Welcome back for another edition of 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 88 and for me, Week 13 will be remembered as the week that Havard said no and higher ed started to fight back. Harvard’s resounding rejection of the Trump administration’s demands—which one professor called “five pages of insane, censorious overreach”—prompted immediate backlash from the federal government.
Let’s review.
First, hours after Harvard rejected the administration’s ultimatum, the antisemitism task force froze $2.26 billion of Harvard’s nearly $9 billion in federal grants and contracts. Then, President Trump unleashed a tirade on social media, calling the university “a joke” that “teaches Hate and Stupidity.” Now, the IRS is reviewing the university’s tax-exempt status. Oh, and the Department of Homeland Security also threatened to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students.
Now, it’s unclear if or how these threats could be carried out. But they show the Trump administration’s intention to make an example of the wealthiest and oldest college in the country—which is 140 years older than the United States itself.
The winds of resistance picked up elsewhere in higher ed this week as other college leaders started speaking out against the administration's actions, particularly in response to the visa revocations.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Sally Kornbluth warned that the threats and uncertainty for international students “will damage American competitiveness and scientific leadership for years to come.” And on Thursday, University of Wisconsin at Madison chancellor Jennifer Mnookin called the visa revocations “arbitrary and unjust,” arguing that the move “overlooks just how much these students contribute to our university, state and nation.”
In Other News: We analyzed Project 2025, the blueprint for a second Trump administration that the president claimed he had nothing to do with and found that the president or his administration have made at least some progress on nearly one-third of its higher ed–related recommendations.
Our analysis also included the GOP platform, which proposed visa revocations, and a prescient op-ed that called for Trump to “destroy Columbia.” The story, which you should read, includes a searchable database of all the recommendations and their statuses—as well as charts!
What do these blueprints tell us about what’s to come? This might just be the warm-up act. Many expect to see big changes to accreditation along with efforts to overhaul the student loan system. Buckle up, folks.
On Tap For Next Week: We don’t know when exactly, but Trump is expected to release his proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 by the end of this month. Massive cuts are in store, according to several leaked plans. For instance, The Washington Post reported that the budget cuts at the State Department could kill off the Fulbright program. And steep cuts are expected at the Department of Health and Human Services. The Post reported that the budget would cut 40 percent from NIH’s budget and “consolidate NIH’s 27 institutes and centers into just eight.”
So, that’s the latest from me. The end of the first 100 days is near, but this newsletter is sticking around. Any ideas for a new name? What would make this weekly recap more helpful? Let me know 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 sitting on a rooftop somewhere in D.C., soaking up the sunshine. Have a good weekend!
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