Who Is Kimberly Richey, the Nominee to Lead OCR?

President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is no stranger to Washington: She’s worked in the department twice before, under George W. Bush and during Trump’s first term, and served as acting assistant secretary of OCR from August 2020 until November 2021. But she was still an unexpected pick for assistant secretary of the office and is relatively unknown in the higher education world. Her nomination comes at a uniquely fraught time for the office. OCR officials spent much of the past year fielding a spate of reports of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian discrimination but have reportedly pivoted in recent weeks to address some of Trump’s key priorities, including alleged discrimination against white students.