Straws in the Wind - Part 442

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: The University of Texas at Austin unveiled plans... for a sweeping makeover of its undergraduate core curriculum, replacing a sprawling system of hundreds of course options with a more prescriptive menu organized around foundational texts, broad fields of study, and what the university calls the “fundamental questions and themes” of human life. The proposal, detailed by President Jim Davis during a meeting of the university system’s Board of Regents, would reduce the number of credit hours in the core curriculum, from 42 to 36. Some core credit designations are slated to be replaced with categories such as “Western Civilization,” “Masterworks of Literature,” “Great Questions of Human Life,” “Principles of American Politics,” and “Computer Science & AI.”

That plan is laid out in a much-anticipated report... from a 22-member faculty task force whose members Davis selected in the fall to “identify gaps in quality, rigor, or intellectual cohesion” in UT-Austin’s core and propose solutions. Administrators hope to implement the new curriculum by the fall of 2028. The goal, Davis told regents, is to “wipe the slate clean and rewrite the core from the ground up,” noting that the existing system “has devolved over time into a haphazard grab bag of classes.”

The proposed changes at the state’s flagship come as Texas universities adjust to Senate Bill 37, which gives governing boards greater control over academic offerings. The University of Houston, Texas A&M University, and Texas Tech University have announced similar reviews of their core curricula; the latter two systems have faced federal lawsuits challenging restrictions on course content...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/republicans-want-colleges-to-emphasize-western-civ-ut-austin-plans-to-do-just-that. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 381

From the Dallas Morning Herald: All University of Texas System schools have complied with a 2023 ban on diversity, equity and inclusion offices, according to a recent state audit. Many UT schools, including UTD, laid off staff, altered programming and restructured their offices to comply with the law when it first went into effect in 2024. Texas Senate Bill 17 prohibits public universities from having any DEI-related offices, trainings or hiring practices, but explicitly does not touch academic instruction or research. The law requires every school be audited for compliance at least once every four years. If a school is found non-compliant and does not rectify the issue within 180 days of the audit, then it is ineligible for state funding increases and other benefits...

The UT System was the second major university system to be audited for SB 17 compliance. In an audit of the Texas A&M University System last year, the state found the system’s Killeen location violated the law by working with a third party to “perform certain duties” of a DEI office. The university agreed with the finding and implemented a corrective action plan. The DEI ban is also enforced through the Office of the Ombudsman in the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, where people can submit complaints about potential violations...

Full story at https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/article/ut-system-complies-diversity-equity-inclusion-ban-22301897.php.

Straws in the Wind - Part 361

From Inside Higher Ed: Faculty members at the University of Texas at Austin say new systemwide personnel policy changes could pave the way for politically motivated program closures and further disenfranchise faculty from decision-making related to their own departments. And, according to the Board of Regents’ recent meeting agenda, more policy changes are on the way. The revised rule 31003, approved unanimously last week by voice vote, establishes new grounds to close academic departments. In addition to academic reasons—such as low enrollment or poor program quality—and financial exigency, presidents can now shutter programs due to “extraordinary circumstances” that necessitate “accelerated program closure due to regulatory requirements” and bypass typical review procedures.

The revisions are an effort by the board to “improve efficiency and usability” of the rules, which the board revisits periodically. They were developed “in collaboration with stakeholders throughout the U.T. System,” the agenda states. But faculty members were not made aware of the changes, said Brian Evans, an engineering professor at UT Austin and president of the Texas American Association of University Professors–American Federation of Teachers. Most faculty learned about the proposed revisions when the board posted the agenda 72 hours before the board meeting, which is the minimum notice period required by Texas law, Evans explained...

The revision to rule 31003 also allows the president to eliminate individual faculty positions for “bona fide academic reasons,” which include, but are not limited to, “poor program quality or effectiveness, misalignment with the institution’s mission, failure to meet student or societal needs, low enrollment and demand, and redundancy with other existing more effective programs,” according to the rule. Previously, faculty eliminated for academic reasons had 30 days to appeal the decision. Now, they have 15 days...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/shared-governance/2026/05/27/u-texas-makes-it-easier-fire-faculty-close-programs.

