\n\tCompiled by SUSAN JONES<\/p>\n
\n\tBy 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\u00a0percent of the estimated $38\u00a0billion it has to distribute in grants and contracts to universities and other research institutions,\u00a0according to<\/a>\u00a0the Association of American Medical Colleges.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe AAMC released an analysis of data from NIH\u2019s\u00a0RePORTER\u00a0site<\/a>, showing it had only obligated $5.8\u00a0billion as of March 20, compared to nearly $9\u00a0billion by that date in the final full fiscal year of the Biden administration. When the NIH \u201cobligates\u201d funding, it has sent an institution a notice saying the dollars are available to its researchers to spend.<\/p>\n \n\tMarch 26<\/p>\n \n\tTwo law schools are launching new loan programs to help close funding gaps created by new limits to federal graduate student loans. The\u00a0University of Kansas<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Washington University in St. Louis<\/a>\u00a0both 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\u00a0Inside Higher Ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tMARCH 25<\/p>\n \n\tThe Trump administration has opened investigations into admissions policies at three major medical schools \u2014 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\u00a0New York Times reported<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n \n\tMARCH 24<\/p>\n \n\tSome 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\u2019s the latest development in a lawsuit\u00a017 Democratic state attorneys general filed against<\/a>\u00a0the department earlier this month. But the\u00a0extension only\u00a0applies to the public institutions in the states represented in the lawsuit, which does not include Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n \n\tMARCH 23<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tThe\u00a0National Institutes of Health\u2019s\u00a0abrupt termination of nearly 2,300 federal research grants last year disproportionately affected women researchers and those early in their careers,\u00a0a new peer-reviewed paper<\/a>\u00a0found. Women grantees lost access to a higher percentage of their funding,\u00a0while 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.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tStudent journalists sued University of Alabama trustees over the public institution\u2019s sudden suspension of two campus magazines geared toward women and Black students,\u00a0Higher Ed Dive reported<\/a>.\u00a0University leaders told student staff in December that they had suspended Alice and Nineteen Fifty-Six magazines because the publications \u201ctarget primarily specific groups\u201d and therefore ran afoul of Trump administration guidance on racial and gender discrimination, according to\u00a0plaintiffs\u2019 complaint<\/a>.\u00a0In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued the suspensions violated First Amendment protections against censorship and viewpoint discrimination. They asked a federal court to\u00a0declare the university\u2019s decision unconstitutional and\u00a0to restore the publications and funding.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tThe Trump administration launched two new investigations into Harvard University \u201camid allegations that it continues to discriminate against students on the basis of race, color, and national origin,\u201d the Department of Education announced in\u00a0a news release<\/a>.\u00a0The department\u2019s Office for Civil Rights said it received new complaints about antisemitic harassment on Harvard\u2019s campus\u00a0\u2014\u00a0an issue the administration has already spent a year investigating and which the Department of Justice\u00a0filed a lawsuit about last week<\/a>. OCR will also investigate claims that Harvard is continuing to use race-based preferences in admissions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMARCH 20<\/p>\n \n\tEarlier this month, Boston University took down pride flags hanging in outward-facing windows of faculty offices and the women\u2019s, gender, and sexuality-studies program. In explaining why, Melissa L. Gilliam, the university\u2019s president, drew a distinction between speaking for yourself and speaking for the institution. \u201cIf you have the privilege of having a window that faces campus, you don\u2019t get the privilege of speaking for the university,\u201d she said at an event last week,\u00a0according to WBUR<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tMARCH 19<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tThe University of North Texas\u00a0plans to shed over 70 academic programs ranging from certificates to master\u2019s degrees in order to address a $45 million budget shortfall,\u00a0top UNT leaders announced<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore 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\u00a0billion to fund the Pell Grant\u2019s current and projected shortfalls,\u00a0according to Inside Higher Ed<\/a>. In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate, the coalition advocated for Congress to secure $5.45\u00a0billion to plug the fiscal year 2026 gap and $11.5\u00a0billion for the shortfall projected in FY 2027.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tThe U.S. Department of Education\u00a0plans to gradually shift responsibility<\/a>\u00a0for the federal government\u2019s roughly $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio to the U.S. Department of Treasury under a new partnership struck between the two agencies announced.\u00a0Starting out, the Treasury Department will \u201cassume operational responsibility\u201d for collecting on defaulted student loans.<\/p>\n \n\tMARCH 18<\/p>\n \n\tUniversity of Arizona president Suresh Garimella has\u00a0refused to sign a memorandum of understanding<\/a>\u00a0that 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\u00a0tumultuous exit by former president Robert Robbins<\/a>, who served for nine years before leaving the post amid a $177\u00a0million budget shortfall.<\/p>\n \n\tMARCH 16<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tFlorida lawmakers nixed a proposal to limit out-of-state enrollment at some Florida universities,\u00a0The Orlando Sentinel\u00a0reported<\/a>. The measure would have limited the nonresident undergraduate enrollment at the state\u2019s research universities to 5\u00a0percent. Out-of-state students made up 15\u00a0percent of Florida State University\u2019s most recent first-year class and 20\u00a0percent at the University of Florida. State law currently caps out-of-state enrollment at 10\u00a0percent on average across Florida\u2019s 12 public universities, the\u00a0Sentinel\u00a0reported. The proposed cap would\u2019ve been costly for the affected institutions.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore 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 \u201costensibly on our behalf,\u201d it \u201ctakes advantage of Jewish concerns about antisemitism to attack free speech and academic freedom.\u201d It \u201cwill do absolutely nothing to protect Jews at UCLA,\u201d\u00a0states the letter<\/a>. \u201cWhat it will do is inflict yet more damage to the culture of free expression and inquiry that is the beating heart of the university.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEducation 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,\u00a0Inside Higher Ed reported<\/a>. The department ultimately renewed the accreditors\u2019 federal recognition, but the letters warned them over their existing DEI standards.<\/p>\n \n\tMARCH 15<\/p>\n \n\tNew 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\u00a0EDU Ledger reported<\/a>. \u00a0Under the initiative, several SUNY community colleges will extend childcare hours into evenings and weekends or create additional slots for infants and toddlers<\/p>\n \n\tMARCH 13<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tThe 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.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tOregon State University\u2019s 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\u00a0a $14 million budget gap<\/a>\u00a0by year\u2019s end.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tThe Florida Legislature approved a bill that will allow faculty and staff at the state\u2019s colleges and universities to\u00a0train as \u201cguardians\u201d and carry guns on campus<\/a>. To become law, it just needs the approval of Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose December budget proposal allocated $6\u00a0million to implement the program at Florida\u2019s 12 universities and 28 colleges,\u00a0The Orlando Sentinel\u00a0reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSusan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at\u00a0suejones@pitt.edu<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0724-244-4042.<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tHave a story idea or news to share?\u00a0Share<\/a>\u00a0it with the University Times.<\/p>\n