Compiled by SUSAN JONES
By March 20, days away from the halfway point of the federal fiscal year at the end of the month, the National Institutes of Health has only obligated around 15 percent of the estimated $38 billion it has to distribute in grants and contracts to universities and other research institutions, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
The AAMC released an analysis of data from NIH’s RePORTER site, showing it had only obligated $5.8 billion as of March 20, compared to nearly $9 billion by that date in the final full fiscal year of the Biden administration. When the NIH “obligates” funding, it has sent an institution a notice saying the dollars are available to its researchers to spend.
March 26
Two law schools are launching new loan programs to help close funding gaps created by new limits to federal graduate student loans. The University of Kansas and Washington University in St. Louis both plan to lend money at favorable rates to law students who have already exhausted their federal student loan options and might not meet the requirements for private loans, according to Inside Higher Ed.
MARCH 25
The Trump administration has opened investigations into admissions policies at three major medical schools — Stanford University, Ohio State University and the University of California, San Diego. The Justice Department demanded that the schools turn over extensive lists of data by April 24 or risk interruptions to essential federal funding, the New York Times reported. The government is seeking information about medical school applicants from each of the past seven years, including test scores, home ZIP codes and the disclosure of any familial relationships to alumni or ties to university donors. The administration also demanded copies of any internal messages at the universities about diversity, equity and inclusion and any correspondence between school officials and pharmaceutical companies about admissions policies.
MARCH 24
Some colleges and universities now have until April 6 to collect and report admissions data that the Education Department says it plans to use to identify unlawful race-based admissions practices, a federal judge ruled. It’s the latest development in a lawsuit 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed against the department earlier this month. But the extension only applies to the public institutions in the states represented in the lawsuit, which does not include Pennsylvania.
MARCH 23
The National Institutes of Health’s abrupt termination of nearly 2,300 federal research grants last year disproportionately affected women researchers and those early in their careers, a new peer-reviewed paper found. Women grantees lost access to a higher percentage of their funding, while early-career researchers faced lost advancement opportunities that could have long-term career effects, according to the analysis, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Student journalists sued University of Alabama trustees over the public institution’s sudden suspension of two campus magazines geared toward women and Black students, Higher Ed Dive reported. University leaders told student staff in December that they had suspended Alice and Nineteen Fifty-Six magazines because the publications “target primarily specific groups” and therefore ran afoul of Trump administration guidance on racial and gender discrimination, according to plaintiffs’ complaint. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued the suspensions violated First Amendment protections against censorship and viewpoint discrimination. They asked a federal court to declare the university’s decision unconstitutional and to restore the publications and funding.
The Trump administration launched two new investigations into Harvard University “amid allegations that it continues to discriminate against students on the basis of race, color, and national origin,” the Department of Education announced in a news release. The department’s Office for Civil Rights said it received new complaints about antisemitic harassment on Harvard’s campus — an issue the administration has already spent a year investigating and which the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit about last week. OCR will also investigate claims that Harvard is continuing to use race-based preferences in admissions.
MARCH 20
Earlier this month, Boston University took down pride flags hanging in outward-facing windows of faculty offices and the women’s, gender, and sexuality-studies program. In explaining why, Melissa L. Gilliam, the university’s president, drew a distinction between speaking for yourself and speaking for the institution. “If you have the privilege of having a window that faces campus, you don’t get the privilege of speaking for the university,” she said at an event last week, according to WBUR.
MARCH 19
The University of North Texas plans to shed over 70 academic programs ranging from certificates to master’s degrees in order to address a $45 million budget shortfall, top UNT leaders announced.
More than 65 organizations, including the NAACP, the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, urged Congress to provide $16.5 billion to fund the Pell Grant’s current and projected shortfalls, according to Inside Higher Ed. In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate, the coalition advocated for Congress to secure $5.45 billion to plug the fiscal year 2026 gap and $11.5 billion for the shortfall projected in FY 2027.
The U.S. Department of Education plans to gradually shift responsibility for the federal government’s roughly $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio to the U.S. Department of Treasury under a new partnership struck between the two agencies announced. Starting out, the Treasury Department will “assume operational responsibility” for collecting on defaulted student loans.
MARCH 18
University of Arizona president Suresh Garimella has refused to sign a memorandum of understanding that details shared governance standards and processes at the university. Faculty records show he is the first president to do so, according to Leila Hudson, an associate professor of Middle East and North African studies at the university and chair of the faculty. Garimella assumed the presidency in October 2024 after a tumultuous exit by former president Robert Robbins, who served for nine years before leaving the post amid a $177 million budget shortfall.
MARCH 16
Florida lawmakers nixed a proposal to limit out-of-state enrollment at some Florida universities, The Orlando Sentinel reported. The measure would have limited the nonresident undergraduate enrollment at the state’s research universities to 5 percent. Out-of-state students made up 15 percent of Florida State University’s most recent first-year class and 20 percent at the University of Florida. State law currently caps out-of-state enrollment at 10 percent on average across Florida’s 12 public universities, the Sentinel reported. The proposed cap would’ve been costly for the affected institutions.
More than 100 Jewish faculty and staff members at UCLA have signed a letter condemning a lawsuit brought by the Trump administration, which accused the campus of tolerating hostility toward Jewish employees. The 131 signatories write that although the lawsuit was filed “ostensibly on our behalf,” it “takes advantage of Jewish concerns about antisemitism to attack free speech and academic freedom.” It “will do absolutely nothing to protect Jews at UCLA,” states the letter. “What it will do is inflict yet more damage to the culture of free expression and inquiry that is the beating heart of the university.”
Education Department Under Secretary Nicholas Kent sent letters to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which does decennial accreditations of Pitt, and the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education, warning them that diversity, equity and inclusion efforts built into their current standards are in conflict with federal law, Inside Higher Ed reported. The department ultimately renewed the accreditors’ federal recognition, but the letters warned them over their existing DEI standards.
MARCH 15
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced an expansion of childcare services at 11 community colleges within the State University of New York (SUNY) system, an effort aimed at helping student parents persist in college and complete credentials in high-demand fields, the EDU Ledger reported. Under the initiative, several SUNY community colleges will extend childcare hours into evenings and weekends or create additional slots for infants and toddlers
MARCH 13
The New School plans to reduce its workforce by 15% through layoffs and eliminating vacant positions in the coming months as it restructures its academic operations and copes with budget deficits, senior leaders told employees. The announced cuts, to take place through the spring, come on top of a 7% workforce reduction that the private university, in New York City, has been making through voluntary buyouts since December.
Oregon State University’s governing board on Friday approved tuition hikes of about 5.8% for returning undergraduate students, 6.3% for new undergrads and 5% for graduate students. The tuition increases, proposed by Oregon State President Jayathi Murthy, comes as the university is facing a $14 million budget gap by year’s end.
The Florida Legislature approved a bill that will allow faculty and staff at the state’s colleges and universities to train as “guardians” and carry guns on campus. To become law, it just needs the approval of Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose December budget proposal allocated $6 million to implement the program at Florida’s 12 universities and 28 colleges, The Orlando Sentinel reported.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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