Duke University departments circulated guidance asking faculty to route institutional media inquiries through central communications as the university faces a federal research funding freeze and policy scrutiny. University officials told faculty to continue sharing research but to forward institutional questions to designated PR staff, citing the heightened media focus on university responses to federal policy changes. Faculty governance bodies reported informal pressure on scholars to avoid commenting on institutional responses; administrators defended the approach as coordinated messaging during an elevated legal and political environment. Academic leaders worry these internal directions could chill faculty engagement with journalists and constrain scholars’ ability to explain research and campus operations to the public.