Megan Zahneis

Brown U.'s President Declines Trump’s Compact, Saying It Would ‘Undermine’ the Institution Agreeing to commit to the document “would restrict academic freedom and undermine the autonomy of Brown’s governance,” Christina H. Paxson said in a letter Wednesday.

Brown becomes the second of nine initial invitees to decline the Trump administration's #HigherEd compact, joining MIT. This comes several months after it struck a deal with the feds to restore research funding and resolve OCR investigations. @shenandoahkate.bsky.social has the story @chronicle.com.

Dartmouth’s President Balks at Trump Compact, Sources Say, as Feds Expand Offer to ‘Any Institution’ Sian Leah Beilock has told faculty members she won’t sign the document as written. Meanwhile, the White House’s broader proposal has shifted discussion about the deal.

My latest with @mzahneis.bsky.social: Dartmouth is close to saying "no" to the current compact, I learned. The decision comes as gov. officials are circulating that the compact is open to all, in what higher-ed advocates call a test of the sector's collective will: www.chronicle.com/article/dart...

Trump Welcomes ‘Any Institution’ to Sign Onto Compact Outlining His Priorities An administration source told The Chronicle that “any institution that wants to adopt these principles” could sign onto the document, which offers a purported edge in grant funding.

Breaking: Trump's higher-ed compact is open to all, I confirmed for @chronicle.com: www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-tr...

“We welcome any institution that wants to adopt these principles to sign the compact,” a source told me.

Interesting tidbits in my ace colleague @mzahneis.bsky.social's latest piece on Bill Johnson, Youngstown State University's leader and a Trump-supporting ex-congressman:

He said he quickly got up to speed on higher ed by attending the Harvard Seminar for New Presidents.

The White House’s New ‘Compact’ Would Offer Universities an Edge in Grant Funding. What’s In It? We’ve seen what the Trump administration’s stick looks like. Let’s look at its carrot.

So what's in Trump's "Compact for Academic Excellence in #HigherEd"? Everything from how institutions admit students and foster viewpoint diversity to how they fight grade inflation and how many foreign students they can enroll. Our @chronicle.com team breaks it down. #AcademicSky

Students and Scholars Faced Deportation for Pro-Palestinian Activism. A Judge Says That Was Illegal. Judge William G. Young ruled that international students and other noncitizens “unequivocally” have the same free-speech rights as Americans.

Breaking from @karinfischer.bsky.social @chronicle.com: A federal judge hands the AAUP a major victory in a lawsuit against the Trump administration, calling the case “perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court.” #HigherEd #AcademicSky

Doctoral Programs Were Already Under Strain. Things May Be Getting Worse. Some signs point to smaller-than-usual cohorts and paused programs in the next academic year.

After a chaotic spring of admissions pauses, some graduate programs are now welcoming smaller-than-usual cohorts (or no cohorts at all) to campus. So I took stock of the grad-admissions picture for fall 2026, and found reason to expect more of the same. #HigherEd #AcademicSky #PhDSky

Employees and Students at These Colleges Have Been Punished for Comments on Charlie Kirk’s Death Republican politicians have been pressuring institutions to take action against those who criticized the conservative activist after he was shot and killed last week.

Since Charlie Kirk’s murder on Sept. 10, higher education has come under intense scrutiny due to the reactions of faculty, staff, and students.

‘Overwhelming and Indescribable’: A Utah University Tries to Process the Killing of Charlie Kirk The fatal shooting of the prominent right-wing youth activist has left Utah Valley University, and its student body, questioning the future of civil discourse and student safety on campus.

Meanwhile, Ellie Davis and Claire Murphy sought out on-the-ground perspectives from Utah Valley University. “The shock hit everyone all at once and it just went dead silent. And then the chaos happened," said one student who was in the crowd.

The Meaning of Charlie Kirk Podcast Episode · College Matters from The Chronicle · 09/11/2025 · 27m

Details on Charlie Kirk's suspected shooter are emerging, but there's still much unknown about what the Kirk killing will mean for #HigherEd and the nation. @chronicle.com's @jackstripling.bsky.social and @ngluckman.bsky.social have some analysis in a quick-turn episode of our podcast.

Charlie Kirk’s Killing Silences a Conservative Voice. His Movement May Grow Louder. The founder of Turning Point USA was shot at a campus speaking event, injecting urgency and solemnity into a broader debate about political intolerance in higher education.

"Embodied by Kirk...and reinforced by Trump’s electoral victories, the Turning Point mode has come to influence the nation’s politics in ways that few might have foreseen a dozen years ago. Nowhere is this more true than in #HigherEd."
- @ngluckman.bsky.social and @jackstripling.bsky.social

How Professors Make Ends Meet Seven faculty members describe what their economic lives look like.

Last year, when this tool made its debut, it was accompanied by a series in which @adriennelu.bsky.social and I talked to instructors across the country about their finances. As one told me then: "In terms of real dollars and purchasing power, I make less money now than I did when I started.”

How Far Does Your Pay Go? The average salary of an instructional faculty member is $92,823. But how far that salary goes can vary depending on where you teach and where you live. The Chronicle looked at how the salaries of ins...

The data wizards @chronicle.com recently updated our faculty-pay transparency tool to draw on 2025 data. Worth checking out to see how #HigherEd salaries are mediated by local cost of living.

Harvard Got a Big Win. Here Are 4 Key Quotes. The excerpts signal how one court reacted to the Trump administration’s strategy for overhauling the university’s policies — a playbook that’s been used nationwide.

