Last week, the U.S. education system was upended — and it all began with a scoop from Jake Offenhartz.
The week prior, Offenhartz had contacted attorney Amy Greer for a story about Columbia University’s disciplinary actions against student protesters. On Sunday, an unsigned statement circulated among reporters, claiming that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia and a leader in last spring’s pro-Palestinian protests.
Greer, who happened to be Khalil’s attorney, confirmed the arrest to Offenhartz — the only reporter she spoke with that day. Until her law firm issued a public statement hours later, the rest of the media industry cited AP’s exclusive.
As precedent-breaking events continued at Columbia, the Trump administration began dismantling the Department of Education.
Education writer Collin Binkley, who had been developing sources inside and outside the department, used those connections Tuesday to break news on how few civil rights cases the department had resolved. The scoop came after the agency delayed fulfilling an AP records request on the topic.
The next day, following a tip, Binkley reported that the FAFSA form was down on the Federal Student Aid website. Working with education writer Jocelyn Gecker, the pair navigated AP’s source network to confirm the outage — making AP the only outlet to report it.
Throughout the week, Offenhartz and Binkley consistently delivered breaking news on a high-stakes, fast-moving story. Their exceptional source development and timely reporting left many other outlets citing the AP.
For their exclusive scoops and extensive, impactful reporting, Jake Offenhartz and Collin Binkley win this week’s Best of AP — First Winner.
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