UL-certification is a safety standard that confirms a device’s battery and electrical parts have been tested to prevent mechanical failure, shock and fire, the administrators added in the email. They also said in the email that registration will make it easier to identify lost or stolen devices and return them to their rightful owners...
Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/01/26/ucla-announces-registration-certification-mandate-for-electric-scooters-bikes.
From Inside Higher Ed: George Washington University is pausing admissions to five Ph.D. programs for fall 2026, citing financial hardships. According to social media posts, applicants to the programs received emails last week alerting them that the programs “will not be reviewing applications for the 2026–2027 academic year.” The emails went on to say that their application fees would be refunded and offered them the opportunity to be considered for master’s programs instead. The Ph.D. programs affected are in clinical psychology, anthropology, human paleobiology, political science and mathematics. A university spokesperson attributed the pauses to financial difficulties.
...The suspensions follow other instances of high-profile institutions slashing admissions to Ph.D. programs due to budget concerns, including Boston University, the University of Chicago and Harvard University. In a recent Faculty Senate meeting, GWU president Ellen Granberg asked the university’s schools and divisions to prepare “budget contingency plans” amid declines in applications from international students, the student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, reported. International students accounted for about 13 percent of the institution’s enrollment this fall, a decrease from the previous year...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/graduate-students-and-postdocs/2026/01/26/george-washington-u-pauses-admissions-5-phd.
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From the Daily Princetonian: ...The University [has] released its annual Report of the Treasurer. Following a tumultuous year for higher education across the country, the report emphasizes the University’s lab partnerships with federal departments, close ties to active-duty soldiers and veterans, and involvement in AI and public service. The report, entitled “In the Nation’s Service,” comes after approximately $200 million in research-specific funding was suspended last year by the Trump administration, then partially reinstated over the summer...
Princeton spent $283 million in total financial aid contributions in 2024–25 and saw its largest ever number of Pell Grant recipients. Most families that make less than $250,000 per year pay no tuition. The University is potentially facing a new 8 percent endowment tax from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which applies to universities with endowments of over $2 million per student and a tuition-paying population of at least 3,000.
With a projected increase of financial aid spending to $327 million in 2025–26, there is a possibility that the University will avoid the endowment tax by having under 3,000 tuition-paying students. The University has previously declined to comment on the endowment tax and the number of students that pay tuition...
Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/01/princeton-news-adpol-2025-treasurer-report-emphasizes-princeton-nations-service.
From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard faculty awarded significantly fewer A grades in the fall, cutting the share of top marks by nearly seven percentage points after the College urged instructors to combat grade inflation... The share of flat As fell from 60.2 percent in the 2024-2025 academic year to 53.4 percent in the fall. The decline follows a 25-page report [Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda] Claybaugh released in October 2025 arguing that grade inflation had rendered the College’s grading system unable to “perform the key functions of grading” and encouraging stricter academic measures, including standardized grading across sections and in-person final exams.
Claybaugh explicitly sought to reassure faculty concerned that harsher grading could hurt their teaching evaluations... and course enrollments — offering the clearest signal yet that the College is prepared to back instructors who tighten grading standards... A faculty committee charged with reviewing the College’s existing grading policies would release new proposals early in the spring semester...
Many undergraduates have expressed concern that efforts to rein in grade inflation could disadvantage them in graduate schools admissions and the job market.
Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/1/27/faculty-cut-a-grades/.
If we look ahead, no such closed meetings are currently on the schedule for February and beyond, suggesting that in terms of actual negotiations with the feds, things are pretty quiet.
Perhaps the feds' attention has turned more toward Greenland, or Iran, or Minneapolis, and away from UCLA in terms of negotiations. They haven't entirely forgotten about us, as a posting tomorrow will discuss. But it is reasonable to surmise that whatever discussions were going on have been paused.
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*https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/past-meetings/2021-2025.html#. Click on 2025.
