Trump’s Education Department Scaled Back Investigations Into Discrimination and Sexual Assault on Campus, New Data Shows

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has drastically reduced its investigations into discrimination and sexual assault on campuses since the second Trump administration commenced, despite a continued influx of complaints, according to a new ProPublica analysis of records obtained by the organization. In the period from Inauguration Day in 2025 to July 2026, the OCR initiated an average of 100 new investigations per month, totaling 1,839 cases.

In contrast, during the same timeframe, the OCR launched an average of 310 new investigations each month under the Biden administration, as previously reported by ProPublica.

During President Donald Trump's tenure, the OCR discontinued the public disclosure of the schools it was investigating and the reasons behind those investigations, including claims of discrimination based on race, sex, and disability. In response to this change, ProPublica filed a lawsuit with the department to obtain internal case data.

The government subsequently submitted records of the OCR's activities during the first 18 months of Trump's return to power, and ProPublica is publishing this information to allow the public to search the cases.

The searchable table, requiring JavaScript to function, enables individuals to search for instances where the OCR under the Trump administration initiated investigations into alleged discrimination in schools and colleges or dismissed complaints without conducting an investigation. The table also includes complaints filed with the OCR during Trump's administration that the office has yet to decide whether to investigate.

The OCR categorizes its records as "case opened" for when complaints are received and "investigation start date" to denote the initiation of an investigation.