Straws in the Wind - Part 132

From the Indianapolis Star: In early September, President Donald Trump's administration abruptly canceled a $35 million Purdue University grant aimed at preparing low-income Indiana students for college, as part of its broader push against diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The U.S. Education Department’s reasoning for canceling the seven-year grant that was approved just a year ago stated that the grant conflicted with federal civil rights law and the department’s police of “prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education...” The $34.9 million grant was to support Indiana GEAR UP, which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. It helped middle and high school students with transitioning to higher education.

Indiana GEAR UP officially halted services on Sept. 30, the program announced in a Facebook post... The federal program has existed since 1998 and Indiana’s program has received funding since 2016, enabling it to serve over 13,000 students from 10 different school corporations and over 3,000 educators across the state, according to Purdue University’s news release of the new grant funding in Sept. 2024. A Sept. 12 termination letter said Purdue’s grant included DEI training, culturally responsive teaching, and social emotional learning in STEM...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/tracking-higher-eds-dismantling-of-dei.

From Inside Higher Ed: Nobel Prize–winning economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo—a married team—will leave their positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the University of Zurich in the next academic year, The Bulwark reported. The pair, who won the Nobel in 2019, have not publicly shared why they are leaving MIT at this time, but a source told The Bulwark that they are moving due to the Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedom and university research. 

Reached for comment, Duflo told The Bulwark, “At this moment we are not commenting, especially given that MIT (where we remain affiliated) is already dealing to reaction to its refusal of the ‘compact.’” MIT on Friday rejected the compact put forth by the Trump administration that offers universities preferential treatment on federal funding in exchange for campus policy changes...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/15/2-nobel-prize-winning-economists-leave-us-zurich.