Dear Editor:

Our current Secretary of Education is uniquely qualified to lead the nation in this vital area. Her 30-year tenure as president and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment has provided her with invaluable insights into teacher training, pupil services, curriculum development, and academic administration. She testified that she had once planned to be a teacher; more importantly, she had donated at least $12.2 million to Donald Trump’s PACs.

That being said, I must share with her the following concerns about new policies and requirements that she and her boss have rolled out:

“First and foremost, Secretary Linda McMahon, it is deeply troubling that you were appointed by the president to eliminate your own department. The White House is bemoaning low student-test scores; does it really make sense to slash funding and fire half your staff, when many school districts depend heavily on federal funding for low-income students and those with disabilities?

“Second, your department has been tasked since 1980 with prohibiting discrimination and guaranteeing equal access to education. How does that mandate square with Trump’s crusade against “DEI”? Aren’t DEI programs exactly suited to the mission of supporting our public education system?

“Please pardon the history lesson, but diversity strengthens every institution; equity is enshrined in our Declaration of Independence; and inclusion is a bulwark against the racial and gender discrimination that has stained our country’s past.

“My most recent concern is your Mafia-style letter, addressed to the presidents of eight elite colleges and universities. Accompanying this letter is a 10-page ‘compact' that coerces the recipients to align their institutions with Trump’s right-wing agenda. If they acquiesce and abandon their freedoms of speech and unfettered inquiry, they will have guaranteed access to ‘multiple positive benefits,’ such as federal research funding; if they refuse to concede their intellectual autonomy, they will have ‘elected to forego federal benefits.’

“Prior to Donald Trump’s assaults on their First Amendment rights, our institutions of higher education were the envy of the world. Since this hostile takeover has become your department’s new mission, Linda, maybe we would be better off without you.”

Bill Hammond

Boothbay