Straws in the Wind - Part 242

From Inside Higher Ed: Texas governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, ordered all state colleges and universities to freeze their applications for new H-1B visas... The pause... will last until May 31, 2027, though some institutions may be able to proceed if granted written permission by the Texas Workforce Commission... Texas’s halt on hiring visa holders comes on the heels of a proposed pause in Florida. Colleges and other industries use the visa program to attract skilled workers. To qualify for one, a worker must be employed in a “specialty occupation” that requires “highly specialized knowledge,” according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

In an effort to restrict access to the visas, the Trump administration added a $100,000 fee for new applicants in September, which colleges have said would be detrimental to the recruitment and retention of international faculty, researchers and staff members. The decision in Texas came less than 24 hours after Abbott first announced publicly that he was considering such a move and had requested records on all H-1B visa–holding employees at the state’s public universities and K–12 schools.

...On [a] radio show, Abbott suggested that some visa holders may have overstayed their legal welcome, adding that those are “the type of people that the Trump administration is trying to remove.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/01/28/texas-pauses-use-h-1b-visas-state-universities.

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From the NY Times: Texas A&M University said [last] Friday that it would end its women’s and gender studies program, and that the syllabuses for hundreds of courses had been altered under new policies limiting how race and gender ideology may be discussed in classrooms. The university said that six courses had been canceled entirely because of the new rules, out of the roughly 5,400 that were planned for this semester at one of the nation’s largest public universities.

The A&M system’s regents — all of them appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican — approved the restrictive policies late last year, and officials have been scrambling since then to interpret and enforce them. Supporters contend that the rules are appropriate measures to prevent political ideologies, especially those often associated with the left, from entering classrooms. Opponents say the approach encourages self-censorship and is itself ideological. A top-down demand to scrutinize a university’s entire course catalog in so short a time is extraordinarily rare in the United States, where professors have long had sweeping control over their syllabuses...

...Tommy Williams, the university’s interim president, said in a statement that he had directed the closure because of low enrollment and “the difficulty of bringing the program in compliance with the new system policies.” He said that students who were already pursuing degrees or certificates in the program would be able to complete them. In 2024, the regents ordered A&M to drop its minor in L.G.B.T.Q. studies. But ending a full bachelor’s degree program represents a sharp escalation in the debate over what should be taught at public universities in Texas, the nation’s most populous conservative state...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/us/texas-am-gender-ethnic-womens-studies-academic-freedom.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 177

From Inside Higher Ed: The Texas State University Board of Regents signed off on the decision to fire a tenured professor for his comments at a socialist conference... Texas State University president Kelly Damphousse accused professor Thomas Alter of inciting violence when he fired Alter and revoked his tenure in September. Alter sued and was reinstated while the university reviewed his case using the standard faculty investigatory process. The university upheld Damphousse’s decision in October... Alter, an associate professor of history, spoke at the Revolutionary Socialism Conference in part about how “insurrectionary anarchism” had gained ground recently.

“Many insurrectionary anarchists are serving jail time, lost jobs and face expulsion from school,” he said. “They have truly put their bodies on the line. While their actions are laudable, it should be asked, what purpose do they serve? As anarchists, these insurrectionists explicitly reject the formation of a revolutionary party capable of leading the working class to power. Without organization, how can anyone expect to overthrow the most bloodthirsty, profit-driven mad organization in the history of the world—that of the U.S. government.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/11/24/texas-state-board-upholds-firing-professor.

Straws in the Wind - Part 78

From the Houston Chronicle: The Texas State University System Board of Regents has approved new rules that will temporarily dissolve faculty senates and increase board members' oversight on curriculum and hiring decisions. A vote on Friday made Texas State the first of the state’s seven university systems to adopt changes stemming from Senate Bill 37. The law limits faculty influence and advances a fight against what some Republicans perceive to be a liberal bias in higher education. 

