A weekly roundup highlighted escalating governance and legal pressures across higher education: the University of Nebraska‑Lincoln’s planned $1.1 million payout to departing chancellor Rodney Bennett sparked faculty backlash as the institution pursues job cuts and program eliminations. The report also flagged federal legal actions affecting research funding — including a court ruling blocking NIH caps on indirect costs and settlements restoring grant review processes — and ongoing probes into Education Department staffing decisions. College presidents at the Council of Independent Colleges’ Presidents Institute discussed these developments alongside worries about enrollment, DEI attacks, and loan‑policy shifts. Together, the items signal heightened external scrutiny and legal risk that will increasingly shape trustees’ and presidents’ agendas.