From Inside Higher Ed: The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board officially launched its Office of the Ombudsman website... providing a portal where students and members of the public can file complaints against the state’s public colleges and universities. The new office was mandated by Senate Bill 37, legislation that went into effect Jan. 1, which increases state control over public higher education by giving governing boards authority over curriculum, faculty governance and hiring and requiring academic program reviews. It also established the ombudsman’s office to manage complaints and investigations into alleged violations of the state’s DEI ban or of the other provisions of SB 37.
In October, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Brandon Simmons as ombudsman. Simmons is a former tech company executive, corporate attorney and venture capitalist who previously served on the Texas Southern Board of Regents and as an entrepreneurial resident and distinguished professor of business at Wiley University in Marshall.
“Through a user-friendly website and engagement on campuses across Texas, I look forward to a collaborative, productive partnership with our institutional leaders and students,” Simmons said in a statement. “Texas leads the nation with top-ranked, rapidly ascending universities, and our office is here to support these great institutions in serving the next generation of Texas students.” ...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/01/12/texas-launches-portal-public-complaints-against-colleges.
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From the NY Times: The head of the board overseeing the University of Virginia and two other top board members, including a major donor to the school, resigned on Friday under pressure from the state’s incoming Democratic governor, according to two people briefed on the matter and letters obtained by The New York Times. The resignations came after the new governor, Abigail Spanberger, asked at least five members of the board to step aside as she takes office on Saturday.
...There are 17 seats on the Board of Visitors, which oversees the school, but before the resignations on Friday, there were only 12 members, all appointed by the outgoing governor, Glenn Youngkin, a Republican. At least two other members of the board were asked to resign but so far have resisted. It is unclear if Ms. Spanberger has asked the rest of the board members to resign.
The turmoil at the university over its board is the latest fallout to rock the school since the Trump administration began a pressure campaign against it earlier this year. Last summer, the school’s president, Jim Ryan, resigned amid pressure from the Trump administration, which was threatening to cut the school’s funding and investigate it if Mr. Ryan remained in office.
Conservative alumni and members of the Justice Department under President Trump had wanted Mr. Ryan out because they believed he was too liberal. It’s unclear what impact the resignations will have on the recently appointed president of the school, Scott C. Beardsley. Some Virginia Democrats and school faculty members have been calling on Ms. Spanberger to have Mr. Beardsley removed, saying that he was too hastily appointed by a board that refused to stand up to Mr. Trump...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/us/uva-resignations-abigail-spanberger.html.
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