Panunzio Awards for 2024-25

From an email by VC Michael Levine: The 2024-2025 Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award honoring Emeriti Professors in the University of California system has been awarded to Distinguished Research Professor Emerita of Anthropology Diane Gifford-Gonzalez (UC Santa Cruz) and Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus Howard Giles (UC Santa Barbara).

UC Emeriti Professors Gifford-Gonzalez and Giles are the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth recipients of the Constantine Panunzio Award. Both awardees have especially long and notable records of research, teaching, and service to the University of California, their disciplines, and their communities. The late Dr. Panunzio, a Professor of Sociology at UCLA for many years, has been described as the architect of the UC Retirement System and was particularly active in improving pensions and stipends for his fellow Emeriti. The award bearing his name was established in 1983 and includes a $5,000 prize. The Panunzio Award exemplifies the tremendous contributions of Emeriti to the continued excellence of the UC System.

Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, UC Santa Cruz, Distinguished Research Professor Emerita of Anthropology retired in 2015. Professor Emerita Gifford-Gonzalez is internationally recognized as one the foremost authorities in zooarchaeology and continues to provide intellectual and committed leadership to her discipline. Her expertise intersects archaeology, zooarchaeology, gender, the history of pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Indigenous communities in California’s Monterey Bay area. Her research has led to real-world impacts including the successful disposition of ancestral remains for the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Coastanoan/Ohlone Indians, and an ongoing eco-archaeological project to examine diverse lines of evidence for Indigenous landscape and seascape stewardship practices over 7000 years on the Central California Coast. Having been a founding cohort of zooarchaeology, the study of human-animal interactions, in 2018 she published the leading textbook – An Introduction to Zooarchaeology. Her scholarship continues with publications in leading peer-reviewed journals; she has served as the keynote speaker at three major international conferences, and has given Distinguished Lectures, including at the Institute for Human History at the Max Planck Institute in Jena (2017). Professor Emerita Gifford-Gonzalez has received significant recognition for her research with honors, and among them are election to the National Academy of Sciences (2024), appointed as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Anthropology Section (2023), is the recipient of the Distinguished Social Sciences Emeriti Faculty Award from UCSC (2020), as well as being a Fellow, Centre for Advanced Study, Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, Oslo (2015-2016). Service to her campus continues with supervision of doctoral students, service on UCSC senate committees, the Nature Reserves Advisory Committee, and the Emeriti Association (2023-2024).

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Howard Giles, UC Santa Barbara, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Communication retired in 2017. Since becoming an Emeritus Professor, Howard Giles has retained his influence in the multi-disciplinary fields of social psychology of language and communication; intergenerational communication and aging; and intergroup communication more broadly. He is widely considered the leading scholar in these disciplines and is viewed as the “Architect of Communication Scholarship.” His research productivity since retirement focuses on three domains: aging, Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) which he founded, and police-community relations. Works include a co-authored book, eight special journal issues, 47 coauthored peer-reviewed articles, and numerous other publications and significant editorial work, in addition to national and international paper presentations. Recognition has been bestowed upon him with two professional associations naming awards in his honor, the “Inaugural Giles Mentorship Award” from the International Association of Language & Social Psychology and the “Howard Giles Top Student Paper Award” from the International Communication Association. His contributions include continued service to his campus, teaching, and mentorship. Since 2021 he has been an affiliate of UCSB’s Center for Aging & Longevity Studies. Post retirement he became a fellow in a number of societies, and in 2023 he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. In addition to his dedication to students and UCSB, his commitment to campus-community relationships is reflected in his service as the Director of the Volunteer in Policing Corp for the Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD), earning him a nomination as the SBPD Civilian Supervisor of the Year Award. His involvement in this area of police-community relations has also resulted in collaborations with the police department, including a handbook on policing and communication as well as an intervention program called VOICES that promotes dialog between the police and marginalized members of the community.

Direct Pay for Student-Athletes Is Coming (if it isn't already here) - Part 2

From KCCI and AP: The NCAA passed rules...  that would upend decades of precedent by allowing colleges to pay their athletes per terms of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit settlement expected to go into effect this summer. The nine proposals passed by the NCAA board were largely expected but still mark a defining day in the history of college sports. An athlete's ability to be paid directly by his or her university is on track to be enshrined in a rulebook that has forbidden that kind of relationship for decades.

