Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a 2024 election campaign rally in Waco, Texas, March 25, 2023. (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump said his "secret weapon" will be the "college accreditation system," which he says is called "accreditation for a reason."
"The accreditors are supposed to ensure that schools are not ripping off students and taxpayers, but they have failed totally," Trump said.
Accreditation is a third-party review process to review whether education programs meet defined standards of quality.
"When I return to the White House, I will fire the radical left, accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics," the former president continued. "We will then accept applications for new accreditors who will impose real standards on colleges once again, and once and for all."
Trump said the standards would include "defending the American tradition and Western civilization, protecting free speech, eliminating wasteful administrative positions that drive up costs, incredibly, removing all Marxist diversity, equity and inclusion bureaucrats, offering options for accelerated and low cost degrees, providing meaningful job placement and career services, and implementing college entrance and exit exams to prove that students are actually learning and getting their money's worth."
Trump also said, if elected, he would direct the Justice Department to "pursue federal civil rights cases against schools that continue to engage in racial discrimination."
Anti-Israel agitators construct an encampment on Columbia University’s campus in New York City on Monday, April 22, 2024. The university announced that all classes would be held virtually today in response to the ongoing demonstrations on campus. (Peter Gerber)
Trump’s comments came after students at Columbia University were instructed that classes had shifted to virtual or hybrid amid ongoing safety concerns stemming from the anti-Israel protests filling the campus.
"It’s crazy because that means the other side wins," Trump said Tuesday. "When you start closing down colleges and universities—that means the other side [wins.]"
"The people running Columbia have made a grave mistake," Trump said.
Law enforcement officers block a street during a protest against a draft bill on "foreign agents" in Tbilisi, Georgia April 15, 2024. (REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Columbia University’s updated guidelines, as of Tuesday morning, said all courses on the Morningside main campus have moved to hybrid learning "until the end of each school’s Spring 2024 semester."
"Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students’ learning and all the required academic operations," the school's Provost Angela Olinto wrote in a statement released early Tuesday morning. "It’s vital that teaching and learning continue during this time."
Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-hell-fire-radical-left-from-colleges-focus-on-defending-american-tradition-if-elected