Sarah Brown

‘A Robust Victory’: Federal Judge Says Harvard Should Have Billions of Research Dollars Restored The judge, Allison D. Burroughs, ruled that the Trump administration’s explanation for canceling the grants — that Harvard had done too little to respond to antisemitism — rang hollow.

www.chronicle.com/article/a-ro...

Breaking News: Harvard/AAUP win summary judgment in federal district court

GMU President Refuses to Apologize for Diversity Efforts, Lawyer Calls Ed. Dept. Claims ‘Absurd’ In a 10-page letter, Gregory Washington’s lawyer says the Trump administration conducted an incomplete and haphazard investigation full of “gross mischaracterizations.”

First on @chronicle.com: George Mason University's president just refused the Trump administration's demand to deliver a "personal apology" for supporting diversity efforts in hiring.

🙃🙃🙃

Most texts between me and my husband these days are just one of us saying "Schwarrrr..." and the other one replying "💣" #Phillies #MVP

Gender Data Would Be Off-Limits Under Proposed NIH Policy A draft rule would bar scientists funded by the agency from collecting data about gender identity, following other steps the administration has taken to restrict research on LGBT topics.

SCOOP: The NIH is moving to prohibit funded scientists, inside and outside the agency, from collecting data about gender, according to a draft policy I obtained. It’s part of the NIH’s aggressive crackdown on gender-identity research. www.chronicle.com/article/gend...

Columbia’s Deal With Trump Stokes Fears of Federal Admissions Audits The university will hand over new details about the prospective students it admits and rejects. Is it laying the groundwork for more-aggressive government intervention?

Everyone wants to see the numbers — how selective colleges choose their classes.

How they make sense of those numbers (especially now that the Trump administration is among those parties) could have major implications for higher ed.

TRiO Delivers. Will Congress? UMSV Wins $1.7M SSS/TRiO Grant Renewal—But National Funding Cuts Could Threaten TRiO’s Future

At least some funding for federal TRIO programs — which support low-income students — is being awarded as planned this summer, per campus announcements. Hundreds of colleges rely on TRIO grants.

(In the long run, though, Trump has proposed eliminating TRIO and dismantling ED, which administers it.)

U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services Notify Harvard University’s Accreditor of Harvard’s Title VI Violation The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights today notified the New England Commission of Higher E...

THREAD:

1/ FWIW, @usedgov.bsky.social has sent a notice to @harvard.edu 's institutional accreditor, the New England Commission of Higher Education, alleging the university had violated Title VI and may be in violation of accreditation standards

www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

A 4/4 Teaching Load Becomes Law at Most of Wisconsin’s Public Universities The mandate, included in the state’s new budget, applies to full-time faculty across the University of Wisconsin system — except at the two R1 universities, where professors must carry 2/2 loads.

Wisconsin just made 4/4 teaching loads the law for all full-time faculty members at the state's public universities (except the university system's two research universities, where everyone must teach a 2/2 load)

University of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration The sudden move followed a reported demand by federal officials that James Ryan step down to resolve a Department of Justice investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion on the campus.

Updated Chronicle story on UVa President Jim Ryan's resignation:

"Faculty members at every university should be worried that the federal government believes it has the right to decide who their leader should be."

Is DEI Truly Dead at UVa? The university’s board has ordered a sweeping walkback of ambitious diversity programs. But conservative critics say DEI lives on — and they’re pushing to oust President James E. Ryan.

This is an important quote from our story on how UVa and its president ended up in the crosshairs of the Justice Department:

"Neither Trump’s Office of Civil Rights, the Youngkin administration, nor the Board of Visitors has defined DEI — the thing that they want to get rid of."

Trump's far-reaching guidance (currently blocked) offered the interpretation that colleges can't use race "in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring...financial aid...administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life."

Colleges have been wrestling for months with what to do about their diversity-related efforts amid federal and state pressures.

