Project 2025 is a “ presidential transition project,” according to the Project 2025 website. The book Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise is an over 800-page manuscript that is the centerpiece of Project 2025 and includes many plans for the future of the government.
The manuscript contains many prolific plans organized around the central idea to “take down the Deep State and return the government to the people.”
While Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump claims he knows nothing about Project 2025, Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris is warning the nation about the potential impacts of the project.
In Harris’s debate on Sept. 10, she stated, “What you’re going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called Project 2025 that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected to again.”
The Trump campaign did not draft Project 2025, but Trump’s allies and former Trump officials are involved in the policy proposals.
Senior Hannah Robertson is concerned about Project 2025’s potential impacts, particularly on the Department of Education.
“Education and gender identity … are covered within [Project 2025], as the document calls for dismantling the Department of Education,” says Robertson. “That would mean that the states get the power of what goes on in school. Parents and public school officials would have more control over what is taught.”
One example Robertson cited was Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters directing all public schools in Oklahoma to teach the Bible, including the Ten Commandments.
While some conservatives are trying to put books into schools, others are trying to take books out of schools through book bans. “Overwhelmingly, book banners continue to target stories by and about people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals,” states PEN America.
Robertson says she is frustrated by censorship within schools, such as book bans.
“I believe that most of the issues in America are caused by misinformation and a lack of education,” said Robertson. “When Project 2025 censors important topics of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and doesn’t emphasize non-white history or stories, it will limit valuable education in schools and start a deadly loop of misinformation.”
Project 2025’s Department of Education section also states, “Critical race theory … disrupts America’s Founding ideals of freedom and opportunity … Critical race theory is used as part of school activities such as mandatory affinity groups [and] teacher training programs in which educators are required to confess their privilege.”
Lincoln junior Riley Debose is a member of Sisters of Color and Black Student Union. She believes that teaching classes about slavery and critical race is very important because it is a part of American history.
“Sisters of Color is a space of comfort for students like me. It is [a] safe space in predominantly white schools and taking that away is so wrong. When I joined these groups, I felt very connected to my identity,” said Debose.
In the section of Project 2025 focused on The Department of Education, Lindsey M. Burke the Director of the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, states that, “No public education employee or contractor shall use a name to address a student other than the name listed on a student’s birth certificate, without the written permission of a student’s parents or guardians.”
When she read this quote, junior Jane Maletic felt immediately disgusted. She believes that students who are transgender can often be in situations where their families are not accepting of their identity. She claims that schools are often a safe space for these students.
“I think that a lot of students who are transgender are not going to be comfortable within schools if this project gets implemented,” said Maletic.
Junior Leah Almeida agrees with Maletic.
“I think that when we take away important safe spaces in school, students no longer feel comfortable sharing things with their teachers and staff,” said Almeida.
