Compiled by SUSAN JONES
We’ll work our way backward this week in the news out of higher education.
In a case closely watched by big U.S. research universities, a federal judge ruled on Sept. 3 that the Trump administration violated Harvard University’s First Amendment rights and didn’t follow proper procedures when it froze $2.2 billion of the university’s federal funding earlier this year.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs struck down the Trump administration’s freeze orders and grant termination letters, opening the door for Harvard’s funding to be reinstated.
But questions remain over when or whether Harvard will see that money. The White House said that the university “remains ineligible for grants in the future,” and that the Trump administration will immediately move to appeal the decision. Other schools facing similar funding pressure from the administration include Cornell, Duke, Princeton, UCLA and Northwestern
Sept. 4: The president of Northwestern University, Michael H. Schill, announced he would resign, ending a difficult tenure that included attacks on the school from Republicans in Congress and cuts in funding by the Trump administration that forced the university to lay off hundreds of employees, according to the New York Times.
Sept. 2:
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The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Illinois over state laws allowing certain undocumented college students to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and receive state-administered scholarships.
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The U.S. House’s spending proposal would cut the Department of Education’s budget by 15 percent — much less than the president wanted. That gives the agency $67 billion, down from $79 billion in fiscal year 2025. Funding for key student aid programs like the Pell Grant and the TRIO college-access initiative would remain stable, but others could face steep cuts or be zeroed out entirely. The bill also includes a $456 million cut to the National Institutes of Health, a ban on enforcing certain Biden-era regulations and an attempt to rename the new workforce Pell Grant as the Trump Grant.
Aug. 28:
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The University of Chicago will slash approximately $100 million from its annual budget and eliminate roughly 400 positions as the institution grapples with significant federal funding losses and mounting financial pressures. In a campus-wide announcement, University President Paul Alivisatos emphasized that the cuts are necessary to ensure the institution's long-term financial stability. The reductions will primarily target administrative positions, though the impact will extend across multiple areas of university operations.
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Faculty at Ohio State University can no longer make land acknowledgments — verbal or written statements that recognize the Indigenous people who originally lived on the university’s land — unless it is directly relevant to class subject matter. The new policy is one of many in response to Ohio’s SB 1, a sweeping higher education law passed in March that seeks to eliminate DEI offices and scrub all mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion from university scholarships, job descriptions and more.
Aug. 27: The Department of Homeland Security publicly released its plans to limit how long international students can stay in the United States — a proposal that advocates say will only add to uncertainty and chaos that this group is already facing. Currently, students can stay in the country as long as they are enrolled at a college or university. But the proposed rule would allow students to stay for the duration of their program, but no longer than four years.
Aug. 26:
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Ohio University plans to wind down 11 undergraduate programs and merge another 18 to comply with a new state law that sets minimum graduation thresholds. The university said it would suspend admission to the programs upon receiving approval from the state higher education department.
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The U.S. Department of Education has promised to launch the 2026-2027 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on Oct. 1, marking the first on-time launch in recent years and fulfilling a congressional mandate established after previous administrative failures left millions of students without timely access to financial aid. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon certified the launch in a letter to congressional leadership.
Aug. 25: Gregory Washington, George Mason University’s first Black president, will not be apologizing over diversity initiatives he’s pursued since his hiring in 2020, according to a 10-page letter delivered to the university’s Board of Visitors. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) last week concluded that Washington and the university engaged in unlawful race-based hiring and violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. As part of a proposed resolution agreement, OCR demanded that Washington personally apologize to the university community over diversity efforts he oversaw and supported. The letter from Washington’s lawyer accused the government of making “gross mischaracterizations” of statements made by Washington about efforts to create a more welcoming climate and racially balanced faculty at the state’s most racially diverse public university.
Aug. 21: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision to pause a June order that would have restored $783 million in funding, ruling that the district court lacked jurisdiction to handle the grant restoration. However, the court declined to block the lower court’s order that deemed NIH’s guidance that led to the cuts as illegal. Researchers, unions and associations sued NIH this spring after the agency abruptly terminated millions of dollars in grants for projects that dealt with diversity, equity and inclusion.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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