A new report from PEN America and multiple legal actions show state and federal pressures are reshaping campus speech and curricular control. Researchers documented record numbers of states passing laws limiting higher‑education content and operations, while campus leaders report growing fear of sanctions. Concurrently, a federal directive ordering colleges to submit seven years of granular admissions data has strained institutional research offices and heightened concerns about enforcement. PEN America warns the merging of state and federal controls has created a chilling environment that pushes campus leaders to preemptively curtail programming. Administrators across small and medium institutions say the admissions-data mandate adds substantial compliance workloads and could trigger penalties for non‑compliance, leaving resource‑constrained offices scrambling. Faculty governance groups, civil‑liberties advocates and institutional researchers are calling for clearer guidance and longer implementation timelines. Universities are balancing legal risk, federal demands and reputational exposure while reassessing curricular governance and data systems.