Hegseth is Waging War on Colleges. His Targets Are Unclear. The defense secretary’s memos and X videos have left a muddied picture of which programs are being canceled at which institutions and for what reasons.

Some of the institutions where fellowships were canceled—as well as those listed as potential replacements—never received notification from the Pentagon, these universities told Inside Higher Ed. It’s unclear if any did.
www.insidehighered.com/news/admissi...

Can this man rally higher ed against Trump? My conversation with Ted Mitchell @aceducation.bsky.social.
pod.link/1766357400/e...

Trump Demands Harvard Pay $1 Billion Just hours before the latest demand, the New York Times reported he had backed off calling for a cash settlement.

Hours after the New York Times reported the federal government was no longer seeking a cash settlement from Harvard, President Trump demanded a $1 billion payout.
www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Trump Drops Demand for Cash From Harvard After Stiff Resistance

Harvard University refused to cave to President Trump's extortion demands, even as other universities and leading law firms kowtowed. And now, Trump has dropped his demands for a $200 million payout to the US government. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...

UC Berkeley law school dean Erwin Chemerinsky at his home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, January 19, 2021. He is an older white man with white hair wearing glasses and a dark sweater over a collared shirt, standing in front of a tree.

@ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social Dean Urges Supreme Court to Be ‘Guardrail of Our Democracy’

Erwin Chemerinsky capped this week’s APLU conference by explaining higher ed’s vulnerabilities that the Trump admin is exploiting and arguing that the court needs to “check” the president. https://bit.ly/489PDD4

How Universities Are Responding to Trump’s Compact The document would require signatories to make sweeping changes to policies and practices. A number of institutions have already said no, and more responses are expected.

As more universities whether they'll sign the compact, @insidehighered.com is keeping track of all the responses here. We even made a map for you. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

5 Things to Know About Trump’s Higher Ed Compact Nine universities were asked to give “limited, targeted feedback” on the proposal by today. So far, six have rejected the deal.

Today’s the feedback deadline for the compact, and I broke down what we know about the document so far here from why the White House is taking this approach to what could happen to those who reject it.

www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Penn, U of Southern California Reject Trump Compact The universities follow the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University in rejecting the Trump administration’s proposal that would require sweeping changes.

The deadline for compact responses is near, and we're still waiting to hear from five universities. But here's @ryanequinn.bsky.social on why Penn and USC said no.

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Survey: Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Trump Higher Ed Cuts The poll also found more Democrats, Republicans and independents strongly trust universities to do what’s right than strongly distrust them—ranking colleges just behind hospitals and doctors, the mili...

"The results suggest the White House’s ongoing targeting of colleges and universities isn’t winning points for President Trump, of whom more Americans disapprove than approve, according to major polling averages. That’s despite the fact that Americans say higher ed is far from perfect." #higheredlaw

The battle for academic freedom and institutional sovereignty in higher education continues to play out as another university has rejected a White House offer for expanded access to federal funding in return for agreeing to a series of demands. https://cnn.it/3J8vH9S

ACE Releases Powerful New Resource Demonstrating How Higher Education Drives Economic Growth ​An interactive economic impact tool unveiled today by ACE demonstrates the many ways colleges and universities fuel economic growth across the United States.

Learn more here: www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pa...

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

From Dean Erwin Chemerinsky: "This is extortion, plain and simple... If any schools capitulate, the pressure will be enormous on all to fold. The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher education." #higheredlaw

Trump administration hit with lawsuit over $100K H1-B visa fee President Trump’s administration was hit Friday with a federal lawsuit over its quest to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled international employees. The lawsuit, filed in th…

"'By discouraging the best and brightest minds from around the world—individuals who have enriched American higher education for decades—he’s sending a message: "You’re not welcome here. Go elsewhere,"' Todd Wolfson, president of the @aaup.org, wrote Friday."

#higheredlaw

Higher Ed Sounds Off on Proposed Compact The sector has overwhelmingly panned Trump’s plan to give preferential treatment to universities that commit to his policies. So have some conservative leaders.

"American Council on Education president Ted Mitchell referred to the proposal as 'a naked exercise of power, lacking internal coherence,' which would set 'a horrible precedent to cede power to the federal government.'”

#higheredlaw

AAUP President Todd Wolfson unpacks the dangerous consequences of the Trump administration’s compact, which aims to exert ideological control over universities and colleges. As Wolfson makes clear, this partisan incursion into higher education affects ALL sectors.

