The cuts to the department’s staff will cause a delay in “nearly every aspect” of the K-12 education in their states, the attorneys general said in their suit. Therefore, the coalition is seeking a court order to stop what it called “policies to dismantle” the agency, arguing that the layoffs are just a first step toward its destruction. “All of President Trump’s executive actions are lawful, constitutional and intended to deliver on the promises he made to the American people,” a White House spokesman, Harrison Fields, said.
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by Hurubie Meko and Troy Closson, The New York Times.
Posted: March 13th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
The U.S. Department of State has released a small portion of frozen funding that has imperiled key international education and exchange programs like the Fulbright and Gilman scholarships. Some funding is “trickling through,” a month after the State Department quietly suspended all grant payments, said Mark Overmann, executive director for the Alliance for International Exchange. Overmann, whose organization represents groups and providers that run exchanges and support global-education programming, estimates that about 15 percent of pending payments have begun to be disbursed over the last few days… Overmann said that it is unclear if the payments signal a regular resumption of funding, nor is there any indication about why specific spending has been restored. He also noted that the money that has been coming in does not cover operational or staff costs for the groups that administer many of the State Department programs.
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by Karin Fischer, The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Posted: March 12th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Monday, UCLA announced a new campuswide initiative to combat antisemitism, with Chancellor Julio Frenk saying the university is at an “inflection point” that compels it to “end hate however it manifests itself.” UCLA was not among the California universities that received the Education Department letter, but it is under multiple federal investigations by the Trump administration into alleged anti-Jewish incidents. Pro-Palestinian students, staff and faculty accused UCLA of prioritizing efforts to tackle antisemitism while avoiding equal focus on reports of racism and bias against Arab Americans, Palestinian Americans and Muslim Americans, saying the university was overreacting in fear of the Trump administration’s threats to cut funding. Roughly $1.1 billion of UCLA’s $11 billion budget comes from federal sources. UCLA officials denied the allegation, saying the university is working to address all reports of discrimination and has been planning its antisemitism initiative since January…
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by Jaweed Kaleem and Daniel Miller, The Los Angeles Times.
Posted: March 11th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
The USDA told its employees Monday to “temporarily no longer issue any payments or authorize any other releases of funding” to the University of Maine System while the department evaluates whether it should “take any follow-on actions related to prospective Title VI or Title IX violations,” according to a letter obtained by the Portland Press Herald. The agency began investigating Maine’s university system for gender-related civil rights violations the day after President Donald Trump and Gov. Janet Mills got into a public confrontation over the state’s refusal to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls sports.
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by Kay Neufeld and Riley Board, Portland Press Herald.
Posted: March 11th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
The public institutions in California include Santa Monica College, Sacramento State University and four University of California campuses: Berkeley, Davis, San Diego and Santa Barbara. Four private colleges and universities in California were also included: Chapman University, Pomona College, Stanford University and the University of Southern California. UC said in a statement Monday that it is aware of the letter and added that the university is “unwavering in its commitment to combating antisemitism and protecting the civil rights of all our students, faculty, staff, and visitors.”
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by EdSource Staff, EdSource.
Posted: March 10th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Trump gloated about the arrest on Monday. “Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University,” the president wrote. “This is the first arrest of many to come.” Donald Trump signed an executive order in January targeting what he described as “Hamas sympathizers on college campuses.” The president has also threatened to revoke federal funding from universities that allow what he called “illegal” protests. Trump has attacked Columbia, pulling $400 million in funding, alongside nine other universities that had pro-Gaza encampments and protests. The Trump administration claims these protests are antisemitic rather than First Amendment-protected rallies against a brutal assault on Gaza.
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by Peter Wade, Rolling Stone.
Posted: March 9th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the iconic Geisel Library at UC San Diego on Friday to participate in a rally aimed at defending science from what supporters described as federal disruptions, particularly under the Trump administration. The rally, dubbed by organizers as “Stand Up for Science,” saw attendees from various scientific fields come together in a unified stand against what they say are dangerous cuts to scientific funding, censorship in regards to language in science and purges of federal programs.
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by Amber Coakley, Fox 5 San Diego.
Posted: March 8th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Giving a new meaning to the phrase mad scientists, angry researchers, doctors, their patients and supporters ventured out of labs, hospitals and offices Friday to fight against what they call a blitz on life-saving science by the Trump administration. In the nation’s capital, a couple thousand gathered at the Stand Up for Science rally. Organizers said similar rallies were planned in more than 30 U.S. cities. Politicians, scientists, musicians, doctors and their patients made the case that firings, budget and grant cuts in health, climate, science and other research government agencies in the Trump administration’s first 47 days in office are endangering not just the future but the present.
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by Seth Borenstein, AP.
Posted: March 7th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Under current rules, nonprofits are eligible if they focus on certain areas including public interest law, public health or education. Trump’s order appears to target those who work in certain fields at odds with his political agenda, including immigration. Advocates have gone to court to defend the program in the past, and Trump’s action is almost certain to face legal challenges. It drew quick backlash from advocates. “Threatening to punish hardworking Americans for their employers’ perceived political views is about as flagrant a violation of the First Amendment as you can imagine,” said Aaron Ament, president of the National Student Legal Defense Network. Updating eligibility rules typically requires the Education Department to go through a lengthy federal rulemaking process. Any new regulation that started this year would usually not take effect until 2027.
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by Collin Binkley, AP.
Posted: March 7th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
The White House on Thursday pulled the expected signing of the executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, multiple sources tell ABC News… White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt quoted a news report saying it was “fake news” that Trump was expected to sign the order on Thursday. She said he is not signing it. Behind the scenes, there was concern among top administration officials about the blowback the order would receive and the lack of messaging in place ahead of the rollout. Specifically, how the administration would answer questions about how the executive order would impact the school lunch program along with other programs that could no longer exist.
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by Arthur Jones II and Katherine Faulders, ABC News.
Posted: March 6th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