...Faculty members in the Texas State system won't have a formal mechanism for that input until their advisory groups, known as faculty senates, re-start under a new structure in line with the board's rules. The law stipulates that regents can affirm existing senates if they adopt SB 37 before Sept. 1, otherwise they will be abolished on the same date. Texas State did not affirm the existing senates.

...Texas State's board members approved the rules through a consent agenda, without any discussion...

SB 37 clarified that universities have the final say on curricula — though under the guidance of governing boards. The boards’ reviews could pinpoint courses they deem unnecessary for the workforce...

SB 37 puts faculty councils or senates under guidelines set by the board. Faculty will soon have less say in who serves on their senates: New groups will be smaller in many cases, capped at 60 members made up of at least two representatives from each college or school. The university president will appoint one member per school, with the ability to serve six consecutive one-year terms, and the remainder will be elected by a vote of that schools’ faculty. Those members can serve two-year terms, then they must step down from their positions...

Full story at https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/texas-state-sb37-20808973.php.

From the NY Times: The Justice Department on Tuesday found that George Washington University was “deliberately indifferent to antisemitic discrimination” on its campus, the latest allegation from the Trump administration over a college’s response to discrimination against Jewish students and faculty.

In a letter to GWU President Ellen Granberg, Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said that the Justice Department would deploy “enforcement” measures against the school unless a voluntary resolution is reached. She requested a response by Aug. 22.

“No one is above the law, and universities that promulgate antisemitic discrimination will face legal consequences,” Dhillon said in a statement.

The Trump administration has sought to reform higher education through investigations into alleged civil rights violations, often relating to antisemitism or diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Critics have said the administration is using antisemitism probes as a pretext to pursue an unrelated conservative agenda. In recent weeks, prominent institutions reached settlements with the administration, including Columbia University, which agreed to pay more than $200 million as part of changes meant to claw back federal funding cut by the administration.

GWU, which was the center of region-wide encampment demonstrations during campus protests against the war in Gaza last year, confirmed that it is reviewing the letter and plans to respond in a “timely manner.” ...

Full story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/08/12/george-washington-university-justice-department-antisemitism/.

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From the Hechinger Report: ...An exodus appears to be under way of Ph.D.s and faculty generally, who are leaving academia in the face of political, financial and enrollment crises. It’s a trend federal data and other sources show began even before Trump returned to the White House. On top of everything else affecting higher education, this is likely to reduce the quality of education for undergraduates, experts say. Nearly 70 percent of people receiving doctorates were already leaving higher education for industry, government and other sectors, not including those without job offers or who opted to continue their studies, according to the most recent available figures from the National Science Foundation — up from fewer than 50 percent decades ago.

As for faculty, more than a third of provosts reported higher-than-usual turnover last year, in a survey by Hanover Research and the industry publication Inside Higher Ed. That was before the turmoil of this late winter and spring. “People who can get out will get out,” said L. Maren Wood, director and CEO of the Center for Graduate Career Success, which works with doctoral and other graduate students at 69 colleges and universities to provide career help. If the spree of general job-switching that followed Covid was dubbed “the Great Resignation,” Wood said, what she’s seeing now in higher education is “the Great Defection.”

Getting a Ph.D. is a traditional pipeline to an academic career. Now some of the brightest candidates — who have spent years doing cutting-edge research in their fields to prepare for faculty jobs — are leaving higher education or signing on with universities abroad, Wood said.

...A Facebook group of dissatisfied academics, called The Professor Is Out, has swelled to nearly 35,000 members. It was started by Karen Kelsky, a former anthropology professor who previously helped people get jobs in academia and now coaches them on how to leave it. “It’s difficult to overcome the stereotype of a university professor, which is that they’re coddled, they’re overprivileged, they’re arrogant and just enjoying total job security that nobody else has,” said Kelsky, who also wrote “The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job,” a second edition of which is due out this fall. Today, “they are overworked. They’re grossly underpaid. They are being called the enemy. And they’re bailing on academia,” she said...

