Harvard University squared off against the Trump administration Monday in a Boston courthouse, the first big test in its legal battle to restore more than $2 billion in canceled federal research grants and avoid sweeping oversight by the government. It’s too soon to declare a victor in the skirmish: The judge, Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, said she had not prejudged the outcome, and she issued no decision. But over the course of the two-and-a-half hour hearing, she appeared skeptical of both the government’s actions and motivations.

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by Eric Kelderman, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Posted: July 21st, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Lehotsky said that the case is “about the federal government’s control over the inner-workings of America’s oldest institution of higher education.” Harvard has also argued that the Trump administration skirted a legal process to cancel funding under Title VI of the Civil Rights of 1964, which prohibits discrimination “on the basis of race, color, or national origin.” Lehotsky at one point quoted “Sentence first — verdict afterwards,“ a line from the Queen of Hearts in the book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” to illustrate how he believes the government took action before legally justifying its decisions. The Trump administration did assert that Harvard violated Title VI in a notice it released last month, which Lehotsky argued proves that the government knew that process was available to try and cancel funds, but chose not to follow it. Velchik, meanwhile, said that the government was not using the Title VI process in this case and argued that the administration had the authority under federal regulations regarding grants. Because of that, Velchik argued that the case should be tried in federal claims court as opposed to federal district court, which Burroughs sharply questioned.

Posted: July 21st, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Scientists, advocacy groups and lobbyists have been pleading with members of Congress in the past several weeks to protect funding for research agencies. The campaign appears to be working: under the Senate committee’s bill, the NSF budget would drop by only 0.67%, rather than by 57% as Trump requested, and many NASA space and Earth-science missions would continue rather than being shut down (see ‘Request rebuffed’). “This bill protects key science missions,” Jerry Moran, a Republican senator from Kansas, said at the meeting… During Trump’s first presidency, from 2017 to 2021, Congress largely preserved research funding in the face of the president’s proposed cuts. But this year, even if Congress ultimately passes a budget supporting science agencies, many policy watchers worry that the Trump administration might simply ignore it.

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by Dan Garisto and Alexandra Witze , Nature.

Posted: July 10th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

“On the political front, I think [the Trump administration] accomplished a lot of what they wanted to accomplish. … They’ve won politically, because higher education right now is viewed unfavorably by a lot of people on the right, and so by attacking higher ed, they’re going to win even if courts say they can’t do everything they want to do,” said Andrew Gillen, a research fellow at the CATO Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank.

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by Lexi Lonas Cochran, The Hill.

Posted: July 9th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

A provision tucked inside a sweeping bill signed into law by President Donald Trump last week will make it harder for thousands of aspiring doctors to finance their education as the country faces a growing shortage in that profession. The move will cap the amount of federal loans students can borrow for graduate school to $20,500 a year — with a total limit of $100,000 — and cap loans for professional programs, such as medical, dental or law school, at $50,000 a year, with a total limit of $200,000. While those limits may sound like large amounts, medical school students graduate with an average of more than $264,000 in educational debt…

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by Shannon Pettypiece and Rebecca Shabad, NBC News.

Posted: July 8th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California and California State University systems were mostly spared. Neither system faces cuts, but 3% of their base funding will be deferred until 2026-27. That amounts to $129.7 million for UC and $143.8 million for CSU. In the meantime, both systems will be able to access a no-interest loan to cover the difference in 2025-26. The budget also defers previously promised 5% funding increases for both systems until future years. In 2022, Newsom pledged 5% budget increases for UC and CSU in exchange for the systems working toward a number of goals, including increasing graduation rates and enrolling more California residents. Rather than getting those 5% increases in 2025-26, 2% of the hike will be deferred for both systems until 2026-27 and the remaining 3% will be deferred until 2028-29.

Posted: June 27th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Lin issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from halting grants to the researchers who sued the Environmental Protection Agency, National Endowment for the Humanities and National Science Foundation. And because she approved a class-action suit, the judge said the government must restore virtually all grants from the three agencies to researchers at any University of California campus that saw their funding discontinued after Trump’s inauguration if projects were flagged over diversity-related topics or cut off via form letters that did not contain specific reasons for funding halts… Polsky, the UC Berkeley Environmental Law Clinic director who spearheaded the suit, said she expected lawyers to make filings addressing grant cuts by other agencies in order to expand the class action to a wider group of UC faculty.

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by Jaweed Kaleem, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: June 25th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will reportedly take over the National Science Foundation (NSF) headquarters building (2415 Eisenhower Ave.), displacing more than 1,833 NSF employees who currently work there… “There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move,” an NSF staffer tells Garisto… Turner has made specific requests for accommodations in the building, which was completed in 2017, according to NSF staff. These include a dedicated executive suite on the 19th floor, construction of an executive dining room, and reserved parking spaces for his five cars. The HUD Secretary also requests exclusive use of one elevator and space on the 18th floor to host his executive assistants. Plans potentially include a gym for Turner and his family.

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by Ryan Belmore, ALXnow.

Posted: June 24th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Jesse Drew, Chair of the Davis Faculty Association, said the organization’s role in supporting the No Kings rally was a response to attacks on American universities by the Republican Party and the Trump administration. “American universities are under fierce attack by the Republican Party and by the Trump regime, and they have been defunding valuable research projects, harassing and deporting and attacking our students. So the Faculty Association is in this fight to battle against what Trump is doing, which is he’s trying to destroy the university system.” He said the DFA aims to unite faculty across different educational levels and coordinate with the American Association of University Professors.

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by Monica Stark, The Davis Enterprise.

Posted: June 18th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

U.S. District Judge William Young during a non-jury trial said the NIH violated federal law by arbitrarily canceling more than $1 billion in research grants because of their perceived connection to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Young said he was reinstating grants that had been awarded to organizations and Democratic-led states that sued over the terminations. And the judge indicated that as the case proceeds he could issue a more sweeping decision. “This represents racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community,” said Young, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan. “Any discrimination by our government is so wrong that it requires the court to enjoin it and at an appropriate time, I’m going to do it.”

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by Daniel Wiessner and Nate Raymond, Reuters.

Posted: June 16th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.