A newly formed Alliance for Higher Education aims to defend institutional autonomy after a year of increased federal and state scrutiny, focusing on legal support and advocacy to prevent government overreach. The alliance says protecting academic freedom and board governance is essential to higher-education missions, and it will coordinate legal strategies and policy guidance for campuses facing subpoenas, probe letters, or conditional funding. At the state level, Virginia’s attorney general has begun recruiting university general counsels to coordinate pushback against perceived federal intrusions, signaling heightened politicization of legal defenses for public institutions. Campus counsel hires and coordinated legal efforts reflect universities’ response to a wave of federal investigations and new executive directives targeting campus operations. The development signals a sustained investment by colleges in legal infrastructure and inter‑institutional cooperation as they navigate subpoena disputes, Title IX investigations, and state demands on hiring and foreign funding disclosures.