Grand Canyon University president says school 'absolutely' targeted in Biden admin lawsuits
Grand Canyon University President Brian Mueller joined 'Fox & Friends' to discuss why he believes the universities have been targeted amid allegations of deceptive advertising.
A report showed that nearly 70% of enforcement actions executed by the Biden administration’s Education Department targeted faith-based and career schools.
According to a press release published by the American Principles Project (APP), they drew on newly obtained data finding that nearly 70 percent of the Department of Education’s (ED) enforcement actions dealt with faith-based and career schools, even though those schools represent less than 10 percent of students in the US.
APP Policy Director Jon Schweppe said the Democrats have been "busy weaponizing every part of the federal government to target their opponents" for the past four years.
Grand Canyon University President Brian Mueller. (Grand Canyon University)
"While major assaults from agencies like the Department of Justice have taken most of the headlines, we should not ignore similarly corrupt efforts in other agencies as well," Schweppe said.
"As our report details, the Biden-Harris Department of Education has been engaged in a long-running scheme to punish Christian colleges that are ideologically opposed to the left’s agenda. The unfair targeting of these institutions has been egregious, and it needs to stop immediately."
The APP notes that two of the nation’s most prominent Christian universities, Grand Canyon University (GCU) and Liberty University, were subject to scrutiny by the ED. Both of these institutions faced record-level fines worth significantly more than "all penalties imposed over the past seven years combined," including fines imposed on Penn State ($2.4 million) and Michigan State ($4.5 million) relating to Jerry Sandusky and Larry Nassar’s respective sexual crimes.
GCU currently faces a hurdle while appealing a $37.7 million fine imposed by the ED in November of last year for allegations that the Arizona-based institution misled students about the cost of its doctoral programs over several years.
Furthermore, Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in April vowed to shut down GCU during a House Appropriations Committee hearing about for-profit colleges. The Biden administration official claimed that "predatory schools" are "preying on first generation students."
Biden administration Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. (House Appropriations Committee)
The report from APP said further that at "least 12 Christian colleges have been the target of excessive penalties or banned from receiving federal student aid; by comparison, no Ivy League school has been the recipient of punitive action by the Office of Enforcement."
"The average fine against a Christian school for a Clery Act violation was $815,000, compared to $228,571 against public and private institutions," it said.
The report comes after GCU recently scored a legal win over the ED regarding the Christian institution’s non-profit status. The ED denied GCU’s nonprofit recognition after it was approved by the Arizona Board for Private Postsecondary Education, the Internal Revenue Service, the State of Arizona and the Higher Learning Commission.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the ED unlawfully applied an incorrect standard to determine the university’s nonprofit status.
A report showed that 70% of actions executed by the Biden administration’s education enforcement office targeted Christian colleges and universities. (iStock)
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The case is now being remanded back to ED.
A department spokesperson sent a statement to Fox News Digital, saying that a "school’s religious affiliation or non-profit status has absolutely no bearing on our oversight and enforcement actions."
"Our top priority is protecting safety and academic opportunity for all students at institutions of higher education. The data in the APP report itself pushes a false narrative by distorting information released publicly by the Department," the spokesperson said.
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