A Board Asked Its President to Resign. He Won’t. The University of Wisconsin system president, Jay Rothman, said in letters obtained by The Chronicle that the board would not tell him why they’d lost confidence in his leadership.

The University of Wisconsin system president, Jay Rothman, said in letters obtained by The Chronicle that the board would not tell him why they’d lost confidence in his leadership. https://chroni.cl/3O25JY4

‘Bordering on Insubordinate': How George Mason’s Conservative Board Chair Went After Its President Text messages obtained by <i>The Chronicle</i> detail a monthslong campaign to get Gregory Washington to dismantle its DEI programs and fall in line with Trump’s demands.

www.chronicle.com/article/bord...

Blockbuster report from @jasperjsmith.bsky.social and @katiemangan.bsky.social on how GMU's Board tried to sink its president

‘A Painful Reckoning’: After Bombshell Report, Higher Ed Scrambles to Review Cesar Chavez Tributes The New York Times reported Wednesday that the labor-rights activist sexually abused and groomed girls for years. Many colleges host programs, statues, and other markers of his legacy.

New: www.chronicle.com/article/a-pa...

Why One Campus Told the Government It Has Ties With 1,200 Groups That ‘May’ Discriminate Thirty-one colleges agreed to send the Trump administration lists of potentially discriminatory partner groups. The University of Kentucky’s was quite long.

The University of Kentucky told the federal government that it has ties with over 1,200 organizations that are alleged to be discriminatory, including the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the Kentucky Maple Syrup Association (!).

Why One Campus Told the Government It Has Ties With 1,200 Groups That ‘May’ Discriminate Thirty-one colleges agreed to send the Trump administration lists of potentially discriminatory partner groups. The University of Kentucky’s was quite long.

To determine whether a group might racially discriminate, the University of Kentucky flagged organizations with identity-specific names, diversity statements, or race-specific DEI initiatives for possible membership cancellation. Is your organization on its list?

www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

Texas A&M is censoring "race and gender ideology" from the classroom. Our podcast w/ @jasperjsmith.bsky.social digs in. pod.link/1766357400/e...

can you teach something at Texas A&M? just follow this flowchart.

www.chronicle.com/article/insi... via @jasperjsmith.bsky.social and @mzahneis.bsky.social

Inside Texas A&M’s Scramble to Censor Its Curriculum Documents reveal widespread uncertainty, even among administrators, over what professors could teach.

The Texas A&M system reviewed 5,400 courses for ideological compliance. Only 6 were officially canceled. But faculty say hundreds more were quietly altered out of fear. https://chroni.cl/4u3Dto5

This Spat Shows Just How Messy Texas A&M’s New Course Reviews Are Administrators wanted a professor to pin-point when he would talk about sexuality in a public policy class. When he couldn’t, they canceled his course.

Administrators wanted a professor to pin-point when exactly he would talk about sexuality in a public policy class.

When he couldn't, and instead said it would be brought up throughout the semester, they canceled his course.
www.chronicle.com/article/this...

Flyer advertising the Chronicle of Higher Education's reporting fellowship in Washington, DC. What we're looking for: Recent college graduates or early-career journalists; interest in higher education (no previous beat experience required); able to write on deadline and juggle enterprise work; self-motivated and eager. What we offer: $55,000 salary + benefits; excellent work-life balance; freedom to carve out a beat; travel and collaboration opportunities; practice in a range of reporting formats and timelines; hybrid work environment. Zoom information session information Jan. 7 at 2 p.m. ET (meeting ID 441 918 7951 and passcode 416484). Offers extended early March; start date July. Contact mzahneis@chronicle.com with questions. Application deadline: January 15. The flyer has a white background with blue and yellow accents and features a photo of a Chronicle reporter and editor talking to one another, and a QR code for more information about the fellowship.

New year, new opportunities with @chronicle.com's reporting fellowship! Two days until our Zoom info session and just over a week until we begin reviewing applications - young journalists, we'd love to read yours.

Trump’s DOJ Pressured Lawyers to “Find” Evidence that UCLA Had Illegally Tolerated Antisemitism An investigation by ProPublica and The Chronicle of Higher Education reveals how the U.S. government ignored due process to gin up its attack on the University of California.

NEW! The Shakedown: How Trump's DOJ pressured lawyers to 'find' evidence that UCLA had illegally tolerated antisemitism. by me and @KatherineMangan w/ @chronicle.com
www.propublica.org/article/ucla...

Justice Department Will No Longer Investigate Claims of Systemic Racism, Sexism The change could dramatically alter the way college leaders define and address discrimination.

read @jasperjsmith.bsky.social: www.chronicle.com/article/just...

How Virginia Became Higher Ed’s Battlefield With one university president felled and another imperiled, fights over DEI in the commonwealth are getting brutal.

As the Trump administration seeks to overhaul higher ed, two Virginia universities have landed at the center of its war on diversity efforts

I talk with Jack Stripling on this week’s College Matters about why Virginia has become ground zero in that fight

www.chronicle.com/podcast/coll...

