Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
The New Administration

For Jittery Academics, Trump’s Education Transition Chief May Bring Calm

By Jack Stripling November 22, 2016
James Manning, named on Monday to lead Donald Trump’s “landing team” at the Education Department, was described by a former colleague as nonpartisan and “a guy who keeps the trains running on time.”
James Manning, named on Monday to lead Donald Trump’s “landing team” at the Education Department, was described by a former colleague as nonpartisan and “a guy who keeps the trains running on time.”Dept. of Education

James F. Manning, who was tapped on Monday to lead Donald J. Trump’s “landing team” at the U.S. Department of Education, is a veteran education official with a reputation as a steady operations manager but without strong ideological leanings.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

James Manning, named on Monday to lead Donald Trump’s “landing team” at the Education Department, was described by a former colleague as nonpartisan and “a guy who keeps the trains running on time.”
James Manning, named on Monday to lead Donald Trump’s “landing team” at the Education Department, was described by a former colleague as nonpartisan and “a guy who keeps the trains running on time.”Dept. of Education

James F. Manning, who was tapped on Monday to lead Donald J. Trump’s “landing team” at the U.S. Department of Education, is a veteran education official with a reputation as a steady operations manager but without strong ideological leanings.

In a government career that dates to the Carter administration, Mr. Manning has built a broad portfolio in the department’s offices of federal student aid, postsecondary education, and civil rights. During George W. Bush’s administration, Mr. Manning served as chief of staff to the deputy education secretary William D. Hansen, and Mr. Manning served again in the Obama administration as acting chief operating officer of federal student aid.

Jeffrey R. Andrade, who worked on Mr. Hansen’s staff alongside Mr. Manning, described his former colleague on Monday as an “operations guy” skilled at navigating bureaucracies but not particularly political.

“Jim’s a guy who keeps the trains running on time,” Mr. Andrade said. “He wasn’t the sort of guy to come up with big policy ideas.

The prism to view him through is someone who is a very competent manager who knows the ins and outs of the department, as opposed to a bomb-throwing outside policy maker.

“The prism to view him through is someone who is a very competent manager who knows the ins and outs of the department,” continued Mr. Andrade, a higher-education consultant, “as opposed to a bomb-throwing outside policy maker who wants to blow the place up.”

During Mr. Manning’s time as chief of staff, from 2001 to 2002, the department was under scrutiny for loose financial oversight and fraudulent purchases by its employees.

“It was basically considered a basket case of the federal government,” Mr. Andrade said.

Mr. Manning was the “point person” on a series of efforts to improve controls at the department, and was charged with reining in abuses, Mr. Andrade said.

Could Ease Tensions

News of Mr. Manning’s appointment, which was reported on Monday by Politico, elicited a sober reaction in a transition process that has been high on drama. The parade of would-be officials streaming in and out of the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., for interviews has lent a reality-television quality to a process that has been tense since the appointment of Stephen K. Bannon, the former Breitbart News head who was recently named the White House chief strategist.

Donald Trump, the Republican president-elect, delivers his acceptance speech early Wednesday morning in New York. Mr. Trump defeated his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, to become the 45th president of the United States.
A Stunning Upset
Donald J. Trump won election as the 45th president of the United States in an astonishing upset of Hillary Clinton, a Democrat who had long led her Republican rival in the polls. Here is extended coverage of the unexpected result of their contest, and news and commentary about the coming Trump administration.
  • DeVos Moves From Wealthy Outsider to Cabinet Insider
  • White Supremacist Describes Goals of His ‘Richard Spencer Danger Tour’ to Campuses
  • What Does Betsy DeVos Have in Mind for Higher Ed?

David A. Bergeron, a former acting assistant secretary for postsecondary education, who worked with Mr. Manning, said that his appointment could ease tensions between Mr. Trump’s political appointees and career staff members at the department.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It may help that Jim Manning is helping with the transition,” said Mr. Bergeron, a senior fellow for postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress. “He is the kindest person I ever worked for, the most calm. He never said a harsh word about anyone.”

The parameters of Mr. Manning’s role remain unclear, and members of Mr. Trump’s transition team did not respond to inquiries on Monday.

