Nine weeks into his second term, President Donald Trump has signed over 100 executive orders. Last Thursday, one of four executive orders signed included an order to start the process of dismantling the Department of Education.

The Education Department was created through a congressional act in 1979, under former President Jimmy Carter.

Ann Vendrely, vice president for academic affairs and academic dean, said, “The president’s executive order was expected and is not legally binding. Any changes to the function of the Department of Education require congressional action, so we will watch to see what action they agree to do.”

Vendrely and Steve Wolma, vice president of enrollment management, have both been closely monitoring actions of the federal government and how they might affect Goshen College.

The Federal Student Aid office currently falls under the Department of Education, and it is unclear where this responsibility will be moved. “It is important to note that student financial aid has been put in place by Congressional statutes. Even if the Department of Education is ultimately dismantled, those statutory student financial aid programs will not go away,” said Wolma. “It will take an act of Congress to both dismantle the Department of Education in its entirety and to reallocate the administration of statutory federal student aid programs.”

He emphasized that these recent executive orders will not prevent students from receiving the financial aid they depend on, regardless of what happens to the Department of Education.

However, Wolma also said that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid was down for a few hours after mass layoffs the previous week. “We’re bracing for potential challenges with functionality, but it does sound like the federal government is committed to trying to address some of the basic things involved financial aid that all of the students depend on,” he said.

The other main concern is grants that are federally regulated. Some of the main grants that GC currently has are the Economic Development Association grant, that helped fund the Westlawn renovation, the Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions grant, two grants for global studies and a campus grant through the Office on Violence Against Women under the Department of Justice.

Emily Hahn, program director for sexual assault prevention education and advocacy, said that the DOJ grant is on a three-year cycle, which we are currently in the third year of. “[It’s designed] to essentially increase the capacity of colleges and universities to be better at preventing and responding to instances of sexual assault, dating and domestic violence and stalking,” Hahn said. “We’ve grown that capacity quite a bit from this grant for the last couple of years.”

Currently, the grant is being used to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of GC’s prevention and response approaches and is working to improve them moving forward. Hahn said the college plans to apply for a continuation of the grant, but it is not guaranteed that they will get it again.

Since her position and program are fully grant-funded, all the work Hahn does has to be approved by the Office on Violence Against Women or the DOJ. “Since the executive orders have gone out, the scope of what we’re able to do, or the people that we are allowed to talk about or address has been limited.”

“About a month and a half ago, … [I] created a training that looked at, you know, the unique dynamics and barriers of different populations, including male survivors, BIPOC individuals, LGBTQ+ individuals and even student athletes,” Hahn said. “That training did not get approved because it said that anything talking about those topics is on pause.”

One of the major projects done under this grant was creating a bystander curriculum specific to GC. It launched in August of 2024, with students from Prevention Intervention Network presenting in the first-year class: Identity, Culture and Community.

Hahn said, “That has actually been a really cool opportunity — through this grant, we’ve had a lot of national experts helping us develop this and refine it.” She also said that in April, faculty and staff are going to do a version of that curriculum for the first time. “That’s been a huge lift and a huge win for us.”

“With or without continued funding, there are good, committed people doing this work,” Hahn said. “What it looks like as far as, you know, prevention, and advocacy work, it might have to shift because that’s the reality.”

“We don’t need to just accept that for what it is, we can continue to do good work and we can continue to push back and advocate for the things that we believe in.”

Gilberto Pérez Jr., vice president for student life and Hispanic serving initiatives and dean of students, said the Developing HSI grant totals almost $3 million over five years. This grant has so far been used to bring in new staff, for faculty training and to increase the support and resources available for students’ academic and basic needs.  

While he is not immediately concerned that the intended dismantling of the Department of Education will have a huge effect on HSIs, GC has been doing HSI work for decades, and is in it for the long haul.

“We remain steady,” Pérez Jr. said. “We remain focused on providing support for [students] until we’re told that that money goes away, and then we will still continue to support students in the way that we have done.”

Vendrely also said, “The [college] administration’s paying attention and we’re trying to do what we can to be proactive where we can and be prepared where we can. … We want to stay true to the mission of the institution and the values that we have — hard as it may be.”