5/5/25: Trump Scrutinizes Foreign Gifts, Raising the Stakes for Colleges (Inside Higher Ed) … while colleges could legally lose access to federal student aid because of a failure to comply with Section 117, no institution has yet to face that penalty. But enforcement this time around could carry more risk for colleges, as this administration has shown itself to be more willing to pull a college’s federal funding. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2025/05/05/trump-order-foreign-gifts-could-mean-more-funding
5/5/25: NSF Halts New Funding and Caps Indirect Rate Costs (Inside Higher Ed, COGR quoted) But Matt Owens, president of COGR, which represents research institutions across the nation, called the plan a “disaster in the making for American science & technology and our nation’s continuing competitiveness” in a statement Friday. While COGR said it’s “committed to finding ways to get more for taxpayers’ research investments,” Americans “deserve better than a series of misguided policy proclamations that harm our nation’s research enterprise, economy, health, and security.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/05/05/nsf-halts-new-funding-and-caps-indirect-rate
5/5/25: Department of Transportation, NEA Cut Federal Grants (Inside Higher Ed) U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced Friday that the Department of Transportation eliminated seven “woke university grants,” totaling $54 million…. Hundreds of recipients of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts also received notice Friday that their funding had been withdrawn or terminated, NPR reported. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/05/05/department-transportation-nea-cut-federal-grants
5/5/25: Education researchers sue Trump administration, testing executive power (Hechinger Report) Some of the biggest names in education research — who often oppose each other in scholarly and policy debates — are now united in their desire to fight the cuts to data and scientific studies at the U.S. Department of Education. https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-researchers-sue-trump/
5/4/25: Trump Battles Academia, but Especially the Ivy League (NY Times) The Trump administration has targeted many other colleges and universities for potential antisemitism, some 60 in all. And yet the eight Ivies are cultural touchstones for Mr. Trump. Beyond the politics is a complex brew of resentment and reverence that the president, an Ivy League graduate himself, has long harbored for a club that has never really accepted him. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/us/politics/trump-ivy-league.html
5/2/25: 3 Big Questions at the Heart of Harvard’s Legal Battle With Trump (The Chronicle) I t’s a high-stakes moment not just for the institution, but for the sector. The outcome of the suit will be a defining moment in the escalating conflict between the White House and higher education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/3-big-questions-at-the-heart-of-harvards-legal-battle-with-trump
5/2/25: Trump Halts Grants, Caps Indirect Costs at the National Science Foundation (The Chronicle, COGR quoted) The cuts to support for indirect costs are a “disaster in the making” for the nation’s science, technology, and competitiveness, Matt Owens, the president of COGR (formerly the Council on Governmental Relations), said in a statement Friday. “Thankfully, the courts have thus far prevented earlier attempts to implement such ill-advised policies.” https://www.chronicle.com/article/trump-halts-grants-caps-indirect-costs-at-the-national-science-foundation?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_13418376_nl_Daily-Briefing_date_20250505&sra=true
Read President Matt Owens’ Full Statement Here: https://www.cogr.edu/statement-cogr-president-matt-owens-national-science-foundation-nsf-policy-capping-research-indirect
5/2/25: Trump’s proposed budget would mean ‘disastrous’ cuts to science (Science) The request calls for cutting spending by 37% at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and more than 50% at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the country’s two major science funders. The White House also seeks to eliminate most federal spending on climate and ecological research and would cut NASA’s science budget by more than half, killing major planetary missions. Other agencies would face similarly harsh cuts. https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-s-proposed-budget-would-mean-disastrous-cuts-science
See also: What Trump’s Proposed Budget Cuts Mean for Education, Research (Inside Higher Ed) https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2025/05/02/trump-proposes-deep-cuts-education-and-research
5/2/25: NSF becomes third U.S. science agency to propose smaller overhead payments to universities (Science, COGR quoted): “The third time is not a charm; rather, it is disaster in the making for American science & technology and our nation’s continuing competitiveness,” says Matt Owens of COGR, a coalition of 225 institutions that tracks federal regulatory policies affecting research. “Thankfully, the courts have thus far prevented earlier attempts to implement such ill-advised policies.” https://www.science.org/content/article/nsf-becomes-third-u-s-science-agency-propose-smaller-overhead-payments-universities
Washington Post: National Science Foundation cuts funding for universities (5/2/25) : “From semiconductors, the internet, and MRI scans to 3-D printing and the national Doppler radar network, NSF-funded university research has helped make our nation the global science, innovation, and economic leader. Cutting research indirect cost reimbursement is another step toward surrendering American R&D leadership,” Matt Owens, president of the Council on Government Relations, an association of research institutions, said in an email.
4/30/25: Where Federal Dollars Flow to Universities Around the Country (New York Times) The Trump administration’s moves to freeze federal funding to universities have targeted elite institutions, like Harvard and Columbia. But many other schools are concerned that the administration’s policies threaten the future of research and development programs. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/30/us/university-funding-research.html
