Straws in the Wind - Part 192

From the NY Times: Secretary of State Marco Rubio waded into the surprisingly fraught politics of typefaces [last] Tuesday with an order halting the State Department’s official use of Calibri, reversing a 2023 Biden-era directive that Mr. Rubio called a “wasteful” sop to diversity. While mostly framed as a matter of clarity and formality in presentation, Mr. Rubio’s directive to all diplomatic posts around the world blamed “radical” diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs for what he said was a misguided and ineffective switch from the serif typeface Times New Roman to sans serif Calibri in official department paperwork.

In an “Action Request” memo obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Rubio said that switching back to the use of Times New Roman would “restore decorum and professionalism to the department’s written work.” Calibri is “informal” when compared to serif typefaces like Times New Roman, the order said, and “clashes” with the department’s official letterhead...

Mr. Rubio’s directive, under the subject line “Return to Tradition: Times New Roman 14-Point Font Required for All Department Paper,” served as the latest attempt by the Trump administration to stamp out remnants of diversity initiatives across the federal government. Then-Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken ordered the 2023 typeface shift on the recommendation of the State Department’s office of diversity and inclusion, which Mr. Rubio has since abolished. The change was meant to improve accessibility for readers with disabilities, such as low vision and dyslexia, and people who use assistive technologies, such as screen readers.

Calibri, sometimes described as soft and modern, is typically considered more accessible for people with reading challenges thanks to its simpler shapes and wider spacing, which make its letters easier to distinguish. Mr. Blinken’s move was applauded by accessibility advocates. But Mr. Rubio’s order rejected the grounds for the switch. The change, he allowed, “was not among the department’s most illegal, immoral, radical or wasteful instances of D.E.I.A.,” the acronym for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. But Mr. Rubio called it a failure by its own standards, saying that “accessibility-based document remediation cases” at the department had not declined...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/us/politics/rubio-state-department-font.html.

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From Inside Higher Ed: Augsburg University administrators and federal officials are giving conflicting accounts about what happened when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested an undocumented student on the private campus... ICE agents in an unmarked car followed Jesus Saucedo-Portillo into a parking lot on the Minneapolis campus and attempted to detain him. Campus security and residence hall officials observed the situation and tried to intervene. Soon, more agents arrived, “pointing weapons at the crowd and pushing witnesses back” as students began recording the incident, according to a campuswide email Provost Paula O’Loughlin wrote...: “I want to emphasize that the staff and other Augsburg community members who were present followed our protocols.”

According to the university, when a senior administrator asked to see a judicial warrant, agents said they didn’t have one and eventually arrested Saucedo-Portillo. “It was done on private property, without a warrant,” Paul Pribbenow, president of the university, told the Star Tribune. “From our perspective, that is illegal.” ...

However, the Department of Homeland Security has since contested the university’s claims that ICE agents didn’t have an arrest warrant. In a statement..., Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of public affairs for DHS, accused the university administrators on the scene of attempting “to obstruct the arrest.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/12/10/university-ice-clash-over-details-students-arrest.