Full story at https://hechingerreport.org/a-great-defection-threatens-to-empty-universities-and-colleges-of-top-teaching-talent/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 75

From the Independent Florida Alligator: After almost 20 years of service, the University of Florida shut down its Office of Sustainability... UF spokesperson Cynthia Roldán Hernández wrote in an email statement university leadership decided to “sunset the Office of Sustainability and its functions” effective Aug. 4. The decision to shut down the office is part of a university-wide effort to identify new efficiencies, eliminate duplicative efforts and cut costs, she wrote...

Three employees were terminated as a result of the office’s closure, two of whom declined an interview. One did not respond in time for publication. The statement read UF has made great strides in adopting efficiency principles, environmental stewardship and economic viability through the Office of Sustainability, and those principles are now embedded into UF’s business practices. The office’s mission was to make UF a sustainability model by promoting ecological restoration, economic development and environmental justice, according to its site. It offered internship positions, and the site said collaboration is one of its top priorities.

...At a June 5 UF Board of Trustees meeting, chair Mori Hosseini said he asked Chief Financial Officer Nick Kozlov  to have all UF departments and deans “look at a 5% net decline.” ...

Full story at https://www.alligator.org/article/2025/08/uf-shuts-down-office-of-sustainability.

From Inside Higher Ed: Texas Republicans, like those in other red states in recent years, have overhauled aspects of public higher education in ways that have raised concerns about the future of academic freedom for faculty and institutional autonomy for colleges and universities. They’ve banned diversity, equity and inclusion efforts; reduced the faculty’s role in university decision-making; and mandated curriculum reviews, among other changes. But Senate Bill 37, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in June, added something the other states’ laws lack: It created an ombudsman position tasked with ensuring institutions follow SB 37 and the earlier DEI ban, which took effect in 2024...

The governor gets to choose the ombudsman, and the state Senate can approve or deny the pick. After that, the governor can unilaterally decide to fire this new overseer if he’s not pleased. This means Abbott, a Republican who has criticized professors for pushing “woke agendas,” has ultimate authority over this new watchdog. Faculty and academic freedom groups say they’re concerned about politicization of this new position—which, under the law, can recommend that state lawmakers cut off a university’s ability to spend state funds until it complies...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/state-oversight/2025/08/11/texas-lawmakers-create-overseer-make-colleges-follow.

Straws in the Wind - Part 28

From Inside Higher Ed: Public colleges and universities in Texas have been asked to identify which of their students are undocumented so they can be charged out-of-state tuition, The Texas Tribune reported. The move follows a district court ruling [in June] that prohibits students who are not legal residents from paying in-state tuition. In a letter to the state's public college presidents..., Texas Higher Education commissioner Wynn Rosser wrote that “each institution must assess the population of students who have established eligibility for Texas resident tuition … who are not lawfully present and will therefore need to be reclassified as non-residents and charged non-resident tuition.”

The new rates will go into effect for the fall 2025 semester, Rosser wrote. The letter offered no further guidance about how institutions might comply...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/06/25/texas-colleges-asked-identify-undocumented-students.

And from the NY Times: The cyberattack that caused a widespread shutdown of Columbia University’s computer systems last week appears to be the work of a “hacktivist” — a hacker who also stole student data with the apparent goal of furthering a political agenda, a Columbia official said on Tuesday. During the outage, which began on June 24, a smiling image of President Trump appeared on some computer screens at the university, including on public monitors in the student center. The Columbia official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, did not provide a motivation for the attack.

But Bloomberg News, which received messages from the apparent hacker, said that the person described stealing student data in order to see if Columbia was using affirmative action in its admission policies, a practice the Supreme Court effectively barred in 2023... The university is in the midst of trying to negotiate a settlement with the Trump administration to unfreeze more than $400 million in federal funding for research, which the administration pulled over its claims that Columbia had not done enough to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/nyregion/columbia-university-hacker.html.