For the NCAA rules to officially go into effect, the changes prescribed by the House settlement still have to be granted final approval by a federal judge, whose hearing earlier this month led to questions about potential tweaks before the new guidelines are supposed to go into play on July 1. The changes will eliminate around 150 rules and alter many others in the NCAA's sprawling rulebook. They essentially codify measures set up by the settlement, including:

• Modifying bylaws to allow schools to pay the athletes directly.
• Eliminating scholarship limits for teams, while also setting roster limits that are designed to replace the scholarship caps. Some details of the roster limits, which were a key sticking point in the April 7 hearing, will be finalized later.
• Establishing annual reporting requirements for schools that pay athletes; a payment pool is set to be approximately $20.5 million for the biggest schools beginning next academic year.
• Setting up a clearinghouse for all name, image and likeness (NIL) deals that come from third parties and are worth $600 or more.
• Granting authority to an enforcement body being developed by the conferences named as defendants in the lawsuit to enforce the new rules passed to implement terms of the settlement. This includes compliance with all the new facets coming into play in college sports — roster limits, payment of direct benefits to players and meeting requirements for the third-party deals.

One change allows for the creation of technology platforms for schools to monitor payments to athletes and for the athletes to report their third-party NIL deals. The board also approved a requirement for athletes to be enrolled full-time and meeting requirements toward their degree to receive the benefits...

Full story at https://www.kcci.com/article/ncaa-athlete-payment-rules/64552879.

 

Missing Persons?

The statement below was released this past week by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. Lots of signatories from university and college leaders, but none from UC with the exception of Chancellor Kim Wilcox of UC-Riverside were on the original. UCLA Chancellor Frenk added his name subsequently as did the chancellors of Merced, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and San Diego. Still later, UC President Drake and the remaining chancellors signed on.

A Call for Constructive Engagement

As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education. We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses. We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding.

America’s system of higher learning is as varied as the goals and dreams of the students it serves. It includes research universities and community colleges; comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges; public institutions and private ones; freestanding and multi-site campuses. Some institutions are designed for all students, and others are dedicated to serving particular groups. Yet, American institutions of higher learning have in common the essential freedom to determine, on academic grounds, whom to admit and what is taught, how, and by whom. Our colleges and universities share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation.

Because of these freedoms, American institutions of higher learning are essential to American prosperity and serve as productive partners with government in promoting the common good. Colleges and universities are engines of opportunity and mobility, anchor institutions that contribute to economic and cultural vitality regionally and in our local communities. They foster creativity and innovation, provide human resources to meet the fast-changing demands of our dynamic workforce, and are themselves major employers. They nurture the scholarly pursuits that ensure America’s leadership in research, and many provide healthcare and other essential services. Most fundamentally, America’s colleges and universities prepare an educated citizenry to sustain our democracy.

The price of abridging the defining freedoms of American higher education will be paid by our students and our society. On behalf of our current and future students, and all who work at and benefit from our institutions, we call for constructive engagement that improves our institutions and serves our republic.

Signed, [original signatures only]

Jonathan Alger, President, American University

Barbara K. Altmann, President, Franklin & Marshall College

Suzanne Ames, President, Peninsula College

Carmen Twillie Ambar, President, Oberlin College

Denise A. Battles, President, SUNY Geneseo

Ian Baucom, Incoming President, Middlebury College

Allan Belton, President, Pacific Lutheran University

Hubert Benitez, President, Saint Peter's University

Joanne Berger-Sweeney, President, Trinity College (CT)

Michael A. Bernstein, President, The College of New Jersey

Audrey Bilger, President, Reed College

Erik J. Bitterbaum, President, SUNY Cortland

Sarah Bolton, President, Whitman College

Mary H. Bonderoff, President, SUNY Delhi

Eric Boynton, President, Beloit College

Elizabeth H. Bradley, President, Vassar College

Brian Bruess, President, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University

Adam Bush, President, College Unbound

Alison Byerly, President, Carleton College

Wendy Cadge, President and Professor of Sociology, Bryn Mawr College

Nancy Cantor, President, Hunter College CUNY

Alberto Jose Cardelle, President, SUNY Oneonta

Brian W. Casey, President, Colgate University

Ana Mari Cauce, Professor and President, University of Washington

Andrea Chapdelaine, President, Connecticut College

Thom D. Chesney, President, Southwestern College (NM)