Straws in the Wind - Part 286

From Tuscon.com: Arizona’s public universities are required by state law to make decisions collaboratively between administration, faculty and staff, but faculty leaders say University of Arizona President Suresh Garimella has declined to sign a memorandum of understanding providing more detail on how that should work. Garimella is the first UA president “who has refused to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the faculty governance structure,” said Mona Hymel, chair of the UA Shared Governance Review Committee.

“If you don’t sign anything, you can’t be held to account,” Hymel said, adding, “It has absolutely hindered shared governance” not to have a document signed by Garimella, “because decisions, which used to be made together, are being made unilaterally.”

UA Faculty Chair Leila Hudson said Garimella’s first year as president led to some dissatisfaction among professors because he did not have elected faculty leadership participate in high-level hiring decisions. Mitch Zak, UA spokesperson, said Garimella and the university decline to comment on questions from the Star about Garimella’s reasons for not signing the memorandum, how important he thinks shared governance is to the functioning of a public university, and if he thinks memorandums such as this are necessary to practicing shared governance...

Full story at https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/article_89a864ca-fc24-42a4-8f00-f2e59a665b96.html.

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From the NY Times: In the Bay Area, at least two universities have student centers named for Cesar Chavez. In the San Diego area, at California State University San Marcos, a plaza and a statue honor Mr. Chavez. And the University of Texas at Austin similarly honors Mr. Chavez in a bronze likeness. But the outpouring of anguish about sexual misconduct accusations against Mr. Chavez may not lead to his swift erasure from American college campuses.

...At the University of California, Berkeley, where the student center has celebrated Mr. Chavez since 1997, a committee reviews proposals from students, employees and graduates about rechristening buildings. If the panel advances the proposal for wider consideration, a lengthy process of public feedback begins before the committee prepares for a recommendation for the campus’s chancellor. The final decision rests with the president of the University of California system. A spokeswoman for the university system, Rachel Zaentz, said Wednesday that the 10-campus U.C. system was “deeply concerned about these troubling reports.” She added: “We stand firmly with survivors and are evaluating these findings internally. We will communicate updates when appropriate.”

...Fresno State’s president, Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, said Wednesday that the campus would keep a statue of Mr. Chavez covered “while we determine appropriate next steps for its removal.”

“At Fresno State, our values are grounded in dignity, respect and care for one another,” Dr. Jiménez-Sandoval wrote. “When we become aware of reports of such a serious nature, we must acknowledge their weight and hold space for those who have been harmed.”

Cal State San Marcos did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. David Knutson, a spokesperson for San Francisco State, where the student center carries the Chavez name, said the university was “committed to thoughtful dialogue around complex historical legacies while continuing to foster an inclusive and supportive campus environment.”

In a separate statement, the Cal State system, which has 23 campuses, said that it was “considering appropriate courses of action” and that it was “firmly committed to fostering university environments centered on respect, integrity and the safety and dignity of all members of our campus communities.”

The University of Texas at Austin declined to comment on Wednesday. The university, though, has previously removed statues with little warning. In 2017, soon after the violent unrest in Charlottesville, Va., campus workers took down several Confederate monuments overnight at the direction of the university’s president at the time.

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/18/us/cesar-chavez-fallout.

Straws in the Wind - Part 276

From the LA Times: The University of Texas System’s Board of Regents has unanimously approved a rule requiring its universities to ensure students can graduate without studying “unnecessary controversial subjects,” despite warnings it could leave them less prepared for the real world. The rule also requires faculty to disclose in their syllabi the topics they plan to cover and adhere to the plan, and says that when courses include controversial issues, instructors must ensure a “broad and balanced approach” to the discussion.

