The judge in the case, Mary Kay Vyskocil of the southern district of New York, ruled that the faculty unions had no “standing” to bring the suit and had not clearly indicated how the administration had broken the law. “It is not the role of a district court judge to direct the policies of the Executive Branch first and ask questions later,” the judge, a Trump appointee, wrote in her 30-page ruling. “Plaintiffs have not established their standing to litigate this case, let alone any violation of any law.” She seemed to accept the government’s prerogative to withhold funding and its argument that Columbia had enabled antisemitism to fester on campus. She also noted that Columbia had remained “conspicuously absent” from the case.
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by Alice Speri, The Guardian.
Posted: June 16th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
The billions in proposed funding cuts would involve restructuring and consolidating the National Institutes of Health and slashing the majority of the National Science Foundation’s budget for scholarships and fellowships… after the Trump administration canceled research grants at the NSF and NIH and slowed down the approval process for any new grant funding, the budget documents highlight how the president could codify those cuts and reduce the federal government’s role in advancing research… The latest version of the plan shows that only three of the NIH’s existing institutes—the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Institute on Aging—would retain their names, though they would all lose billions in funding. According to STAT, NCI’s budget would drop from $7.2 billion to $4.5 billion; NIAID from around $6.6 billion to $4.2 billion, and NIA from $4.4 billion to $2.7 billion.
Posted: June 3rd, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Universities worldwide are always trying to recruit from one another, just as tech companies and businesses in other fields do. What’s unusual about the current moment is that many global recruiters are targeting researchers by promising something that seems newly threatened: academic freedom… But some institutions abroad are reporting significant early interest from researchers in the U.S. Nearly half of the applications to Safe Place for Science — 139 out of 300 total — came from U.S.-based scientists, including AI researchers and astrophysicists… Recruiters who work with companies and nonprofits say they see a similar trend.
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by Christina Larson, Adithi Ramakrishnan and Jamey Keaten, The Los Angeles Times.
Posted: May 25th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Holbrook says his removal came after an encounter with the University of California system’s president, Michael V. Drake, in the robing room before faculty members formed a procession. The professor approached Drake, who was serving as the commencement speaker, about the system’s response to pro-Palestinian protesters. In Holbrook’s telling, Drake became visibly upset and raised his voice; shortly thereafter, police officers removed Holbrook from the procession line and asked him to leave the premises… The UC-Merced Faculty Association released a statement condemning what it called an “unwarranted, drastic step” and calling on the chancellor’s office and its Academic Senate to investigate. Both Holbrook and the faculty association said they were unsure how or by whom the decision to remove Holbrook was made.
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by Megan Zahneis, The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Posted: May 21st, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
They describe a collapse in three acts. A period of vertiginous success that hid underlying problems. A steady burn through the months after October 7. And a blitz by adversaries in government who understood Columbia’s vulnerability better than anyone. After another embittered class has its commencement on May 21, Columbia will lurch into a summer of ugly possibilities. Students are still attempting major disruptions on campus, and the school has laid off 180 employees whose pay relied on federal funding. Scientists are hoarding supplies. “Everything is pretty much being held together with Scotch tape,” the director of a research institute at Columbia said. “The only thing that’s saving us from a wholesale exodus is they’re not funding any new grants at Harvard either, but we’re very worried about the flight of our most outstanding people. The Europeans and Chinese are both circling like mad.”
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by Nick Summers, New York Magazine.
Posted: May 19th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Last year, United For Medical Research, a coalition of research institutes, says $5.1 billion awarded to California universities and hospitals generated $13.8 billion in jobs, services and scientific discovery. “There’s a production of intellectual property that can turn into drugs or treatments, and so the returns are pretty huge,” said Yang. However, in March, the Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk – also known as DOGE – reported it slashed $109 million in grants just to UCLA. Many more programs across the state remain in limbo. “If the federal government is going to pull back from scientific leadership and research, California should step up even more and lead the world,” said California Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). He introduced a bill that would help fill the funding gaps.
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by Denise Dador, ABC7.
Posted: May 2nd, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
A week after restoring foreign students’ legal status, immigration officials detailed plans for a new policy granting unprecedented leeway to terminate their residency. It could foreshadow a new round of deportation efforts… “I’m talking to international students who are currently in the U.S., to international students who’ve been admitted to study in the U.S. starting in the fall, and they’re asking, ‘Will we be able to complete our degree program?’” she said. “The answer is that it’s unclear.”
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by Liam Knox, Inside Higher Ed.
Posted: May 2nd, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
European governments have sought to bolster their universities’ efforts to recruit international researchers, amid signs that an expected exodus in U.S.-based scholars is beginning. On April 23, Norway’s education ministry announced the creation of a $9.6 million initiative, designed by the Research Council of Norway, to “make it easier to recruit experienced researchers from other countries.” … Last week, the French ministry of higher education and research launched the Choose France for Science platform, operated by the French National Research Agency.
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by Emily Dixon, Inside Higher Ed.
Posted: May 1st, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
UC Berkeley faculty have called on University of California President Michael Drake to protect political speech and academic freedom across the state’s premier higher-education system and challenge the Trump administration’s “unprecedented attack” on higher education. UC Berkeley’s Academic Senate, comprised of campus faculty, approved the resolution last week… The faculty resolution insists that the University of California and UC President Drake challenge “illegal demands” by the federal government rather than accept them… The resolution also demands UC fund legal aid for students and scholars who have had their visas revoked.
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by Molly Gibbs, The Mercury News.
Posted: May 1st, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Rufo is the conservative activist who designed the administration’s attack on the “money, power, and status” enjoyed by Columbia, Harvard, and other top-ranked universities. He wants to cut the number of students at four-year colleges in half. It’s not clear if the administration will go that far — they may be satisfied by winning headlines at the expense of the Ivy League. But the government has more ambitious goals than its enumerated demands. That’s why, despite conceding to federal demands, Columbia has not gotten its funding back. The more universities concede, the more the administration will demand. The conservative critique of higher education is exaggerated and distorted, and these kinds of purported solutions are dangerous.
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by James Kvaal, The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Posted: April 29th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