Bryan F. Coker, President, Maryville College

Ronald B. Cole, President, Allegheny College

Soraya Coley, President, Cal Poly Pomona

Jennifer Collins, President, Rhodes College

John Comerford, President, Otterbein University

Marc C. Conner, President, Skidmore College

Joy Connolly, President, American Council of Learned Societies

La Jerne Terry Cornish, President, Ithaca College

Grant Cornwell, President, Rollins College

Isiaah Crawford, President, University of Puget Sound

Gregory G. Dell'Omo, President, Rider University

Kent Devereaux, President, Goucher College

Jim Dlugos, Interim President, Landmark College

Bethami Dobkin, President, Westminster University

Harry Dumay, President, Elms College

Christopher L. Eisgruber, President, Princeton University

Michael A. Elliott, President, Amherst College

Alexander Enyedi, President, SUNY Plattsburgh

Jane Fernandes, President, Antioch College

Roland Fernandes, General Secretary, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry

Damian J. Fernandez, President, Warren Wilson College

David Fithian, President, Clark University

Lisa C. Freeman, President, Northern Illinois University

Robert Gaines, Acting President, Pomona College

James Gandre, President, Manhattan School of Music

Alan M. Garber, President, Harvard University

Jay D. Gatrell, President, Eastern Illinois University

Michael H. Gavin, President, Delta College

Mark D. Gearan, President, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Melissa Gilliam, President, Boston University

Lane A. Glenn, President, Northern Essex Community College

Jorge G. Gonzalez, President, Kalamazoo College

Jonathan D. Green, President, Susquehanna University

David A. Greene, President, Colby College

William R. Groves, Chancellor, Antioch University

Jeremy Haefner, Chancellor, University of Denver

Yoshiko Harden, President, Renton Technical College

Anne F. Harris, President, Grinnell College

James T. Harris, President, University of San Diego

Marjorie Hass, President, Council of Independent Colleges

Richard J. Helldobler, President, William Paterson University

Wendy Hensel, President, University of Hawaii

James Herbert, President, University of New England

Doug Hicks, President, Davidson College

Mary Dana Hinton, President, Hollins University

Danielle R. Holley, President, Mount Holyoke College

Jonathan Holloway, President, Rutgers University

Robin Holmes-Sullivan, President, Lewis & Clark College

Robert H. Huntington, President, Heidelberg University

Nicole Hurd, President, Lafayette College

Wolde-Ab Isaac, Chancellor, Riverside Community College District

Karim Ismaili, President, Eastern Connecticut State University

J. Larry Jameson, President, University of Pennsylvania

Garry W. Jenkins, President, Bates College

Paula A. Johnson, President, Wellesley College

John E. Jones III, President, Dickinson College

Katrina Bell Jordan, President, Northeastern Illinois University

Cristle Collins Judd, President, Sarah Lawrence College

David L. Kaufman, President, Capital University

Colleen Perry Keith, President, Goldey-Beacom College

Marisa Kelly, President, Suffolk University

Julie Johnson Kidd, President, Endeavor Foundation

Jonathan Koppell, President, Montclair State University

Sally Kornbluth, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Julie Kornfeld, President, Kenyon College

Michael I. Kotlikoff, President, Cornell University

Paula Krebs, Executive Director, Modern Language Association

Sunil Kumar, President, Tufts University

Bobbie Laur, President, Campus Compact

Frederick M. Lawrence, Secretary and CEO, Phi Beta Kappa Society

Linda M. LeMura, President, Le Moyne College

Hilary L. Link, President, Drew University

Patricia A. Lynott, President, Rockford University

Heidi Macpherson, President, SUNY Brockport

John Maduko, President, Connecticut State Community College

Lynn Mahoney, President, San Francisco State University

Daniel Mahony, President, Southern Illinois University

Maud S. Mandel, President, Williams College

Christine Mangino, President, Queensborough Community College

Amy Marcus-Newhall, President, Scripps College

Felix V. Matos-Rodriguez, Chancellor, City University of New York (CUNY)

Anne E. McCall, President, The College of Wooster

Richard L. McCormick, Interim President, Stony Brook University

Michael McDonald, President, Great Lakes Colleges Association

James McGrath, President and Dean, Cooley Law School

Patricia McGuire, President, Trinity Washington University

Maurie McInnis, President, Yale University

Elizabeth M. Meade, President, Cedar Crest College

Scott D. Miller, President, Virginia Wesleyan University

Jennifer Mnookin, Chancellor, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Robert Mohrbacher, President, Centralia College