The policy... does not define what qualifies as “controversial” or what constitutes a “broad and balanced approach.” Opponents warned that leaving those terms undefined would force administrators to interpret them case by case, pressuring professors to avoid difficult material rather than risk complaints.

...Board Chair Kevin Eltife said the lack of specificity came as the system tried to craft a policy that could work in today’s politically charged environment. “We are in difficult times,” he said. “Vagueness can be our friend.” ...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-03-03/university-of-texas-regents-approve-limits-on-teaching-unnecessarily-controversial-subjects.

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From the Yale Daily News: A newly established Committee on the Principles of Academic Freedom — comprising nine faculty members — will review the “historical, legal, and ethical foundations of academic freedom” over the coming months, a... statement on Yale provost’s office website said. The office of University Provost Scott Strobel announced the new committee on its website without an email to the broader Yale community, saying that the committee will release a statement on “the principles that guide the academic freedom of Yale faculty” by the end of the 2026 calendar year, alongside a summary report.

“Despite the phrase ‘academic freedom’ being invoked frequently, we have not as a community of faculty had a chance to dive deeply into how this phrase is understood and to what end,” incoming committee chair Gregory Huber, a political science professor, wrote in [an] email to the News...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/provost-forms-faculty-committee-to-write-academic-freedom-statement.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 128

From the NY Times: After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last month that the Pentagon would cut ties with Harvard University over ideological differences, Harvard is trying to create a workaround for students in the military. The Harvard Kennedy School, one of the schools at Harvard attended by service members, is offering to let them defer admission or help them pursue spots at four other institutions if they are accepted to the Kennedy School for the 2026-27 academic year.

Secretary Hegseth announced the Pentagon’s break with Harvard in a video released Feb. 6, in which he called Harvard “one of the red-hot centers of hate-America activism” and accused “too many” military members who graduate from Harvard of developing radical ideologies. Mr. Hegseth, who graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2013 with a master’s degree in public policy, said that he would “discontinue all graduate-level professional military education, fellowships and certificate programs” between Harvard and his department, beginning with the next academic year...

If they are not allowed to attend, military members accepted this spring to the Kennedy School will be able to defer their admission for up to four years, according to a copy of a letter to applicants...

Officials at four other graduate schools have agreed to give quick consideration to applications from active-duty military members who are accepted to the Kennedy School but who don’t want to put off their education... Those programs are the Harris School at the University of Chicago, the Fletcher School at Tufts University, the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Gerald R. Ford School at the University of Michigan...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/us/hegseth-pentagon-harvard-military.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 264

From Inside Higher Ed: The University of Texas system board approved a policy [last] Thursday that asks faculty members to “eschew topics and controversies that are not germane” to their classes. Faculty said the new standards are vague and will, by design, encourage self-censorship that will ultimately cheapen education at one of the largest university systems in the country. Following a public comment period during which all 10 speakers, including Democratic state representative Donna Howard, criticized the policy, the nine-member Board of Regents unanimously passed it without discussion during its regularly scheduled meeting.

...The policy enshrines four teaching responsibilities that ask faculty to foster “cultures of trust” in their classrooms, to fairly present discussion and evidence on “disputed matters and unsettled issues,” and to equip students with critical thinking skills that allow them to come to their own conclusions about the material. The last standard asks that faculty “eschew topics and controversies that are not germane to the course.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/curriculum/2026/02/20/ut-policy-asks-faculty-avoid-controversial-topics.

Straws in the Wind - Part 259

From Inside Higher Ed: The University of Texas at Austin will fold its gender studies and ethnic studies programs into a new department this September, The Austin American-Statesman reported. The newly established Department for Social and Cultural Analysis Studies will comprise African and African diaspora studies; Mexican American and Latina/o studies; women’s, gender and sexuality studies; and American studies.

