NW Valley Times

In a statement to NW Valley Times, Joe Setyon, Senior Communications Manager for the Goldwater Institute, highlighted his firm's concerns over the Biden administration's purported targeting of Grand Canyon University (GCU) with its "unprecedented" $37 million fine over allegations that the school misinformed PhD students about coursework requirements. Goldwater contends that the government's claims are not only unsubstantiated but politically motivated. 

Setyon said the reasons behind the federal government’s actions “can be found in a new op-ed that Goldwater attorneys Jon Riches and Stacy Skankey penned for Fox News this morning.” 

He added, “we are awaiting a response of pleading from the Department of Education” in regard to the Department of Education refusing to release public records on the topic.

In the op-ed, Riches and Skankey discuss what they believe is the true motive behind Education Department Secretary Miguel Cardona's pledge to congress that he will "shut down the university." Goldwater attorneys maintain that government action against the university isn't due to misconduct but rather the government's "animus toward private, affordable education that does not tow the statist party line."  

The Goldwater Institute noted that the administration's punitive measures remain unexplained and cited heavily redacted documents it received through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for communications between federal agencies, raising suspicions about the true nature of the government's actions due to its reluctance to disclose pertinent details surrounding the case.

In February, Goldwater announced its lawsuit against the Biden administration to uncover the reasoning behind the enormous fine against GCU. 

The "largest fine of its kind" ever assessed by the Department of Education, according to Goldwater, is based on the Department's allegations that the university "insufficiently informed PhD students that they may have to take continuing courses while completing their doctoral dissertations. Though the government makes broad claims against the university, the federal government did not cite any student’s complaints, nor did Education Department personnel even visit GCU as part of their purported “investigation.”"

While GCU's accrediting body and the Arizona State Approving Agency did not substantiate the government's findings, Cardona continues to assert allegations of misleading students about program costs, which critics say is "pretextual deceit." 

GCU, known for its success in providing affordable education and aiding low-income communities, has faced a barrage of federal scrutiny, leading to concerns about politically motivated targeting. 

Arizona's education department is vocally opposing the U.S. Department of Education's threat to shut down GCU, denouncing it as "harassment" by the federal government. 

Despite audits by state entities affirming GCU's practices, the Biden administration's actions are perceived as ideologically driven by GCU President Brian Mueller, who anticipates the case reaching the Supreme Court. 

"We are very, very universally loved and respected in the state of Arizona on both sides of the aisle," Mueller told Fox News Digital. "This thing is absolutely not political for us. There's a small group of people in Washington, D.C., in the Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission, but none of the allegations that they're lobbing are corroborated any place else."

State Superintendent Tom Horne criticized the move, emphasizing the school's right to due process and presumption of innocence. 

“The federal government’s decision to attack GCU is not an enforcement decision, it is a political one,” Riches and Skankey said in their op-ed.