The Education Department placed a number of employees across its offices on administrative leave on Friday, part of a wave of what staff members and union representatives say are dozens of suspensions at the agency in the Trump administration’s purge of diversity efforts.

Dozens of employees at the Education Department were placed on paid administrative leave Friday as part of the Trump administration’s larger effort to rid the federal workforce of employees associated with diversity,

Advocates for victims of sexual violence said the decision would put students at greater risk of harassment while conservative lawmakers and advocates applauded the move, arguing it would make students safer.

Employees of the Department of Education who participated in a diversity training program under the first Trump administration were placed on administrative leave on Friday evening, according to a report.

Federal employees at the Education Department could be placed on administrative leave for previously attending a diversity training. Several employees began receiving leave notices late Friday and reported them to their local union president at the American Federation of Government Employees,