From Yale Daily News: Yale is implementing an immediate 90-day hiring pause, reducing non-salary expenses by 5 percent, delaying several construction projects and lowering annual salary increases for faculty and staff members. Faculty and staff received an announcement of those changes on Monday afternoon in a message signed by Provost Scott Strobel, Vice President for Finance Stephen Murphy and Senior Vice President for Operations Jack Callahan. The message was also posted to the Office of the Provost’s website.

The message referred to Congress’s present consideration of a steep increase to the rate at which Yale’s endowment will be taxed, one of the proposals in President Donald Trump’s sweeping “big beautiful bill.” Since the House of Representatives advanced a version of the legislation in May, Yale administrators have warned that the tax hike could imperil the University’s research budget and student financial aid...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/07/01/yale-pauses-hiring-tightens-budget-in-anticipation-of-endowment-tax-hike/.

A Statute of Limitations

We previously noted a pending Texas bill that would limit and restrict academic senates in state higher ed institutions.* Here is a follow up from Inside Higher Ed: Texas governor Greg Abbott... signed into law legislation allowing public college and university presidents to take over faculty governance bodies. Senate Bill 37 says that only an institution’s governing board can create a faculty council or senate. If a board decides to keep one, the college or university president gets to pick the “presiding officer, associate presiding officer, and secretary” and prescribe how the body conducts meetings. Unless the institution’s board decides otherwise, faculty governing bodies must shrink to no more than 60 members. The Texas A&M University Faculty Senate currently has 122.  

The 60 members must include at least two representatives from each of the colleges and schools that comprise the institution—including what the law describes vaguely as “one member appointed by the president or chief executive officer of the institution,” with the rest elected by the faculty of the particular school or college. This could mean that half of a faculty senate would be chosen by the president, barring an exemption by the institution’s board...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/06/24/texas-passes-law-presidents-control-faculty-senates.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/06/straws-in-wind-part-13.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 21

From the Texas Tribune/Yahoo News: Even though Jorge and his younger sister are only two years apart in age, their college experiences are headed in different directions. They were both motivated and highly engaged high school students in Central Texas. But after graduation, he went to Austin Community College and had to work three jobs to pay for tuition. She enrolled at Texas State University on a full scholarship. It wasn’t academics or ambition that separated the siblings, but their immigration status. Their parents, seeking economic opportunity, crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with Jorge in their arms when he was 1 year old. They had his sister in Austin a short time later.

This fall, Jorge hoped to finally be on equal footing with her. The 21-year-old had saved enough money to afford tuition at Texas State and had applied to transfer there to study mechanical engineering. His plans depended on having access to in-state tuition, the lower rate that Texas residents pay to attend public colleges and is often half, or even a third, of what out-of-state students are charged. But the siblings’ path may soon split for good. Last week, state officials agreed to the federal government’s demand to stop offering in-state tuition rates to undocumented students living in Texas.

Jorge is one of thousands of students whose education plans may have been truncated by the ruling. Their aspirations — to become engineers or lawyers, or join other professions — haven’t disappeared. But the road has grown steeper. For some, it may now be out of reach...

Full story at https://www.yahoo.com/news/undocumented-students-rethink-college-dreams-100000010.html.

Other Universities Beginning to Slide Beyond January 18

Although January 18 is still the magic date for resuming or starting in-person classes at the various UC campuses including UCLA, other universities are now moving to later dates:

From Inside Higher Ed: More institutions are moving classes online to deal with Omicron. Rutgers University announced that the system would spend several weeks online before returning to in-person instruction on Jan. 31. Students have been told to return to housing Jan. 29 and 30, not Jan. 16-17. “Information on any financial credits or offsets will be forthcoming,” the university said. Denise M. Trauth, the president of Texas State University, wrote to students and employees that while classes would start, on schedule, Jan. 18, they would all be online until Jan. 31. She stressed that no classes were being canceled. Students still may move into their residence halls as previously scheduled. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte announced that classes would begin as scheduled Jan. 10 but would be online only until Jan. 24. Huston-Tillotson University, in Texas, will be online from Jan. 10 to Jan. 24.

Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/01/05/rutgers-texas-state-and-other-colleges-go-online.