HBCUs Reel as Trump Cuts Black-Focused Grants: ‘This Is Our Existence’ HBCUs’ mission-driven effort to serve Black communities could now result in severe budget cuts under Trump’s crusade against DEI. It’s all a big misunderstanding, advocates say.

Trump, who said last year that he had “saved” historically Black colleges, has canceled $140 million in grants to them since March.

Agencies told HBCUs “to change the language in grant applications that explicitly focus on Black people — or lose federal funding.”

www.chronicle.com/article/hbcu...

EQ THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION NIH has canceled $1.2 million in funding for a project to increase the number of Black students in the marine-science field at Hampton University; $2.9 million in funding for a center at Morehouse College's School of Medicine focused on health outcomes among Black pregnant women, who have the highest maternal mortality rate in the country; and a 33-year-old $16-million grant at Florida A&M University's pharmacy school that supports faculty hiring and biomedical research.

It’s like telling a cancer institute to stop spending so much on cancer research.

Here are a few of the many cuts.

Via @jasperjsmith.bsky.social

‘Sinners’ Is Set in Clarksdale, Where There’s No Theater. Locals Are Asking for a Screening. The Mississippi Delta town launched a petition in hopes of bringing director Ryan Coogler and his team to the community that helped inspire the hit film.

In Clarksdale, there's limited transportation and no movie theater. The town inspired Sinners, but many can't travel to see it in theaters.

They created a petition to invite Ryan Coogler & team to host a public screening and experience the Delta.

MY LATEST: capitalbnews.org/clarksdale-r...

Trump Just Made It Even More Difficult to Accuse Colleges of Systemic Sexism and Racism An executive order regarding disparate impact is a “vast overstep” and will likely face legal challenges, civil-rights lawyers say.

'This is a vast overstep': Trump's latest executive order limits what can be deemed as race and sex discrimination. Civil-rights lawyers say Trump's executive order will make it more difficult for students and employees to file complaints with OCR over systemic discrimination. chroni.cl/42O6NlX

If you're an NSF grantee who receives notice of cancellation per today's announcement, please get in touch here or via Signal mzahneis.09.

The Education Dept. Wants to End DEI. Does It Have the Staff? Watchdogs expect longer delays on their complaints.

The Education Dept. Wants to End DEI. Does It Have the Staff? by @jasperjsmith.bsky.social www.chronicle.com/article/ed-d...

AAUP, Middle East Studies Association Sue Trump Administration Over ‘Ideological Deportations’ Immigration authorities have recently taken into custody several visa holders and legal permanent residents who were involved in pro-Palestinian campus activism.

New from me: AAUP, Middle East Studies Association Sue Trump Administration Over ‘Ideological Deportations’ www.chronicle.com/article/aaup...

After Cutting Half Its Staff, Trump Signs an Order Directing the Education Department to Close But Thursday’s order also calls for continuing most of the department’s core functions, like financial aid and civil-rights enforcement. Congress would have to vote on an actual shutdown.

In signing an order to close Department of Education, President Trump called for returning authority over education to state and local officials, while punishing colleges for allegedly failing to combat antisemitism and allowing transgender athletes to compete. www.chronicle.com/article/afte...

Why Hasn’t Columbia U. Sued to Protect Itself? Legal scholars say the university would have a strong case to make if it wanted to use the courts to fight for its funding to be restored.

I spoke to legal scholars and people in higher ed about a question I've had for the last few days. Why isn't Columbia suing? www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

(DOE is the Department of Energy, the Department of Education is ED)

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Tennessee State University to lose $14M federal grant as massive Trump cuts continue The cut, and more uncertainty over federal grants, come as the historically Black university faces a financial shortfall.

Tennessee State is facing a financial shortfall and its interim president recently told lawmakers they would run out of money by May.

Now, the HBCU expects to lose at least $14.4 million in federal grant funding. www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...

Trump’s Education Secretary Described a ‘Final Mission.’ Now She’s Enacting Mass Layoffs. Tuesday’s announcement, affecting around 1,300 staff, is the next step in the Trump administration’s attempt to dramatically shrink the federal role in education.

www.chronicle.com/article/trum...

I had the privilege to produce the photos for @jasperjsmith.bsky.social's recent deep dive into the campus reaction to Dr. Ibram Kendi's new home at Howard University. Here's a few alternate images from the assignment, which included candids of Kendi at an event, and portraits of Dr. Greg Carr.

How Gaza Protests and Trump Threats Have Shaken Barnard College The women’s undergraduate college at Columbia University expelled two student activists. Now it has become mired in a messy debate about discipline.

If you want the definitive story on what the heck has happened with expulsions, protests, and arrests at Barnard over the past couple of weeks — Maya Stahl, one of our ace spring interns, has got you covered:

The Education Dept. Survives for Now, but Program and Staffing Cuts Cause Upheaval Many in higher ed have expressed concern that the department doesn’t have to be eliminated to be weakened substantially.

President Trump continues to threaten an executive order to shutter the Education Department. Higher education experts say the department doesn’t have to be eliminated to be weakened substantially. chroni.cl/4iurMQG

Thanks, Eric!