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Court curbs California DEI rule — federal fight over campus ideology intensifies
A federal judge issued a temporary injunction blocking California community college officials from enforcing DEIA‑tied teaching and evaluation rules against a Bakersfield College history...
Accreditation and federal power: Trump allies push red‑state oversight overhaul
Policymakers and federal officials are moving to reshape accreditation and oversight of higher education. Reports show the Trump administration and allied state actors are backing new conservative...
WashU moves to absorb St. Louis pharmacy school — small college to phase out programs
Washington University in St. Louis announced plans to acquire the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy’s St. Louis College of Pharmacy, folding the historic pharmacy program into WashU as...
Campus governance under strain — unions undone, tenured faculty dismissed
St. John’s University moved to stop recognizing two long‑standing faculty unions, citing a need for flexibility to preserve its Catholic mission; union leaders pledged legal challenges....
Federal research dollars: NSF staffing plan and MSI funding uncertainty
The National Science Foundation announced plans to boost staffing while halving the number of grant solicitations after budget cuts and a staffing shortfall that agency leaders say constrains...
Agentic AI and classroom automation collide with policy — TAs, course‑completing agents appear
A new wave of agentic AI tools—designed to autonomously complete sequences of academic tasks—has arrived amid a broader debate on classroom integrity. Startup Einstein and other agentic systems...
Teens use AI to pick colleges — counseling and enrollment signals shift
New survey data show high school students rapidly adopted generative AI for college research—use rose from 26% in spring 2025 to 46% by year‑end—affecting how students find matches, prepare...
Campus speech and protest discipline escalate — Swarthmore charges activists, Hunter professor on leave
Swarthmore College cited eight student activists with potential expulsion after they distributed protest literature the administration described as ‘‘threatening’’ and ‘‘intimidating,’’ alleging...
Epstein fallout: Summers to leave Harvard — Columbia brain institute co‑director quits
Harvard announced that economist Larry Summers will retire from his faculty post at the end of the academic year after newly released documents tied him to Jeffrey Epstein. The university said...
Justice Department sues UCLA: Agency accuses campus of creating hostile work environment
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil suit against the University of California system, alleging that UCLA tolerated antisemitic harassment so pervasive it created a hostile work...
Accreditation shake‑up: Trump backs DeSantis plan — Education Dept. shifts programs via interagency pacts
Federal and state actions are converging on accreditation and federal program oversight as the Education Department and the White House pursue structural changes. Politico and other outlets report...
Faculty governance strain: St. John’s ends union recognition — Virginia State fires professors without due process
St. John’s University moved to stop recognizing two long‑standing faculty unions, saying collective bargaining constrains its ability to pursue its Catholic mission. University leaders said the...
Campus conduct clash: Swarthmore charges protesters — Hunter College professor placed on leave
Swarthmore College notified eight students that they face disciplinary charges, including accusations the materials they distributed ‘‘threatened, intimidated, and/or promoted potential violence’’...
AI enters the classroom: Universities pilot TAs — teens use chatbots for college search
Fort Hays State University launched a pilot using AI as a teaching assistant to give students tailored, course‑specific support when human TAs aren’t available. Faculty reported positive...
Anthropic‑Pentagon standoff: Deadline looms — $200m contract and supply‑chain threats
Anthropic confronted the Defense Department over contract restrictions after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanded the company remove limits preventing military use of its models for certain...
New data on school site hazards: 3.4M students attend schools within a quarter‑mile of toxic sites
A working paper from Brown University’s Annenberg Institute found nearly 10,000 schools—about 8% of U.S. public and private schools—sit within a quarter mile of hazardous environmental sites,...
International students and payments squeeze: Enrollment drop hits student housing — cross‑border payments grow riskier
The UK’s largest student‑housing provider reported a sharp hit after international enrollment fell, prompting rent cuts in some cities and a pause on new build activity. Unite Group lowered its...
Education Department oversight steps up: State Dept tracking and borrower accountability push
The Education Department is expanding interagency cooperation by partnering with the State Department to track foreign funding at universities, part of a broader effort to shift program...
Summers steps down – Epstein files force Ivy reckonings
Harvard announced that Lawrence H. Summers will retire from his faculty post at the end of the academic year after newly released Justice Department files linked him to Jeffrey Epstein. Harvard...
DOJ sues UCLA... federal civil‑rights fight lands on campus
The U.S. Department of Justice sued the University of California system, alleging UCLA tolerated antisemitic harassment and created a hostile work environment that violated federal civil‑rights...