Chris Moody, Executive Director, ACPA-College Student Educators International

Tomas Morales, President, California State University San Bernardino

Milton Moreland, President, Centre College

Kathryn Morris, President, St. Lawrence University

Ross Mugler, Board Chair and Acting President and CEO, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges

Krista L. Newkirk, President, University of Redlands

Stefanie D. Niles, President, Cottey College

Claire Oliveros, President, Riverside City College

Robyn Parker, Interim President, Saybrook University

Lynn Pasquerella, President, American Association of Colleges and Universities

Laurie L. Patton, President, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Beth Paul, President, Nazareth University

Christina Paxson, President, Brown University

Rob Pearigen, Vice-Chancellor and President, University of the South

Deidra Peaslee, President, Saint Paul College

Eduardo M. Peñalver, President, Seattle University

Ora Pescovitz, President, Oakland University

Darryll J. Pines, President, University of Maryland

Nicola Pitchford, President, Dominican University of California

Kevin Pollock, President, Central Carolina Technical College

Susan Poser, President, Hofstra University

Paul C. Pribbenow, President, Augsburg University

Vincent Price, President, Duke University

Robert Quinn, Executive Director, Scholars at Risk Network

Wendy E. Raymond, President, Haverford College

Christopher M. Reber, President, Hudson County Community College

Andrew Rehfeld, President, Hebrew Union College

Suzanne M. Rivera, President, Macalester College

Michael S. Roth, President, Wesleyan University

James Ryan, President, University of Virginia

Vincent Rougeau, President, College of the Holy Cross

Kurt L. Schmoke, President, University of Baltimore

Carol Geary Schneider, Acting Executive Director, Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement Coalition

Sean M. Scott, President and Dean, California Western School of Law

Zaldwaynaka Scott, President, Chicago State University

Philip J. Sisson, President, Middlesex Community College (MA)

Suzanne Smith, President, SUNY Potsdam

Valerie Smith, President, Swarthmore College

Paul Sniegowski, President, Earlham College

Barbara R. Snyder, President, Association of American Universities

Stephen Snyder, Interim President, Middlebury College

Rachel Solemsaas, President, North Seattle College

Weymouth Spence, President, Washington Adventist University

Terri Standish-Kuon, President and CEO, Independent Colleges of Washington

G. Gabrielle Starr, President, Pomona College

Karen A. Stout, President, Achieving the Dream

Tom Stritikus, President, Occidental College

Julie Sullivan, President, Santa Clara University

Aondover Tarhule, President, Illinois State University

Glena Temple, President, Dominican University

Steven J. Tepper. President, Hamilton College

Kellye Y. Testy, CEO, Association of American Law Schools

Tania Tetlow, President, Fordham University

Strom C. Thacker, President, Pitzer College

Scott L. Thomas, President, Sterling College

Stephen Thorsett, President, Willamette University

Joel Towers, President, The New School

Deborah Trautman, President and CEO, American Association of Colleges of Nursing

Satish K. Tripathi, President, University at Buffalo, SUNY

James Troha, President, Juniata College

Kyaw Moe Tun, President, Parami University

Brad Tyndall, President, Central Wyoming College

LaTanya Tyson, President, Carolina Christian College

Matthew P. vandenBerg, President, Ohio Wesleyan University

James Vander Hooven, President, Mount Wachusett Community College

Laura R. Walker, President, Bennington College

Yolanda Watson Spiva, President, Complete College America

Phil Weilerstein, President, VentureWell

Michaele Whelan, President, Wheaton College

Manya C. Whitaker, Interim President, Colorado College

Julie A. Manley White, Chancellor and CEO, Pierce College

Kim A. Wilcox, Chancellor, University of California, Riverside

Sarah Willie-LeBreton, President, Smith College

Safa R. Zaki, President, Bowdoin College

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Source: https://www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-call-for-constructive-engagement.

Cracks in Harvard's United Front

From the NY Times: To much of academia, many on the left and some on the right, Harvard is a hero for standing up to the White House and rejecting its demands to reshape academic and student life. After weeks of major law firms and other prestigious institutions like Columbia University acquiescing to President Trump’s demands, Harvard, in the eyes of Mr. Trump’s critics, had become the backbone of the resistance. 

