As the White House promotes First Lady Melania Trump’s anti-bullying campaign for its “Week of Inclusion” event, Democrats are calling for more policy details on the administration’s anti-bullying measures in a new letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
On Wednesday, nine Democratic senators sent a letter to DeVos asking her department “to outline its plan to address the rise of discrimination and harassment in our schools,” Education Week reports.
The letter voices concern that President Donald Trump’s comments and behavior have “fostered discrimination, enabled bullies, and threatened the safety of students” and lists policy issues for DeVos to address by November 8th. The senators cite a BuzzFeed news report confirming 154 instances of hate speech at 120 colleges since the 2016 election; more than a third of these incidents mentioned Donald Trump’s name or slogans.
The letter comes two days after Melania Trump, accompanied by DeVos, gave a surprise speech in Michigan to bring attention to her national “No One Eats Alone” anti-bullying campaign. Her statements drew scrutiny because some said their call for “kindness and compassion” contrasted with bullying tweets and comments from her husband.
