Straws in the Wind - Part 85

From Inside Higher Ed: The Department of Education released guidance... discouraging colleges from using Federal Work-Study funds to pay students to work on voter registration efforts and other activities it deems political. The department announced the change to work study provisions in a Dear Colleague letter signed by acting assistant ED secretary Christopher McCaghren. “Jobs involving partisan or nonpartisan voter registration, voter assistance at a polling place or through a voter hotline, or serving as a poll worker—whether this takes place on or off campus—involve political activity because these activities support the process of voting which is a quintessential political activity whereby voters formally support partisan or nonpartisan political candidates by casting ballots,” McCaghren wrote... 

Education Secretary Linda McMahon echoed that sentiment in a... social media post, writing that the department is “done funding political activism on college campuses!” She added, “Under the Trump Administration, taxpayer dollars will be used to prepare students for the workforce.” McCaghren’s letter also warned colleges about “aiding and abetting voter fraud.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/08/19/ed-clamps-down-student-voting-work.

From the Daily Emerald: Deans and department heads at the University of Oregon are under mounting pressure to identify budget cuts amidst a university wide budget deficit. The cuts have led to multiple rounds of layoffs in recent months. In June, UO laid off 42 positions within the College of Arts and Sciences, including 11 career faculty. Five of those 11 were language faculty within the Schnitzer School according to a newsletter published by United Academics, the university’s faculty union.

Despite a recent donation of $25 million by the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation to support the School of Global Studies and Languages, many of the language programs will shrink amid these cuts. Once the next round of layoffs go into effect in September the school will reportedly no longer offer regular courses in Portuguese, Swedish or Swahili, according to the newsletter. The newsletter also alleges that CAS Dean Chris Poulsen has indicated that the school could eliminate the German and Russian language programs entirely. The cuts could reportedly affect tenured and non-tenured faculty alike. Under the UA Collective Bargaining Agreement the school would have to provide faculty with a one-year notice of termination meaning that the cuts would not fully impact the program until September 2026...

Full story at https://dailyemerald.com/168880/features/uo-to-reportedly-cut-multiple-language-program-amid-university-wide-budget-deficit/.