Betsy DeVos probably never had much of a chance with higher ed’s in-crowd.
A billionaire philanthropist with no professional education experience, her passions resided outside the realms of colleges and universities. Her most cherished cause seemed to be school-choice programs, including those that allow taxpayer dollars to go toward private schools through tuition vouchers. Like many conservatives, she was skeptical of professors, whom she described as “ominously” telling students what to think.
DeVos’s resignation on Thursday night, coming a day after President Trump riled up a mob that overran the U.S. Capitol, was a remarkable act of protest from an official who, up to that point, had voiced nary a public objection to a president routinely at odds with educators. The president’s hardline positions on immigration, his public skepticism of science, and his derision of diversity training — all of which amounted to attacks on core higher-education values — had not provoked (publicly at least) any crises of conscience or dissent from the secretary.
It was consistent, if not fitting, that “the inflection point” for DeVos, as she phrased it in her resignation letter, had no direct connection to any difference she had with Trump on education policy. But his inflammatory rhetoric, which had been so regularly deployed without objection from his cabinet, was too much for DeVos in the culminating, violent tableau of the administration’s final days.
The education secretary’s resignation, emblematic of a moment of deep national fracture, bookends a tenure that from its inception attracted criticism and generated outrage. In confirmation hearings, DeVos at times appeared to have thin knowledge of consequential education issues, setting the stage for a narrow confirmation that required Vice President Mike Pence’s vote to break a tie.
For DeVos, even the ceremonial functions of the job, were a challenge. In what would typically be a layup for an educational official, DeVos managed, in her first days in office, to sow discord with a press release about the role of historically Black colleges. Trumpeting her favored cause, DeVos described the institutions as “pioneers of school choice,” an odd and (many argued) offensive characterization of colleges that were founded in the segregation era.
Not long after, appearing before a graduating class at Bethune-Cookman University, a historically Black college, DeVos was booed relentlessly.
What followed in the ensuing years, many higher-education officials say, was a series of missed opportunities and disputes. Colleges sparred with the Trump administration over immigration policy and received little guidance about how to safely reopen during the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving many officials to conclude that higher education simply wasn’t part of the agenda.
“Higher education really was never a priority for the Trump administration,” said Terry W. Hartle, the American Council on Education’s senior vice president for government relations. “They dealt with higher education when they had to or when they wanted to score political points.”
As education secretary, DeVos oversaw sweeping changes in how colleges handle sexual-assault allegations, giving accused students more rights, and allowing colleges to raise evidentiary standards for determining misconduct. She also eased regulations aimed at for-profit colleges, some of which were notorious for leaving students with high debt and few job prospects.
In many cases, though, DeVos appeared to be more of a bystander, as the president issued executive orders affecting higher education. This was particularly problematic to college leaders when Trump banned travel into the U.S. from some foreign countries, which colleges and universities saw as an affront to international collaboration.
Jack Cline, associate vice chancellor for federal relations at the University of Kansas, said that he maintained good access to White House and Education Department officials over the past four years. In the final analysis, though, college advocates wanted more from the secretary.
“That’s the story,” Cline said. “She should have been our advocate. The secretary should have played a much greater role in the president’s decisions. It’s disappointing. We would have liked Secretary DeVos to have been our champion.”