@erickelderman.bsky.social breaks down the key points in yesterday's summary-judgment victory for Harvard, in which a federal judge rejected the government's claims of antisemitism as "a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities." #HigherEd

To sum up the judge's ruling:
- The Trump administration's freezing of Harvard funds on or after 4/14 is arbitrary and capricious, and is set aside. It also violated the First Amendment.
- The administration is also forbidden from implementing any freeze or termination of Harvard federal funding

"As public universities that receive funding from the American people to conduct research on behalf of American people, I think we all feel an obligation to show that there’s a tangible benefit in that investment," one of the creators of the Big Ten's new ad told @chronicle.com.

It’s Not a ‘Mutual-Defense Compact.’ But a New Ad From 18 Universities Aims to Send a Message. The Big Ten’s member institutions have collaborated on a 30-second TV spot that will air during conference football games and other sporting events.

The #HigherEd mutual-defense compact movement didn't gain traction with admininstrators this spring. But now, Big 10 universities are airing a TV ad that promotes unity among their ranks. Sarah Huddleston has the story @chronicle.com. #AcademicSky

Making Your Research Free May Cost You Under a new requirement that NIH-funded research be freely, immediately available, some journals are forcing researchers to pay to publish.

NEW: The NIH just started requiring NIH-funded research to be made freely, immediately available. In response, some journals are forcing scientists to pay thousands in open-access fees to publish.

The result: chaos. The fees, one scholar says, are “out of control.” www.chronicle.com/article/maki...

Will the Supreme Court’s Ruling on Research Grants Sink Harvard’s Lawsuit Against Trump? The court has created a major hurdle for colleges seeking to preserve research grants that have been canceled by the Trump administration, including Harvard University.

www.chronicle.com/article/will...

“All of this is leading to fears that the Supreme Court is finding ways to do the bidding of the administration instead of being the independent safeguard that it was put in place to be.”

State by State, Republicans Rein in Faculty Senates Republican politicians say that professors are using governance bodies to advance ideological agendas. Faculty leaders fear they’re being written out of decision-making.

I've been away from the faculty governance beat, but @chronicle.com Sarah Huddleston has deftly taken up the mantle with this story on Republican influence on senate bodies. As one TX state senator told her: “The faculty senate is not the TX senate. It’s not a legislative body. Stop acting like it.”

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.”

@jasperjsmith.bsky.social and @katiemangan.bsky.social have been all over the George Mason U. DOJ investigations since they began. Today they broke some news @chronicle.com: GMU president Gregory Washington is digging his heels in and won't be apologizing for DEI work. #HigherEd #AcademicSky

‘I Think It’s Gone': Hundreds of NIH Grant Terminations Can Proceed, Supreme Court Says <i>The Chronicle</i> is tracking executive orders, statements from Trump, and agency actions that affect higher education, plus legal challenges directed at those measures. Here’s the latest.

Of yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, which allows hundreds of NIH grant terminations to proceed, @scott-delaney.bsky.social says: “I see no viable, no reasonably likely scenario where that research comes back. I think it’s gone.”

www.chronicle.com/article/trac...

Two Chancellors Push Back Against Claims They’re Dividing the Sector Amid Trump Threats They argue that this is a moment of structural change for higher ed’s relationship with the government.

NEW @chronicle.com: I sat down with the chancellors of Vanderbilt and WashU to talk about how they believe #HigherEd should respond to Trumpism, and the pushback that stance has gotten from their peers. #AcademicSky

Navigating Uncertainty Under Trump Join us for a series of webinars in the coming weeks to examine major challenges colleges face as the Trump administration tries to transform higher education.

Join @stephaniemlee.bsky.social and I today at 1 p.m. ET as we guest-star on the @rseltzer.bsky.social and @brownepoints.bsky.social show and provide an update on the #HigherEd research landscape. @chronicle.com #AcademicSky connect.chronicle.com/trump-webina...

The Ivy League’s Faculty Rebellion As financial and political pressures mount, professors are getting organized. But do they have influence?

the latest from @franciediep.bsky.social and I

www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

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...

Tracking Trump’s Higher-Ed Deals Colleges are reaching settlements with the government to restore research funding. Here’s everything you need to know.

@chronicle.com has a new tracker collecting details on which colleges have seen funding withheld by the Trump administration and those that have settled. As of now, nine campuses have seen a combined $271 million frozen; three of those (Columbia, Penn, and Brown) have reached agreements. #HigherEd

As Trump Upends Funding for Research, These Scholars Turn to GoFundMe As the once-stable compact between universities and the federal government founders, some scholars are looking elsewhere for money.

Federal funding in limbo? Try GoFundMe instead. That's the route several scholars have taken in recent months — but the notion of crowdfunding academic research is a double-edged sword. I've got the story @chronicle.com. #HigherEd #AcademicSky

In Extraordinary Deal With Trump, Columbia U. Agrees to Pay $200 Million to Restore Funds The university said the government would resolve its investigations and restore most of the $400 million in research funding it had stripped from the institution.

NEW: Our @chronicle.com crew has the details on tonight's deal between Columbia University and the Trump administration, the first over the government's claims of antisemitism on campus. #HigherEd #AcademicSky

Trump Proposed Slashing the National Science Foundation’s Budget. A Key Senate Committee Just Refused. Legislation approved on Thursday by the Senate Committee on Appropriations would preserve nearly all of the NSF’s funding.

ICYMI: I covered the Senate approps committee's vote to preserve the NSF's funding. While far from a done deal, research advocates celebrated the news.

“For now, dodging an existential cut is a big win in light of everything that’s going on.” - @kennethmevans.bsky.social

#AcademicSky #HigherEd