UC students are pursuing the Department of Education on Access to DOGE to financial aid data

A group from the University of California representing undergraduate students in nine campuses is continuing the American Department of Education, accusing it of illegally giving the so-called Department of Effectiveness of the Government, or DOGE, the Advisory Group Directed by Elon Musk, access to private financial assistance data.

The costume of the ASN. Was filed on Monday before the Washington, DC district court, and alleys that the education department violates the 1974 privacy law, which largely prohibited them from sharing personal information with third parties. He asked a federal judge to stop the alleged access to DOGE affiliates to students’ data.

Aditi Hariharan, president of the UC Student Assn., Declared in a press release that the students “had not agreed to share our personal information with an unclear and not approved entity.”

The costume comes as tensions increase on the future of the department, which grants billions of subsidies to school programs from kindergarten to 12th year and administers more than $ 1.5 billion of federal student loans for 43 million Americans. President Trump is committed to eliminating the Department and said this week that he wanted his candidate to the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, “is away from a job”. The confirmation hearing of the McMahon Senate is scheduled for Thursday.

On Friday, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said that he does not comment on current disputes.

The spokesperson did not answer a follow-up question to find out if DOGE members had access to the ministry or to financial information. This week’s report at the Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, said that around 20 members of the Musk team worked in the department.

A career civil servant of the Department of Education told Times on Friday that he was “widely known” that Doge had access. The person spoke anonymously because he was not allowed to speak to the media.

The possibility that private financial information is accessible by DOGE alarmed students.

“When students ask for financial assistance, they enter their social security number on a request, or agree to contract a federal loan, they trust their information will be sure,” said Hariharan, a Senior of the UC Davis specialized in political science and nutritional science. “The release of personal data from student loan borrowers is an incredible betrayal of our government.”

The National Student Legal Defense Network and the Citizen Public Litigation Group represent the student association.

“The action of defendants grants people affiliated with Doges continuous access and in progress to this information for an unspecified period of time means that millions of Americans from all horizons have no assurance that their sensitive information – and that From their parents and / or spouses – will receive the protection that the federal law offers, “said the trial, lodged against the interim education secretary Denise Carter and the ministry.

“Because the actions and decisions of the defendants are wrapped in secrecy, individuals do not even have basic information on what personal or financial defendants share with external parties or how their information is used”, a- he added.

On Friday, dozens of congresses from Congress led by members of California said that they had been excluded from the headquarters of education after presenting themselves to protest against Trump’s declared objective to close the department and the Access to DOGE told information.

The group of at least 30 representatives-including California Mark Takano (D-Riverside), Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), Luz Rivas (D-Los Angeles) and Lateefah Simon (D-Oakland)-said that They came to the building after writing to the interim education secretary to demand a meeting on Trump’s education plans.

Takano, A Democrat on the Republican-Led House Committee on Education and the WorkForce, Said in an Interview that it was “An Outrage that Billionaire Elon Musk can get his minions into the Department but that we, Members of Congress who have an oversight role , can’t.”

“Musk has never been elected to nothing, never confirmed by the Senate,” said Takano, who represents parts of the riverside county.

Asked about the legislators of the congress, the spokesman for the Department of Education said: “The demonstration was organized by members of the Congress who exercised their rights to the 1st amendment, which they are free to do. They had no planned appointments. »»

On Friday, during a press drop, Trump criticized the legislators.

“I see the same. I see Maxine Waters, a low life. I see, you know, all these people, ”he said. “They don’t like our country. They don’t like our country. We want great education, “he said before we said that he wanted education” returning to the United States “.

Asked this week if he issued an executive decree to dismantle the department, Trump said: “I think I would work with the Congress … We have to work with the teachers ‘union because the teachers’ union is the only one be opposed to that.

Democrats and some Republicans wondered if the president had the power to abolish a federal department. The Congress created the Department under President Carter and gives it federal funding via its role as credits.

There are also legal questions as to whether the president can unilaterally transfer the functions of one government branch to another, such as the move of student loans monitoring the Treasury Department or the application of civil rights to the ministry of Justice.

If the approval of the Congress is necessary to close the Department of Education, the Republicans have only close majorities in the Chamber and the Senate and a balance sheet led by Democrats in the Senate could block this decision.