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Oregon's U.S. senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden signed onto a letter June 27 criticizing U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for her refusal to commit to enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws in public schools, especially laws meant to protect LGBT students.
The senators joined a group of 34 lawmakers demanding the Department of Education release a set of documents that will show the current status of discrimination and sexual assault and harassment cases handled by the department's Office of Civil Rights.
"There is no more serious responsibility of the Department than to ensure consistent, vigorous enforcement of civil rights laws and protections for all students," the letter said.
The group of senators seeks the documents in order to gauge the impact of recent policy decisions DeVos made to drop several discrimination cases and revoke federal guidance on how to address discrimination against transgender students.
DeVos has refused to respond to previous letters sent to her office by senators criticizing her stances on civil rights enforcement.
