Senior Higher Ed Official Out at Education Department

A top higher education aide and First Amendment advocate has left the U.S. Department of Education, a spokesman confirmed Thursday. Adam Kissel had served as deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs since June of last year.

He’d previously had stints at the Koch Foundation and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, where he headed the individual rights defense program.

Kissel in that role had been a vocal critic of “intolerance” on college campuses and of colleges that FIRE had accused of violating the free speech rights of students and faculty members.