Part of why Trump's crusade against DEI has been so successful — i.e. led to preemptive compliance — is because his administration hasn't defined it.

UVa eliminated its central diversity office and moved staff to other roles back in March.

But per the Chronicle's reporting last month, the Justice Department latched onto the idea (promoted by a small alumni group and then others) that President Jim Ryan hadn't done enough to root out "DEI."

I clearly erred, I apologize

UVa president's full statement is here:

Jim Ryan's statement, continued: "To do so would not only be quixotic but appear selfish and self-centered to the hundreds of employees who would lose their jobs, the researchers who would lose their funding, and the hundreds of students who could lose financial aid or have their visas withheld."

UVa President Jim Ryan has just released his statement on his decision to resign.

"To make a long story short, I am inclined to fight for what I believe in, and I believe deeply in this University. But I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job."

Full transparency, I deleted a thread about the feds pushing out college presidents in the past due to alleged/substantiated wrongdoing. Of course we at the Chronicle are covering the UVa story as the unprecedented and big deal that it is.

Michigan State University provost abruptly resigns in wake of Nassar report June Youatt, Michigan State University's No. 2 official, resigned in the wake of a federal report that criticized her oversight of William Strampel.

Trump's Education Department singled out the provost at Michigan State, saying she mishandled sexual harassment complaints involving a dean. (That dean also happened to be the supervisor of Larry Nassar, who sexually abused hundreds of women and girls.) The provost resigned.

President of City College Quits Abruptly Amid Scrutiny of Her Finances (Published 2016)

Obama's Justice Department started scrutinizing the president of City College of New York after a New York Times story found that she had used college funds for personal expenses. She didn't last long after that.

University of Phoenix president resigns suddenly (and quietly) amid federal inquiry The president of the University of Phoenix left just months into the job following an Education Department inquiry into his time with Westwood College.

Biden's Education Department started investigating the University of Phoenix's president, focusing on his tenure at a previous for-profit institution. He resigned shortly after that.

University of Virginia President Reportedly Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration The sudden move followed a reported demand by federal officials that James E. Ryan resign in order to resolve a Department of Justice investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion on the campus.

The Trump administration said the departure of James E. Ryan, UVa's president, was necessary to resolve a federal investigation into the university's DEI programs. By @shenandoahkate.bsky.social:

I'm taking off a couple days to hike with my significant other, who has spent the past five weeks completing the New Mexico section of the Continental Divide Trail, and I'm really enjoying telling colleagues who ask what I'm doing that "I have to go find my husband in the woods"

Santa Ono Wanted a Presidency. He Became a Pariah. The former University of Michigan leader’s failed move to Florida has taken on unmistakable political significance for higher education.

Happy Friday, must-read dose of Chronicle narrative journalism coming right up

The Bloomberg story quotes the Education Department's news release pointing out that the accreditor has to take "appropriate action." That is true.

However, the next line of the story talks about how serious the revoking of accreditation would be. There is NO WAY that "action" would be revocation.

Just to be clear 1) Columbia has not lost its accreditation 2) the federal government cannot pull Columbia's accreditation, that's not how it works

Statewide Board Rejects Santa Ono’s Bid to Become U. of Florida President The State University System of Florida’s Board of Governors voted down the former University of Michigan president’s appointment Tuesday, ending a bid that came to resemble a political campaign.

BREAKING: Florida's statewide governing board for public colleges has ***rejected*** Santa Ono's confirmation as University of Florida president. www.chronicle.com/article/stat...

Helene’s Unheard Warnings As Hurricane Helene barreled toward Yancey County in North Carolina, communities along the Cane River in the Black Mountains were particularly vulnerable. But there were no evacuation orders, and few ...

This is so important to read, but get your tissues out. Masterful storytelling about three families on the same North Carolina mountain and what happened to them during Hurricane Helene.

(Yet again, obligatory comment that I'm so stinkin proud of our interns. Hire Maya!)