[May 5, 2025]: Fox News reports on the Department of Education’s recent announcement that it was launching an investigation into School District 65 in Evanston, IL, following a complaint submitted by Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) on behalf of Dr. Stacy Deemar, a District 65 teacher.

The complaint points the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to numerous instances of discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, including by forcing students and teachers to participate in “privilege walks.”

Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor states, “The policies and practices to which the District allegedly subjects students and teachers shocks the conscience. Amid a dismal academic achievement record, the District appears to focus on unlawfully segregating students by race, instructing students to step forward and others to step back on the basis of race, and associating ‘Whiteness’ with the devil. If true, how is this conceivable in America today?”

Previously, OCR under President Trump already found that the school district violated Title VI for engaging in racial discrimination. But when President Biden took office, the letter was suspended. Now, with President Trump’s return to office, SLF and Dr. Deemar alerted OCR to the district’s continued race-based programming and policies.

“Ever since the wrongful withdrawal four years ago of the Department of Education’s finding that District 65’s racial segregation, equity training, discipline policy, and other racially discriminatory policies violated America’s civil rights laws, Dr. Deemar has waited patiently for the harms inflicted by the Biden Administration to be rectified,” SLF’s Kimberly Hermann stated. “For the sake of our children and our country, the time to restore equality and reclaim civil liberties is now,”