Fed Update: COGR News Digest

5/28/25Inside Higher Ed

Trump Tells Federal Agencies to End Contracts With Harvard

After freezing $2.7 billion in federal funds and trying to cut off Harvard University from enrolling international students, the Trump administration is now moving to end $100 million in contracts with the institution, The Boston Globe and other outlets reported .

New York TimesSee also

What does Trump’s call for ‘gold standard science’ really mean?

But some research advocates, while embracing those principles, think Trump has credibility problems of his own that lead them to question his intent. They note that the new order says nothing about preventing political interference before disseminating scientific findings—which scientists say happened many times during Trump’s first term. “That’s quite an omission,” says Kris West of COGR, a consortium of higher education institutions that track federal research policies. Instead, the order on Restoring Gold Standard Science gives a political appointee the power to decide when those findings need to be “corrected” and to take disciplinary action against those seen as the perpetrators of misinformation. “And putting that power in the hands of a political appointee who doesn’t need to consult with scientific experts before making a decision is very troubling,” West adds.

White HouseSee also

Scientists have lost their jobs or grants in US cuts. Foreign universities want to hire them

As the Trump administration cut billions of dollars in federal funding to scientific research , thousands of scientists in the U.S. lost their jobs or grants — and governments and universities around the world spotted an opportunity

5/24/25New York Times

Universities See Trump’s Harvard Move as a Threat to Them, Too

College officials fear that President Trump may use international enrollment as leverage to demand changes on campuses elsewhere.

5/23/25Fortune

Trump is killing the goose that laid America’s golden eggs

The global competitiveness of the United States has always depended on its universities—on their openness to talent and their commitment to research…. Now, due to Trump’s actions, even life-saving cancer research is being halted midstream as federal grants are frozen and labs shut down

5/19/25NSF

Revision of the Grant General Conditions (GC-1)

Effective for new NSF grants, and funding amendments to existing grants, made on or after May 19, 2025.