...But the Harvard Corporation is, in many ways, an unwitting hero. For weeks leading up to the April 11 letter, the corporation took a very different stance toward the Trump administration. At the urging of some of its biggest donors, the corporation frantically tried to cut a deal with Mr. Trump... Even now, some of Harvard’s most influential donors, including Mr. [John] Paulson and William A. Ackman, the chief executive of the hedge fund Pershing Square, believe it is a mistake to fight with the president, according to people who have been briefed on their opinions. 

...In late March, [Harvard President Alan] Garber abruptly canceled a long-planned trip to meet with alumni in India. Harvard hired William A. Burck, a lawyer who serves as an outside ethics adviser to the Trump Organization, and instructed him to start engaging with the administration. Harvard Corporation members were briefed that there was some early progress. Harvard then made an offering of sorts to its critics. The school said the director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies would be leaving his position. Conservatives had been pushing for such a move for months, arguing that the center fomented antisemitic views on campus. Not long after, Dr. Garber called [Trump son-in-law Jared] Kushner, the Harvard alumnus with perhaps the most direct connection to President Trump, to ask for help.

...On a call [April 17], [Board member Penny] Pritzker and Dr. Garber asked for input from about a dozen large donors. Many of the donors implored the corporation to slow down and negotiate for the sake of the institution, according to three donors on the call. Mr. Paulson, who has given $400 million to Harvard, encouraged the corporation to soften its stance and seek “productive” discussions, according to two donors on the call. Michael Bloomberg was one of the few pushing for a fight.

...Dr. Garber seemed to concede that the White House had raised reasonable issues about antisemitism. “We agree with a lot of what is in the government’s letter,” Dr. Garber said, according to a person on the call. Dr. Garber declined to be interviewed. A spokesman said that during the donor call the Harvard president “did acknowledge — as he has on numerous occasions previously — the serious concerns over antisemitism on campus and a lack of viewpoint diversity.” ...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/business/harvard-trump-deal.html.

Reverse Direction

From the NY Times:

The Trump administration on Friday abruptly walked back its cancellation of more than 1,500 student visas held by international students, announcing a dramatic shift by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a court hearing in Washington.

Joseph F. Carilli, a Justice Department lawyer, said that immigration officials had begun work on a new system for reviewing and terminating visas for international students and that, until the process was complete, agencies would not make additional changes or further revocations.

The announcement followed a wave of individual lawsuits filed by students who have said they were notified that their legal right to study in the United States was rescinded, often with minimal explanation. In some cases, students had minor documented traffic violations or other infractions. But in other cases, there appeared to be no obvious cause for the revocations...

Full story at: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/us/politics/trump-student-visa-cancellations.html.

Voices from Back in the Day

Two political figures from back in the day - when Democrats and Republicans could cooperate - continue to push for state higher ed funding. Dick Ackerman and Mel Levine co-chair the California Coalition for Public Higher Education. Ackerman is a Republican and former California state senator and assemblymember from Orange County, and Levine is a Democrat and a former U.S. congressmember and state assemblymember from Los Angeles. From Capitol Weekly:

For decades, California’s public university system has been the envy of much of the world – a powerhouse of research, innovation and economic opportunity. Today, however, the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) face deep budget cuts that could severely compromise their abilities to expand student access to higher education and enhance California’s prosperity.

Gov. Newsom has proposed a decrease of nearly 8% in 2025-2026 general fund appropriations for the CSU and UC systems – which adds up to bigger spending cuts than other state agencies. His proposal to reduce the UC and CSU spending by $772 million would account for 55% of the proposed $1.4 billion in 2025-26 general fund cuts the governor proposed. In comparison, he proposed only a 1.88% reduction in the Department of Corrections. The state Legislature must say no to these disproportionate reductions. They are already having a detrimental effect on students, faculty, staff and residents.

The UC recently announced a systemwide hiring freeze. At CSU, Sonoma State is laying off tenured faculty and eliminating 20 degree programs, six departments and all NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. These cutbacks are a “harbinger” of what’s to come for the rest of the CSU system if the governor’s budget and the elimination of some federal grants to the UC and CSU campuses are approved.

While lawmakers face tough decisions in the upcoming budget, public higher education is much too important to students, our state’s economy and California’s future for the UC and CSU to bear such a disproportionate share of spending reductions.

