4/16/25: Trump’s Demands of Harvard Escalate His War on Higher Ed (Inside Higher Ed) Higher ed leaders and experts say the Trump administration’s harsh list of demands of Harvard gave it no choice but to fight back. Will other institutions do the same? https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2025/04/16/trumps-demands-harvard-escalate-his-war-higher-ed
See also: What Harvard could lose in its battle with the Trump administration (Washington Post) https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/04/15/harvard-federal-funding-trump-administration/
See also: Scientists Rally behind Harvard’s Stand against Trump Interference despite Risk to Research (Scientific American) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/harvards-stand-against-trump-interference-cheered-by-scientists-despite-risk/
See also: Harvard stands to lose $2.2 billion in federal funding. Researchers fear science will suffer (AP) https://apnews.com/article/harvard-federal-funding-endowment-30223b66c7adc77c8e5313111ede411e
4/16/25: Columbia Appears to Reject Consent Decree (Inside Higher Ed) Columbia University acting president Claire Shipman emphasized the importance of maintaining institutional autonomy in a message Monday night that seemed to tacitly reject a potential consent decree with the Trump administration amid demands for reform at Columbia. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/04/16/columbia-appears-reject-consent-decree
4/16/25: NIH Resumes Key Grant Review Panels (Inside Higher Ed) After a months-long pause, advisory councils for the National Institutes of Health are restarting, paving the way for the final approval of grants. Experts say it’s an encouraging sign for the $47 billion agency. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/04/16/nih-resumes-key-grant-review-panels
4/15/25: ‘A multi-front war’: How a lobbying heavyweight is advising universities to handle the Trump administration (Politico) President Donald Trump swept into power earlier this year and almost immediately began using his bully pulpit — and the federal government’s leverage, in the form of massive amounts of funding for contracts and grants — to embark on an unprecedented pressure campaign against some of the country’s oldest and most revered institutions of higher education. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/15/lobbyists-higher-education-trump-universities-00290690
4/15/25: Inside Trump’s Plan to Halt Hundreds of Regulations (New York Times) At Mr. Trump’s direction , agency officials are compiling the regulations they have tagged for the ash heap, racing to meet a deadline next week after which the White House will build its master list to guide what the president called the “deconstruction of the overbearing and burdensome administrative state.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/us/politics/trump-doge-regulations.html
4/15/25: Universities begin search for indirect-cost fix that might assuage Trump administration (STAT, COGR is part of this joint association effort, see listserv message of 4/8/25) Last week, several organizations representing universities and other research institutions announced an effort to develop a “simple and easily explained model” of funding indirect costs that is “more efficient and transparent.” The Trump administration has doubled down on its proposal to charge a uniform 15% rate for NIH indirect costs, with the Department of Energy announcing Friday it would cap indirect cost payments at the same level, a proposal that is also being challenged in court . https://www.statnews.com/2025/04/15/nih-indirect-costs-lawsuit-universities-explore-research-funding-options/
4/15/25: NSF scraps most outside advisory panels (Science) In response to President Donald Trump’s campaign to shrink the federal government, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has abolished its chief mechanism for getting the scientific community’s input on its programs. https://www.science.org/content/article/nsf-scraps-most-outside-advisory-panels See New NSF FAQ: 4/15/25: NEW: What is the status of NSF’s advisory committees?
