Discussion: View Thread

Judge Halts NIH Policy That Could Cost Universities Billions After 22 States Sue to Stop It: A federal judge on Monday halted the National Institutes of Health's overhead-funding cap after 22 states sued the agency, arguing in their complaint that "work to cure and treat human disease will grind to a halt" because of the move. That pause, though, applies only in the suing states. 

Trump Wants to Cut Billions in Research Spending. Here's How Much It Might Cost Your University. A plan by the Trump administration to reduce government spending on research by billions of dollars has raised anxieties within higher education and among those who carry out the nation's biomedical research.

The Review: What's Chris Rufo doing in the Education Department? Infamously, President Trump has said he wants to eliminate the Education Department; it seems possible that Rufo has been deputized to uncover scandalous tidbits meant to support such a move. Whatever "ideological corruption" Rufo uncovers will almost certainly involve diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, targeted in two recent Trump executive orders now being challenged in court by the American Association of University Professors. (In a post on Substack written this past weekend, Rufo describes the Trump administration's plan to use the power of the federal purse "to force universities to wind down discriminatory DEI bureaucracies and to uphold the standard of colorblind equality.")

'We're Being Punished': NIH Tosses Some Grant Applications From Minority Researchers: The National Institutes of Health has suddenly withdrawn researchers' applications for a prestigious grant that were submitted with a diversity notation - effectively disqualifying many early-career academics from underrepresented backgrounds.

A University System Ends Diversity-Related Gen-Ed Requirements, Citing Trump Order:  North Carolina's public-university system is suspending all general-education and major-specific course requirements related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, citing a Trump administration executive order.

Race on Campus: DEI under attack at the federal level: Three Trump orders that Could Change Higher ed: President Trump could drastically change hiring and employment practices. During the first week of his second term, President Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, including one to rescind the Equal Employment Opportunity order signed in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The goal is to root out diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the federal government. The order applies to federal contractors and likely to the majority of colleges that receive federal funding or financial aid. Our Katherine Mangan outlined how this could change hiring at public and private colleges.

Update on NIH's Supplemental Guidance (Indirect Cost Rates) As an important update, close to midnight last night (February 10), the court issued a nationwide TRO in the action brought by Ropes & Gray on behalf of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the Association for Schools and Programs of Public Health, the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals, and the Greater New York Hospital Association.  The court enjoined Defendant agencies NIH, HHS, and their officers and employees "from taking any steps to implement, apply, or enforce the Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates (NOTOD-25-068), issued by the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health on February 7, 2025, in any form with respect to institutions nationwide until further order is issued by this Court."  We will continue to keep you apprised.

Judge Halts NIH Policy That Could Cost Universities Billions After 22 States Sue to Stop It: A federal judge on Monday halted the National Institutes of Health's overhead-funding cap after 22 states sued the agency, arguing in their complaint that "work to cure and treat human disease will grind to a halt" because of the move. That pause, though, applies only in the suing states. 

Trump Wants to Cut Billions in Research Spending. Here's How Much It Might Cost Your University. A plan by the Trump administration to reduce government spending on research by billions of dollars has raised anxieties within higher education and among those who carry out the nation's biomedical research.

The Review: What's Chris Rufo doing in the Education Department? Infamously, President Trump has said he wants to eliminate the Education Department; it seems possible that Rufo has been deputized to uncover scandalous tidbits meant to support such a move. Whatever "ideological corruption" Rufo uncovers will almost certainly involve diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, targeted in two recent Trump executive orders now being challenged in court by the American Association of University Professors. (In a post on Substack written this past weekend, Rufo describes the Trump administration's plan to use the power of the federal purse "to force universities to wind down discriminatory DEI bureaucracies and to uphold the standard of colorblind equality.")

'We're Being Punished': NIH Tosses Some Grant Applications From Minority Researchers: The National Institutes of Health has suddenly withdrawn researchers' applications for a prestigious grant that were submitted with a diversity notation - effectively disqualifying many early-career academics from underrepresented backgrounds.

A University System Ends Diversity-Related Gen-Ed Requirements, Citing Trump Order:  North Carolina's public-university system is suspending all general-education and major-specific course requirements related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, citing a Trump administration executive order.

Race on Campus: DEI under attack at the federal level: Three Trump orders that Could Change Higher ed: President Trump could drastically change hiring and employment practices. During the first week of his second term, President Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, including one to rescind the Equal Employment Opportunity order signed in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The goal is to root out diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the federal government. The order applies to federal contractors and likely to the majority of colleges that receive federal funding or financial aid. Our Katherine Mangan outlined how this could change hiring at public and private colleges.