Just three years ago, the governor entered into a multi-year compact with the UC and CSU to provide a 5% budget increase annually through 2026-27 in exchange for commitments to improve student success, equity, affordability and workforce preparedness. The governor has proposed deferring the compact’s spending increases to next year, but there is no guarantee the money would be available then or that the Legislature would approve the spending.

Meanwhile, the CSU and UC are holding up their end of the bargain: UC expanded its capacity and affordability by enrolling an additional 12,700 California residents in the past four years and providing 70% of new California undergrads in the 2024-25 academic year with debt-free pathways to graduation.

Likewise, the CSU enrolled more first-year students than ever before in the fall of 2024 – 68,375 – and implemented new programs to meet the compact’s requirements to increase equity, affordability and workforce preparedness. The proposed budget cuts could derail this progress. For the CSU alone, the $375 million decrease is equal to the entire operating budget of the Fresno State, a campus that serves 25,000 students.

These reductions also come at  the same time that the universities face the possibility of losing at least part of their National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants and the threat of other federal grants being curtailed because of federal investigations at some of the UC and CSU campuses. If the threatened grant reductions do occur, the impact could be staggering. NIH is the largest source of research funding at the UC, providing $2.6 billion in the 2023-24 academic year. The CSU estimates that federal grants added up to more than $511 million in research expenditures during the 2022-23, accounting for 63% of its research expenditures that year.

Threats to state and federal funding for the UC and CSU also threaten California’s economy. Both are vital economic engines: UC generates more than $80 billion annually in economic output and has more than 200,000 employees, making it California’s third-largest employer in the fifth-largest economy in the world. CSU annually generates $26.9 billion in industry activity and $10.3 billion in labor income throughout the state.

Lawmakers can strengthen our state’s economy and its future by rejecting the governor’s disproportionate reductions in the UC and CSU budgets. Doing so would allow the UC and CSU to further expand access to higher education and opportunities for our young people and help ensure we have the skilled workforce we need to make California a more prosperous place.

Source: https://capitolweekly.net/uc-and-csu-funding-essential-to-californias-economic-future/.

The Feds' Excess Speed

The NY Times: In the three months since President Trump returned to power, his administration has prized speed and shock value. Harvard University is wagering that White House strategy could be used against it. The 51-page lawsuit the university filed on Monday, intended to fight the administration’s freeze of billions in federal funding, hinges largely on a statute that provides specific timelines for federal agencies to draft rules and impose penalties. This wonky workhorse of American law, known as the Administrative Procedure Act, has been cited in a majority of lawsuits filed this year against the Trump administration, including complaints seeking to reverse funding reductions to the United States Agency for International Development, local schools and Voice of America.

While Mr. Trump’s strategy has generated headlines, the outcomes of these cases will determine whether that approach will also produce lasting policy victories. In Harvard’s case, the university is seeking to fend off accusations of discrimination from the administration’s antisemitism task force, a group that was put together to move faster than typical federal civil rights investigators.

...Harvard turned to the administrative procedure law after facing a crush of government demands that included, among other conditions, audits of its faculty for plagiarism and political views, along with changes to admissions and hiring. The university argues that Washington is seeking to exert unconstitutional sway — and that its effort is defined by sloppiness that blasted past due process...

“Defendants,” Harvard wrote in the lawsuit, “failed to comply with their own regulations before freezing Harvard’s federal financial assistance.” In another section, Harvard notes that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which forbids certain kinds of discrimination, requires a detailed process before it can be a basis for freezing money. The Trump administration, Harvard says, did “the precise opposite.” ...

...Even part of Harvard’s First Amendment argument partially relies on the procedure act, which says that an action by a federal agency that runs “contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or immunity” is illegal. “In terms of what Harvard is specifically doing, it is pushing back against agency action, and we have an entire legal framework,” said Osamudia R. James, a professor at the University of North Carolina whose specialties include administrative law.

...[But] The outcome of the legal case may be beside the point, Professor James said. “If you lose ultimately at the court but millions of people now believe that all of these institutions are hotbeds of discrimination, that they don’t provide any benefits to the communities in which they operate, that they don’t produce anything of value,” she said, adding, “that might be a win if you are hostile to higher education institutions.”

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/us/trump-harvard-legal-case.html.