacerbated existing concerns that the Biden administration has weaponized its power unfairly against Christian schools.

Earlier this year, GOP members of Congress called on Sandra Bruce, DOE’s inspector general, to investigate the historically large $37.7 million fine DOE attempted to impose on GCU for allegedly misleading graduate students about program costs. Spokespeople for the college have stated its leadership has no intention of paying it.

“[DOE]’s allegations and subsequent fine are not based on students’ complaints – not a single supposedly-harmed ‘victim’ has been identified – but on the Department’s own claim that university officials incorrectly marketed the cost to complete GCU’s doctoral programs,” reads a letter to Bruce penned by several Republican lawmakers in April 2024.

The fine was massive escalation from others imposed on colleges in the past, the letter said, for far more serious issues. Michigan State University, for example, was fined only $4.5 million for failure to address years of systematic sexual abuse on campus.

GCU already prevailed in a case decided last month after the department had denied its attempt to return to nonprofit status. A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals found that the DOE had “applied the wrong legal standard” to GCU and set aside a lower court’s decision.

The university said at the time it was hopeful recent actions by the Supreme Court and Congress to block actions by the executive branch would stop “overreach of the administrative state” and “keep agencies accountable to governing law.” 

The OE was initially created under the Obama administration; under President Biden, the office’s budget increased by nearly 600%.  

In 2025, however, the DOE is set for a massive overhaul, with President-elect Donald Trump stating he intends to eliminate the agency and redistribute significant federal programs operating under DOE to other existing agencies.