Education Department officials said they had no updated information to share about the transition beyond the comments that John B. King Jr., the secretary of education, made last week. “We do not have a landing team yet,” Mr. King told reporters. “When we do, we will provide the landing team with a comprehensive picture of the work of the last eight years and the work underway.”

He is the kindest person I ever worked for, the most calm. He never said a harsh word about anyone.

Mr. Manning’s name has been floated among several possibilities for education secretary, but it is unclear who is in serious contention for the top post. Other contenders, reported by Politico, include Mitchell (Mitch) E. Daniels Jr., president of Purdue University and a former Republican governor of Indiana; Betsy DeVos, a major Republican donor; Williamson M. Evers, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution; Rep. Luke A. Messer, a Republican of Indiana; Michelle Rhee, a former public-schools chancellor in Washington, D.C.; Gerard Robinson, a resident fellow of education-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute; and P. Anthony Zeiss, a former president of Central Piedmont Community College.

ADVERTISEMENT

BuzzFeed reported that the list of contenders has narrowed to two: Ms. DeVos and Ms. Rhee.

Title IX Controversy

Mr. Trump’s campaign, which was full of bombast but often short on specifics, has left some higher-education observers to question how his administration will approach delicate issues on college campuses, particularly the application of the gender-equity law known as Title IX.

During President Obama’s administration, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has strengthened enforcement of Title IX, using the law to regulate colleges’ handling of sexual-assault cases. The office had a different reputation, however, during Mr. Manning’s short tenure there.

When Mr. Manning was acting assistant secretary for civil rights, in 2004-5, the office was criticized as weakening the law’s gender-equity requirements.

ADVERTISEMENT

In 2005 the Office for Civil Rights issued a clarification of policies aimed at ensuring that colleges provide equitable sports offerings to women. Under the clarification, colleges could demonstrate compliance by emailing surveys to students to gauge their interest in particular sports. A low response rate would be sufficient to establish that colleges were “fully and effectively” accommodating women’s interests in sports.

This clarification, which Mr. Manning signed, was criticized by gender-equity advocates, who said it would allow colleges to feign compliance without really meeting women’s needs.

In 2010 the Obama administration withdrew the clarification, effectively overturning the controversial provision.

In addition to concerns about Title IX, higher-education advocates have expressed concern about what Mr. Trump’s harsh campaign rhetoric on immigration portends for foreign and undocumented students on college campuses. Mr. Manning’s testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, in 2007, may provide some reassurance.

ADVERTISEMENT

“America must remain the primary destination for international students,” he said. “We must work together to make sure our nation’s institutions of higher education continue to be open to students from around the globe.”

Eric Kelderman contributed to this report.

Jack Stripling covers college leadership, particularly presidents and governing boards. Follow him on Twitter @jackstripling, or email him at jack.stripling@chronicle.com.

Read other items in A Stunning Upset.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Law & Policy
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
stripling-jack.jpg
About the Author
Jack Stripling
Jack Stripling is a senior writer at The Chronicle and host of its podcast, College Matters from The Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter @jackstripling.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Vector illustration of large open scissors  with several workers in seats dangling by white lines
Iced Out
Duke Administrators Accused of Bypassing Shared-Governance Process in Offering Buyouts
Illustration showing money being funnelled into the top of a microscope.
'A New Era'
Higher-Ed Associations Pitch an Alternative to Trump’s Cap on Research Funding
Illustration showing classical columns of various heights, each turning into a stack of coins
Endowment funds
The Nation’s Wealthiest Small Colleges Just Won a Big Tax Exemption
WASHINGTON, DISTICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES - 2025/04/14: A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator holding a sign with Release Mahmud Khalil written on it, stands in front of the ICE building while joining in a protest. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in front of the ICE building, demanding freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and all those targeted for speaking out against genocide in Palestine. Protesters demand an end to U.S. complicity and solidarity with the resistance in Gaza. (Photo by Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
An Anonymous Group’s List of Purported Critics of Israel Helped Steer a U.S. Crackdown on Student Activists

From The Review

John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson
Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin