Looking at Trump’s cabinet so far, the appointments haven’t gone smoothly. Protests and outrage sparked after the appointment of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, Michael Flynn resigned as National Security Advisor after just a month in office, and nominee for Secretary of Labor has just withdrawn his nomination after at least six Republican Senators said they would not support him.
The most controversial appointment came last week, with the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. In an unprecedented case, the vice president had to make the deciding vote, after the Senate vote ended in a tie. The democrats unanimously voted ‘No’, and were supported by Republican Senators from Alaska and Maine.
People have been outraged by many of DeVos’ claims during her confirmation hearing. On January 17th, when asked about guns in schools, she mentions the State of Wyoming, where according to her “I think probably there I would imagine that there is probably a gun in the schools to protect from potential grizzlies.” Yes, you read that right. Grizzly bears. In the same hearing, she was asked what she would do to address campus rape. In 2011, the Obama administration dictated key policies that have to be in place. DeVos, however, has not taken a stance on this, and said that “it would be premature”.
This however, isn’t the biggest issue. Betsy DeVos is a billionaire, married into a family of billionaires. The family funded the election of some of the senators that voted on her appointment as Secretary of Education. While it is not something new that donors get offices in government, Betsy DeVos is one of the biggest fishes in the sea. Financial information disclosed to the public shows that she herself has donated $115,000, while the DeVos family has donated more than $950,000 to sitting senators. These numbers might still rise, as the family has donated $8.3 million to the Super PAC’s that fund the Republican party.
As for DeVos’ policies? First and foremost, she has the idea of a voucher system. This means that instead of schools receiving funding to help their students, parents now get to choose where to send their child to school and they will receive federal funding to pay for the school of their choice. The ultimate goal is to have $12,000 available for every child to spend on education. This, however, takes away the funding for public schools, which often need more funding instead of less. Another policy is to increase the number of charter schools – schools which are publically funded but run independently- and to increase the profit that they make. As for guns in schools, she “will support whatever the president-elect does.”
Teachers unions have voiced their concerns, and protests have started around public schools. On the 10th of February, DeVos was unable to enter a public school in Washington DC due to the protesters in front of it. She was forced to enter and leave through the back door. So she is off to a rough start. People aren’t happy with her nomination, as was proven by the historical, tie breaking vote. DeVos hasn’t attended public school, neither have her children, and now she is in charge of making sure that they survive.
Annick Wijnstra, Class of 2017, is a literature and history major from the Netherlands.