4/15/25: Federal Judge Blocks Labor Department From Enforcing Key Part of Trump’s Anti-DEI Executive Orders (US News and World Report) A federal judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the U.S. Department of Labor from requiring government contractors and grant recipients to certify they do not operate any diversity, equity and inclusion programs that run afoul of anti-discrimination laws until further order from the court. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/illinois/articles/2025-04-15/federal-judge-blocks-labor-department-from-enforcing-key-part-of-trumps-anti-dei-executive-orders
4/15/25: Trump EOs aim to overhaul federal procurement, contracting systems (Fed Scoop) The procurement order takes aim at the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which the White House says has evolved “into an excessive and overcomplicated regulatory framework and resulting in an onerous bureaucracy.” To “create the most agile, effective, and efficient procurement system possible,” Trump’s EO calls for the removal of “undue barriers” and “unnecessary regulations” in procurement. As part of that approach, the order says “FAR should contain only provisions required by statute or essential to sound procurement, and any FAR provisions that do not advance these objectives should be removed.” https://fedscoop.com/trump-executive-order-federal-procurement-contracting/
See also: Trump orders major changes to rules covering $1T in federal spending (NextGov) https://www.nextgov.com/acquisition/2025/04/trump-orders-major-changes-rules-covering-1t-federal-spending/404590/
4/15/25: OSTP Director Kratsios Calls for ‘Creative’ Approach to R&D Spending (Meritalk) In his first public remarks since his Senate confirmation, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Michael Kratsios said the United States must make “smart choices” to creatively distribute its research and development (R&D) funding and speed up the pace of R&D awards. https://www.meritalk.com/articles/ostp-director-kratsios-calls-for-creative-approach-to-rd-spending/
4/15/25: International students in the U.S. are reeling amid revoked visas and terminated records (Science) For a biochemist working in health science after earning her doctoral degree in the United States, a similar termination came the week she was selected for a coveted H-1B visa, used by employers to hire skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations. “I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel,” she says, “then everything I worked hard to obtain was taken away all of the sudden.” And for a postdoc in computer science, the termination has meant filing a lawsuit to prevent his deportation. https://www.science.org/content/article/international-students-u-s-are-reeling-amid-revoked-visas-and-terminated-records
4/15/25: HHS Opposes States’ Bid to Restore $11 Billion in Health Grants (Bloomberg Law) The states aren’t likely to win their suit over the cancellation of grants that date back to the Covid-19 pandemic because the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island doesn’t have subject matter jurisdiction over the lawsuit, the agency said Monday. The US Supreme Court recently paused an order requiring the restoration of education-related grants, saying the suit likely belonged in the US Court of Federal Claims, it said. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/pharma-and-life-sciences/hhs-opposes-states-bid-to-restore-11-billion-in-health-grants?context=search&index=17
4/15/25: Federal Grants Website Gets DOGE’d (Inside Higher Ed) The Department of Government Efficiency has taken control of a federal website that universities and other organizations use to find out about—and apply for—federal grant opportunities, The Washington Post reported Friday. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/04/15/federal-grants-website-gets-doged
4/14/25: What are colleges’ legal options when threatened with federal funding cuts? (Higher Ed Dive) Higher education experts said colleges could work together or lean on their associations if they take up a legal fight against the Trump administration. https://www.highereddive.com/news/legal-options-colleges-facing-trump-funding-cuts/745183/
4/14/25: Inside Trump’s Pressure Campaign on Universities (Inside Higher Ed) The administration’s campaign to expunge “woke” ideology from college campuses had already forced Columbia University to strike a deal. Now, the White House was eyeing the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/us/politics/trump-pressure-universities.html
4/14/25: US universities sue Energy Department over research cuts (Reuters) The universities – which include Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, California Institute of Technology, and the University of Illinois – asked a federal judge in Boston to immediately block Republican President Donald Trump’s administration from moving forward with a policy change meant to reduce government spending in support of “indirect” research costs, which are not readily attributable to specific projects. https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-universities-sue-energy-department-over-research-cuts-2025-04-14/
4/14/25: DOE sharply cuts funds for indirect costs of university research (AIP, COGR Quoted) COGR recently issued a document of recommendations to improve government efficiency in research management and joined other research associations in announcing an effort to develop a new funding model for indirect costs. DOE’s press release says that the average rate of indirect costs incurred by the department’s grant recipients at colleges and universities is more than 30%. https://ww2.aip.org/newsletter/00000196-3572-d554-ad9f-75fa8b520010
See also: Lawsuit: DOE cuts would ‘devastate’ university research (E&E Politico) https://www.eenews.net/articles/lawsuit-doe-cuts-would-devastate-university-research/
4/12/25: The science speaks for itself — but it needs an amplifier to be heard (The Hill Opinion) https://thehill.com/opinion/education/5243401-science-communication-failure/
4/11/25: DOJ Data Security Program FAQS: https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1396351/dl
4/10/25: Regulatory Flexibility Act : Improved Policies for Analysis and Training Could Enhance Compliance (GAO-25-106950) Concerns about how federal regulations affect small entities like businesses, governments, and nonprofits prompted the Regulatory Flexibility Act in 1980. It directs agencies to consider economic impacts to small entities—and ways to minimize them—when proposing rules. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-106950
4/6/25: MSU President: Partnership between research universities and government drives innovation (Detroit News) https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2025/04/06/msu-president-partnership-between-research-universities-and-government-drives-innovation/82865101007/
