Trump and Linda McMahon Are Poised to Reshape Higher Education

Schools are bracing for changes Republicans eagerly want, from campus culture to what’s taught in classrooms.

Donald Trump, Linda McMahon

Linda McMahon will be tasked with executing Trump’s agenda if she’s confirmed as education secretary. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Donald Trump is set to intensify a yearslong crusade to reshape higher education, from how students act on campus to what is taught in classrooms.

Colleges and universities have been feeling the heat for years, facing scrutiny on all sides. That scrutiny escalated earlier this year after protests over the Israel-Hamas war disrupted instruction on dozens of college campuses nationwide, bringing free speech and antisemitism issues front and center.

Michael Brickman, the education policy director for the conservative think tank Cicero Institute, expects a more active civil rights office in Trump’s education department, due in large part to those demonstrations.