The Trump administration picked a former private university official to head the Department of Education student loan fraud unit - which was created because of the bad behavior of the same private university.

DeVry University last year agreed to pay US$100 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit alleging that the school lied to potential students with ads about its post-graduation success rates.  Then-President Barack Obama created the Student Aid Enforcement Unit to deal with such fraud.

Julian Schmoke Jr. was an associate dean at DeVry from 2008 to 2012, when he left his post as the university's Associate Program Dean for the College of Engineering and Information Sciences.  It's not clear if Schmoke was in any way involved in DeVry's promising students more than the school could deliver - but the optics are just awful.

"This is like the fox guarding the hen house," said Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois. 

"Students deserve an experienced, qualified investigator looking out for their best interests - not a for-profit college shill with no consumer protection experience," said Senator Sherrod Brown, who is joining Durbin in urging Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to pick an enforcement chief who had expertise in enforcement.

"This individual must be well-qualified to serve in this critical role, and they must be politically independent and insulated from the rest of the department’s leadership," the Senators wrote in a letter co-signed by Democratic colleagues, Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Patty Murray of Washington.  "They must also have relevant experience in consumer protection or litigation, managing attorneys, and conducting investigations with the highest ethical standards."

DeVos had no education experience herself when Donald Trump nominated her to helm the Department of Education.  The sister of notorious mercenary Erik Prince of Blackwater fame, DeVos married into the conservative activist family that controls the AmWay brand of direct marketed household products, and has long pursued privatizing US education at all levels.

Before infesting the White House, Donald Trump ran a for-profit school, the now-defunct Trump University, and paid US$25 million to settle a class-action suit that alleged fraud at the operation.