Hello and welcome to The First 100 Days, Inside Higher Ed’s weekly roundup of news from the Hill to the Oval Office. I’m your host, Katherine Knott, the news editor.
It’s Day 67 of the second Trump administration. In Week 10, the administration continued to put pressure on international students who showed support for Palestine in protests, on social media or in op-eds, by revoking students’ visas and grabbing them off the streets. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that his department has canceled 300 student visas so far.
The arrests and deportations have created a “climate of repression and fear on university campuses,” according to a new lawsuit challenging the action of kicking out some students and scholars.
Meanwhile, former staffers at the Education Department are warning that the mass layoffs will lead to technical mishaps and gaps in oversight. Our reporters talked to nearly a dozen laid-off employees about the work they did and their experience with the transition. Safe to say, they are worried about the agency.
“They don’t have the capacity to do their federally mandated work,” one former staffer who worked at the department for over a decade told us. “When they say they do, they’re either lying or willfully ignorant.”
The department still hasn’t publicly outlined a plan for how it will move forward, but President Trump said he wants the Small Business Administration to take over the student loan system. Is that even legal? Several experts say no.
In Other News: We saw more fallout from Columbia University’s decision to agree to Trump’s demands. Faculty rallied outside the gates this week, and then the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers sued to restore the $400 million that the federal government pulled earlier this month.
On Tap for Next Week: Right now, we’re not quite sure what’s in store, but here’s some of what we’re watching for:
- Will Columbia get the $400 million back? Education Secretary Linda McMahon called Columbia’s moves a step in the right direction but didn’t say when—or if—the funding would be restored.
- What will the Trump administration ask of the University of Pennsylvania? Last week, the White House pulled $175 million from Penn over the participation of a transgender athlete three years ago. We haven’t heard yet how Penn could regain the funds.
- The Office for Civil Rights has opened dozens of investigations after ordering colleges to ban race-based programming. What’s the department’s next move?
- Will another higher ed–related executive order drop now that the one to shutter the department is out?
That’s the latest from Week 10. What are you watching for next week from the Trump administration? Email me at katherine.knott@insidehighered.com.
As always, if news breaks this afternoon or over the weekend, you can find the latest at InsideHigherEd.com. In the meantime, I’ll be working on my pickleball swing and enjoying a bit of sunshine. Have a good weekend!
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