The Markup—Oct. 2, 2026

Hello and welcome to The Markup, Inside Higher Ed’s weekly roundup of all things higher ed policy. I’m your host, Katherine Knott, IHE’s news editor.

What a week, y’all. The Senate finally managed to advance legislation to overhaul college sports and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ended civilian tenure at the military academies. Hegseth is also eyeing more changes to his agency’s relationship with higher ed. Meanwhile, the University of California, Los Angeles, says the Justice Department is “weaponizing” federal civil rights laws “to bring institutions of higher education to heel.” (DOJ sued UCLA over allegations related to antisemitism, and the university is seeking to dismiss the case.)

And, speaking of Trump’s Justice Department, the agency filed another lawsuit over policies allowing undocumented students to receive in-state tuition. The target? The University of Delaware.

Now, let’s review some other key developments this week.

1. International education defunded. The Trump administration took away $70 million this week that Congress had appropriated for foreign language programs and another $25 million for migrant students. Key lawmakers and a government watchdog say the move was illegal, but it doesn’t appear at this moment that Congress will save the funding. This is the second time Trump has used a maneuver called the “pocket rescission” to defund programs, but last year’s package didn’t include education funds. 

Higher ed experts said canceling the funds for the language programs could undermine national security and likely lead some programs to close. Recovering from that blow will take years, if not decades, they say. 

The Education Department had planned to award 50 grants in the program, opening up applications in June. Rescinding the funds just pulls “the rug out from underneath everyone in the final days of the fiscal year,” one expert told Jessica Blake, your co-host and our federal policy reporter.

“The justification of the action is a fundamental mischaracterization of the immense importance and value of the program to the nation,” said Craig Lindwarm, senior vice president for governmental affairs at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

2. Trump holds off on major Title IX changes. The rules outlining how colleges must respond to reports of sexual harassment and discrimination, including assault, were back in the headlines this week as the Trump administration said it was formally scrapping the Biden Title IX rules. 

Government officials say the move will bring clarity for families and institutions. But it changes nothing about current Title IX enforcement—the Biden rules were vacated in January 2025 and never took effect nationwide. Since Trump returned to office, the administration has been enforcing the 2020 rules.

In formally reinstating the 2020 regulations, the administration noted that it only made four minor changes. However, more changes are likely, as ED has said it plans to clarify “that implementation of Title IX is to be based on sex, which shall refer exclusively to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.”

The renewed attention on the 2020 regulations also comes as Cornell University faces a growing scandal over how it responded to allegations of a gang rape at a fraternity house. The university says it investigated, consistent with its Title IX policies, and a panel ultimately handed down sanctions, including expulsions. 

Gender justice and survivor advocacy groups have repeatedly argued that the 2020 rules made it more difficult for victims to report sexual harassment. Tracey Vitchers with It’s On Us told reporter Emma Whitford this week that the regulations also incentivized institutions “to let students who perpetrate sexual violence off the hook” and led to divestment in prevention efforts.

“We can see how their Title IX rule directly negatively impacted the safety of not one woman, but … every woman on the campus at Cornell University in the aftermath of this horrific incident,” she said.

Up Ahead

—Harvard University will be in court twice next week as part of its ongoing legal battle against the Trump administration. So far, Harvard has racked up several wins at the district court level, and now the university will take its case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The judges will hear oral arguments in the university’s lawsuit challenging the administration’s funding freezes and efforts to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students. 

Have any questions or comments? Send them along to me at katherine.knott@insidehighered.com.

That’s it for Week 89 of the second Trump administration. As always, if news breaks today or over the weekend, you can find the latest at InsideHigherEd.com. In the meantime, I’ll be napping and trying to figure out how to make my houseplant happy. (And thanks to everyone who shared fall recipes. Keep sending in ideas!)

Just the Headlines

• How Trump’s Pocket Rescissions Could Affect Higher Ed
• Trump Administration Formally Rescinds Biden Title IX Rule
• NIH Plans $174M for Research Replicability, Reproducibility
• Vast Majority of Institutions Found ACTS Data Collection Burdensome
• Hegseth to Military Academies: No New Tenured Civilian Jobs
• Senate Signs Off on College Sports Overhaul
• DOD Partners With Hillsdale, Liberty, LSU, Miss. State, Tuskegee
• DOJ Sues University of Delaware For Noncitizen In-State Tuition Policy

Did someone forward you this email and you want to receive it in your inbox? Sign up to be an Insider now and you’ll get The Markup every Friday as well as access to all our subscriber-only news. Find out more here.