The Biden administration is preparing to revoke a Trump-era religious protection for university students, calling the rule “unduly burdensome.”
The Department of Education announced Tuesday that it is proposing to rescind the religious freedom section of the 2019 executive order “Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability at Colleges and Universities,” which requires federal departments to ensure that colleges receiving federal grants “promote free inquiry” consistent with the First Amendment.
If the Education Department revokes the rule, the agency will delegate cases of religious discrimination by universities to the courts, rather than threaten to pull grants from the institutions of higher education.
The executive order “caused confusion about schools’ nondiscrimination requirements” and is “unduly burdensome” for the department, said Nassar Paydar, assistant secretary for postsecondary educat …