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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 7 July 2017

19 AGs sue DeVos on for-profit college rules Of ‘severe things,’ US military

By COLLIN BINKLEY tions ... to make sure these ers. “For me and my col- strike on North Korea unlikely
Associated Press rules achieve their purpose: leagues, it’s simple: When
Democratic attorneys gen- helping harmed students,” students and families are By ROBERT BURNS
eral from 18 states and Hill said in a statement. cheated out of an educa- AP National Security Writer
the District of Columbia The rules would have for- tion and taxpayers foot the WASHINGTON (AP) — A pre-emptive military strike may
sued U.S. Education Secre- bidden schools from forc- bill, everybody loses.” be among the “pretty severe things” President Donald
tary Betsy DeVos on Thurs- ing students to sign agree- The lawsuit says DeVos Trump says he is considering for North Korea, but it’s
day over her decision to ments that waive their and the Education De- a step so fraught with risk that it ranks as among the
suspend rules that were right to sue. Defrauded partment failed to take unlikeliest options.
Even a so-called surgical strike aimed at the North’s
partially hidden nuclear and missile force is unlikely to
destroy the arsenal or stop its leader, Kim Jong Un, from
swiftly retaliating with long-range artillery that could kill
stunning numbers in South Korea within minutes.
An all-out conflict could then ensue. And while Trump’s
Pentagon chief, Jim Mattis, says the U.S. would prevail,
he believes it would be “a catastrophic war.”
In Poland on Thursday, Trump said the time has arrived
to confront North Korea.
“I don’t like to talk about what I have planned, but
I have some pretty severe things that we’re thinking
about,” the president said. “That doesn’t mean we’re
going to do them.”
Trump didn’t mention which “severe” options he is
weighing following North Korea’s July 4 test-launch of
an intercontinental ballistic missile. The administration
has been reviewing its overall North Korea policy for
months, having declared earlier attempts at “strategic
patience” with the North to have failed. The adminis-
tration has spoken about starving North Korea of cash
for its nuclear program and getting other countries to
add diplomatic and economic pressure.
But Trump and his aides have not have ruled out the
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democratic attorneys possibility of war with an adversary that is openly defy-
general in 18 states and the District of Columbia are suing DeVos over her decision to suspend ing U.N. Security Council resolutions and threatening
rules meant to protect students from abuses by for-profit colleges. The lawsuit was filed Thursday,
July 6, 2017, in federal court in Washington and demands implementation of borrower defense to the United States.
repayment rules. “It’s a shame that they’re behaving this way,” Trump
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh) said, “but they are behaving in a very, very dangerous
manner and something will have to be done about it.”
meant to protect students students would have faced legally required steps to Trump was referring to North Korea’s test-launch Tues-
from abuse by for-profit a quicker path to get their delay already established day of an unarmed ballistic missile that for the first time
colleges. loans erased, and schools, rules. It says they failed to demonstrated the range needed to reach U.S. soil.
The lawsuit, filed in federal not taxpayers, could have open the decision to pub- The ICBM was launched on a lofted trajectory so that
court in Washington, says been held responsible for lic comment and failed to it fell short of Japan. U.S. analysts calculated that if it
DeVos violated rule-making the costs. provide an adequate legal is launched on a standard attack trajectory, the mis-
laws when she announced A final version of the rules justification for delaying the sile could reach Alaska. With further testing, they say,
a June 14 decision to de- was announced last fall rules, among other faults. North Korea will achieve even longer ranges.
lay so-called borrower de- after nearly two years of In June, the Education De- The missile launch created a new reality for the U.S.
fense to repayment rules, negotiations. The Obama partment said it was de- and its South Korean and Japanese allies, which al-
which were finalized under administration started pur- laying the rule because a ready are in range of the North’s missiles. With a popu-
President Barack Obama suing new rules after the federal court was weighing lation of more than 20 million, Seoul is in easy range
and scheduled to take ef- Corinthian Colleges chain a lawsuit brought by a Cali- of North Korea’s massive array of artillery guns north
fect July 1. shut down in 2015 amid al- fornia trade group made of the Demilitarized Zone that forms a buffer between
In her announcement say- legations of misconduct, up mostly of for-profit col- North and South. Japan could also be a target. Be-
ing the rules would be de- leading to a flood of ap- leges seeking to block the yond the nuclear threat, the North also is believed to
layed and rewritten, DeVos plications from students rules. The department cited have chemical and biological weapons.
said they created “a mud- seeking to get their loans a law allowing such a de- The U.S. has about 28,000 troops in South Korea, and
dled process that’s unfair forgiven. lay for litigation if it’s found Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
to students and schools.” Massachusetts Attorney “that justice so requires.” of Staff, says about 300,000 U.S. citizens are in Seoul
Education Department General Maura Healey, The attorneys general said alone. Dunford predicted in June 12 that war casual-
spokeswoman Elizabeth who is leading the lawsuit that justification is “a mere ties would be heavy — “and many of those casual-
Hill called the lawsuit by at- against DeVos, said the pretext” for repealing and ties will be in the first three, five, seven days of the war
torneys generals “ideologi- regulation was a “com- replacing the regulation. where all those people in the greater Seoul area (are)
cally driven” and said the mon-sense measure” The other states that joined exposed to the North Korean threat that we will not be
now-delayed rules suffered meant to protect students. the lawsuit are California, able to mitigate initially.”
from “substantive and pro- “Since Day One of the Connecticut, Delaware, Mattis told a House committee last month that if it
cedural flaws” that need to Trump administration, Sec- Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Mary- came to a fight, the U.S. and its allies would prevail,
be addressed. retary of Education Betsy land, Minnesota, New Mex- but at a cost that is difficult to imagine.
“That is why the Secre- DeVos and the adminis- ico, New York, North Caro- “It will be a war more serious in terms of human suf-
tary decided it was time tration have sided with lina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, fering than anything we’ve seen since 1953,” he said,
to take a step back and for-profit schools over stu- Rhode Island, Vermont, Vir- referring to the final year of the Korean War. q
hit pause on these regula- dents,” Healey told report- ginia and Washington. q