MPAC’s First Amendment Center Raises Concerns Over Proposed Transfer of the Office for Civil Rights to theDepartment of Justice
Washington, D.C. | www.mpac.org | June 17, 2026 —The MPAC First Amendment Center is deeply concerned by reports that the current Administration plans to move the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Department of Justice as part of their broader effort to dismantle the Department of Education.
For decades, OCR has been one of the primary ways students and families seek help when their rights have been violated in educational settings. The office investigates discrimination complaints, works with schools to resolve violations, and helps ensure students have equal access to educational opportunities.
This is not just a question of moving responsibilities from one federal agency to another. The question is whether students and families will continue to have meaningful access to remedies when their constitutional and civil rights are violated.
The Department of Justice serves an important role in enforcing federal law through litigation. However, OCR was specifically designed to receive, investigate, and resolve the thousands of discrimination complaints that arise in schools and universities each year. Most of these cases never become lawsuits. They are addressed through investigations, compliance agreements, policy changes, and corrective action that help resolve problems before they escalate. Transferring these vital responsibilities to a depleted federal apparatus creates an intentionally confusing bureaucratic maze designed to stop families from protecting their children from discrimination.
At MPAC, we have seen firsthand how families rely on OCR when facing Islamophobia, religious discrimination, anti-Arab harassment, anti-Palestinian discrimination, unequal treatment of student organizations, and retaliation for protected speech. For many students, particularly those from minority faith communities, OCR provides a critical avenue for seeking accountability when local institutions fail to act.
For the MPAC First Amendment Center, this issue is fundamentally about religious freedom, equal protection, due process, freedom of speech and association, and access to government redress. Students should not have to navigate additional barriers to have their complaints heard or their rights protected.The First Amendment's guarantees are only meaningful when there are institutions capable of enforcing them. As policymakers consider changes to the federal government's role in education, they must ensure that students do not lose access to the protections and remedies they depend on when discrimination occurs.
Students' civil rights should not be treated as an afterthought. Any restructuring of federal civil rights enforcement must preserve the accessibility, expertise, and accountability that students and families deserve.
