Welcome back to another edition of The First 100 Days, Inside Higher Ed’s weekly roundup of news from the Hill to the Oval Office. I’m Jessica Blake, the federal policy reporter here, and I’ll be your host today.
It’s day 74 of the second Trump administration, and through the last 11 weeks, as Trump has sought to reshape the Education Department, one question kept coming up: can he do that?
I was wondering the same thing, so I read the law and talked with some experts to see what more Education Secretary Linda McMahon could legally do to close the department. In general, higher education scholars, former department staffers and lawyers told me that she can’t do much more without Congress, though many expected Trump will try to do it alone anyway.
Most of what the Education Department does is codified into a few federal laws, primarily the Higher Education Act of 1965 and the Department of Education Organization Act. The operations they outline for the department include everything from the Office for Civil Rights to the Pell Grant program and all of Federal Student Aid.
But a few conservative experts I spoke to said otherwise. Federal law hardly ever outlines the process for shutting down an agency or programs, they noted, arguing that the secretary has “enough authority … to either completely wind down or at least significantly, significantly trim her own agency.”
In Other News: Investigations and funding cuts continue to pile up. Trump’s antisemitism task force is now reviewing Harvard University’s federal grants and contracts, which total nearly $9 billion. And yes, that’s the same task force that pulled Columbia’s funding and issued all those demands. Want to know more about who is in that group? I’ve got you covered here. Princeton University also found out this week that half of its federal grants were frozen, though the university wasn’t told why. (The Princeton president recently criticized Trump in an Atlantic essay.) And late Thursday night, the Trump administration said it was blocking $510 million at Brown University.
Meanwhile, Trump’s efforts to gut federal agencies carry on. Thousands of employees across the Department of Health and Human Services were fired, and advocates are bracing for deep cuts at the National Endowment for the Humanities. All staff at the Institute of Museum and Library Services were put on administrative leave.
On Tap for Next Week:
- A Senate committee will vote April 9 on two bills aimed at combating antisemitism: the Protecting Students on Campus Act and the Antisemitism Awareness Act.
- We’re watching the Harvard review closely to see if the task force follows its Columbia playbook. Already, the task force has sent Harvard a list of demands. So it’s on Harvard to decide whether to play ball or fight.
- Speaking of playing ball, it will be a big week for college athletics. On April 7 a federal judge will have a final hearing on the sweeping settlement in House v. NCAA, which could usher in revenue-sharing for college athletics. Alongside the flurry of actions from the White House, coaches, athletics directors and student athletes will be in D.C. this week to speak with lawmakers, and a House committee will hold a hearing April 8 on the future of college sports.
That’s the latest from Week 11. We’re nearing the 100-day mark and looking back on how Trump has changed higher ed since taking office. What stands out to you? What’s been the biggest change? Let me know at jessica.blake@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 enjoying the flowers of D.C. estate gardens and catching up on my favorite Survivor podcasts. Have a good weekend!
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