Compiled by SUSAN JONES
In a sign of how quickly guidance from the federal government is changing, on June 9, the National Institutes of Health appeared to walk back a policy requiring universities and other research institutes to certify that they do not have unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion programs or boycotts of Israel in order to receive research dollars, according to STAT.
Then the next day, the notice was taken down. A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson confirmed to STAT that the DEI ban is still in place.
The rule, which was initially posted in April, was seen as the next stage of using research funds as leverage against private universities and efforts to increase diversity in the sciences. It is unclear what prompted the rescission of the policy, or the reinstatement.
Here’s more to help everyone keep up with the ever-changing news:
May 30: Purdue University ended a long-standing partnership with its independent student newspaper, The Purdue Exponent — the school’s only student newspaper and the largest collegiate newspaper in Indiana — and will no longer distribute papers, give student journalists free parking passes or allow them to use the word “Purdue” for commercial purposes, according to Inside Higher Education. The university also said it will not enter into a new contract for facility use with the paper to remain consistent with the administration's stated policy on institutional neutrality.
June 4:
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In an executive order, President Trump declared that it would jeopardize national security to allow Harvard to continue hosting foreign students on its campus in Cambridge, Mass. A federal court in Boston previously blocked the Department of Homeland Security from barring international students at Harvard. Trump’s order invokes a different legal authority. The president also directed the State Department to consider revoking visas of existing students and called on the attorney general and the homeland security secretary to recommend whether the ban should be extended beyond the six-month period. Harvard says it is developing contingency plans to allow international students and scholars to continue their studies at the university over the summer and through the next academic year. It also amended its lawsuit to seek a block on Trump’s June 4 proclamation.
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A federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s motion for a stay in a lawsuit challenging the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, effectively halting — at least temporarily — efforts to reduce the agency’s workforce and transfer some education responsibilities to other federal departments. On June 6, the Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court for an immediate pause on a court order that Department of Education reinstate nearly 1,400 employees fired during a mass workforce reduction in March. The Justice Department’s appeal calls the lower court’s order an “unlawful remedy” and says the injunction “causes irreparable harm to the Executive Branch.”
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During a congressional hearing, U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, grilled Education Secretary Linda McMahon over her department’s DEI policies and accused the Trump administration of trying to rewrite history, according to the Tribune-Review. During a tense exchange, McMahon refused to give a “yes” or “no” answer when asked if teaching students that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election was an example of an “illegal DEI.”
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President Trump signed a travel ban barring citizens from 12 countries — Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — from entering the United States. The administration also imposed restrictions, but stopped short of a full ban, on travel from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. People from those countries cannot come to the United States permanently or get tourist or student visas.
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The Education Department notified Columbia University’s accreditor that the university had violated federal antidiscrimination law and was possibly in violation of accreditation standards. The action does not mean the university is immediately in danger of losing accreditation, but it could give the Education Department a pretext to punish the accreditor. The government sent a similar notice in May about the University of Pennsylvania’s alleged violation of Title IX.
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A federal judge signed off on a joint motion from the U.S. Department of Justice and Texas to strike down the state’s 24-year-old law offering in-state tuition rates to undocumented students. The change, effective immediately, will likely affect tens of thousands of Texas students. One report estimated that 59,000 undocumented students in the U.S. attended Texas colleges in 2021.
June 9: Hundreds of scientists at the NIH issued a call for action they dubbed the Bethesda Declaration to push back against cutbacks and changes at the biomedical research agency, NPR reported. Organizers say more than 340 staffers on the NIH's sprawling campus in Bethesda, Md., sent the document to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya appealing to him to protect the agency. They say the Trump administration is putting politics ahead of academic freedom.
June 10:
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A federal judge in California ruled that the Trump administration cannot enforce executive orders that require groups to halt programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion or acknowledge the existence of transgender people to receive grant funding, according to Fox News. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar said that while the executive branch "requires some degree of freedom to implement its political agenda, it is still bound by the Constitution," and "cannot weaponize Congressionally appropriated funds to single out protected communities for disfavored treatment or suppress ideas that it does not like or has deemed dangerous.”
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Northwestern University rolled out a host of new cuts and savings measures as it grapples with “an increasing strain” on its finances, university leaders said in a community message, according to Higher Ed Dive. Measures include a pause on employee raises, a hiring freeze on faculty and staff, unspecified health insurance changes, reduced capital spending, and diminished budgets for academic and administrative units, according to officials.
June 11:
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Eleven members of the 12-person Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board resigned over what they say is political interference in the selection process for recipients of the prestigious international grant, according to sources familiar with the program and a letter announcing their resignation, Inside Higher Education reported.
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Kseniia Petrova, the Russian scientist who spent four months in detention after failing to declare scientific samples she was carrying into the country, was freed on bail from federal custody by a magistrate judge in Boston, but she still faces challenges, according to the New York Times. The Trump administration began deportation proceedings against her in February, and around three months later, after she challenged the move in court, filed criminal smuggling charges against her. Lawyers for the government have said they intend to deport Petrova to Russia, a country she fled for political reasons in 2022. She has said that if she returns, she fears arrest or even death because of her activism.
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A judge ordered the release of Mahmoud Khalil on bond while his deportation case continues, saying that the former Columbia student had proven that detention was doing harm to his career, family, and speech rights. The Trump administration indicated plans to appeal.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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