@proftwolf.bsky.social

A bunch of data scrolling across a screen.

Gutted NCES Releases First Batch of Higher Ed Data

Experts say they have no reason to mistrust the new data, but aspects of the rollout suggest the @usedgov.bsky.social could struggle to maintain quality with fewer resources. https://bit.ly/3ICwpfh

#EDUSky #AcademicSky

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. https://bit.ly/47Wxc59

Vaccinations have been so successful that “there's been a collective forgetting that measles, and mumps, and rubella—these used to be diseases that would kill people in fairly large numbers,” the Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna tells Jeffrey Goldberg.

Watch more: bit.ly/46a5DUE #TAF25

How the Education Department is using civil rights laws to bring schools to heel The Trump administration is using decades-old laws, meant to prevent discrimination, to threaten school districts and states with cuts to vital federal funding.

The Trump administration is using decades-old laws, meant to prevent discrimination, to threaten school districts and states with cuts to vital federal funding.

Judge rules Trump administration cannot withhold funding from Harvard The Trump administration illegally withheld federal funding for alleged antisemitism violations, a federal judge in Boston ruled.

ACE’s Peter McDonough told @washingtonpost.com, “The court affirmed what we always knew: the Trump Administration ignored the law in its politically motivated attacks on Harvard and other institutions.”

www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

American Bar Association adopts resolution against Trump's law firm crackdown The American Bar Association’s policymaking body on Monday adopted a resolution opposing government efforts to punish “lawyers, law firms, or other organizations for representing or having represented any particular client or cause disfavored by the government.”

The American Bar Association’s policymaking body on Monday adopted a resolution opposing government efforts to punish “lawyers, law firms, or other organizations for representing or having represented any particular client or cause disfavored by the government.”

American Bar Association sues to block Trump's attacks on law firms The American Bar Association sued the Trump administration on Monday, seeking an order that would bar the White House from pursuing what the ABA called a campaign of intimidation against major law firms.

American Bar Association sues to block Trump's attacks on law firms reut.rs/3SWHz09

Tenn. Lawsuit Puts Hispanic-Servings’ Fate on the Line The state and the group Students for Fair Admissions sued the federal government, arguing Hispanic-serving institutions—as currently defined—are unconstitutional.

After successfully suing Harvard and UNC to end consideration of race in admissions, Students for Fair Admissions has a new target: Hispanic-serving institutions. @saraweissman.bsky.social reports on the lawsuit and its implications for the country's 600 HSIs. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Opinion | College Is More Affordable Than Many Parents Think The real price of college isn’t always the sticker price.

In the @nytimes.com today: "Large university endowments often draw criticism, but they play a crucial role in expanding access to higher education. ... a 2024 study by NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments... showed that nearly half of the money earned from endowment returns went to financial aid."

Education Department stops $1 billion in funding for school mental health Congress created the grants in the aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The goal was to help schools hire mental health professionals, including counselors and social workers.

It’s not the guns it’s a mental health issue they said

How Trump’s First 100 Days Transformed Higher Ed In his first few months in office, the president attacked higher education with dizzying frequency, confronting colleges and unraveling decades of federal policy. We look at 10 ways the administration...

Trump’s 100-Day War on Higher Ed

In his first few months in office, the president attacked higher education with dizzying frequency, confronting colleges and unraveling decades of federal policy. We look at 10 ways the administration has upended... #HigherEd #EDUSky #AcademicSky bit.ly/42yQ47c

Exclusive | Elite Universities Form Private Collective to Resist Trump Administration Separate from the public dissent, a group of school leaders are strategizing behind the scenes about how to respond and push back against the White House.

Elite universities are forming a private collective to push back against Trump administration pressures on academic independence and research funding. #HigherEd #AcademicFreedom

www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

ICE backs down, says it will restore status of thousands of foreign students Hundreds of foreign students in the U.S. on F-1 visas said they were informed their SEVIS records were suddenly terminated by DHS.

BREAKING: In a sudden about-face, a DOJ attorney saiys ICE will be RESTORING the status of thousands of foreign students whose SEVIS records were terminated w/o notice earlier this month.

The move comes amid mounting losses in courts around the country.
www.wusa9.com/article/news...

From warnings not to leave the country to guidance on how to complete degrees, US universities are advising foreign students how to withstand President Trump's immigration crackdown reut.rs/3YM1bqY