In a meeting with the affected department chairs Thursday, Interim Dean David Sosa did not announce any immediate firings, faculty told the Statesman, nor did he discuss potential future layoffs... Earlier this month, Texas A&M University abruptly shuttered its women’s and gender studies program to comply with board policies that limit discussion of race and gender. The efforts are part of a broader trend in red states to curb what conservative politicians see as “woke” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/02/13/ut-austin-folds-gender-ethnic-studies-single-department.

From Inside Higher Ed: In statehouses, bill titles rarely tell the full story of what’s in them, and the legislation itself can contain seemingly unrelated provisions. This trend is playing out right now in Kansas, where Republicans are using a budget bill to move forward a host of nonfinancial public higher ed measures that have worried faculty and could mean millions in cuts for public universities. But Republicans, who control both chambers, appear undeterred. The state’s Democratic governor signed a budget bill into law last year that directed colleges to eliminate positions and activities related to “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Among other provisions, this year’s legislation, called House Bill 2434, contains a mechanism—with garbled wording—that’s apparently intended to withhold $2 million from each of the state’s six public universities until they prove to the State Finance Council that they don’t “require or constrain students to enroll in a DEI-CRT-related course” to earn a degree...

The nearly 400-page budget legislation also says that, at each of the public universities, “any tenured faculty member who is placed on a one-year improvement plan during fiscal year 2027 and does not satisfactorily complete” it “is subject to dismissal, reassignment or other personnel actions as determined by the provost.” Explicitly, professors won’t be allowed to receive a second year to improve...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/diversity/2026/02/18/kansas-may-cut-millions-colleges-dei-gen-ed.

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 178

From the Columbia Daily Spectator: Columbia is absent from the list of 38 universities facing proposed suspensions from a Department of State federal research partnership program, according to an internal memo... The memo and an attached spreadsheet indicate that the department is looking to suspend institutions from partnering with its Diplomacy Lab program effective Jan. 1, 2026, because they “openly engage in DEI hiring practices.” Diplomacy Lab is an initiative between the federal government and over 60 universities that aims to harness “the expertise and fresh perspectives of students and faculty members to conduct research on key foreign policy topics,” according to an information sheet about the program.

A State Department spokesperson told Spectator that all agency programs are under review to ensure they are aligned with the priorities of President Donald Trump’s administration. The spreadsheet evaluated the hiring practices of 75 universities on a 4-point, color-coded scale... Universities showing “clear DEI hiring policy” were marked red for suspension from the program, whereas institutions showing “merit-based hiring with no evidence of DEI” were marked in green.

...In its July 23 $221 million settlement with the federal government, Columbia pledged not to consider “race, color, sex or national origin” as a factor in its hiring decisions. Columbia has also committed to submitting admissions data to the federal government, beginning with an initial October report...

Full story at https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/11/23/columbia-set-to-retain-embattled-state-department-research-partnership-as-other-universities-face-potential-suspensions-over-dei-hiring-practices/.

From The Guardian: More than three dozen universities including Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Duke have their participation in a federal research partnership on the chopping block after the state department proposed to suspend them over their diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices. Last week, the Guardian obtained an internal memo and spreadsheet showing that the state department is moving to exclude 38 institutions from the Diplomacy Lab program, which pairs university researchers with state department policy offices on foreign policy projects. The suspensions would take effect on 1 January, and because the list is not finalized, the schools have not yet been informed.

The targeted schools include elite universities such as Stanford University, Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University and the University of Southern California, as well as American University, George Washington University, Syracuse University and several University of California campuses. 

Universities recommended to remain include Columbia University, MIT, the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Virginia and the University of Texas at Austin. Several of these moved to comply with the administration’s anti-DEI demands earlier this year – Columbia agreed in July to pay more than $200m to the federal government and pledged not to use “race, color, sex or national origin” in hiring decisions, while the University of Virginia’s president resigned in June after the justice department demanded he step down over the school’s diversity practices...

Full story at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/25/us-universities-cuts-dei-state-department.

Straws in the Wind - Part 162

From Inside Higher Ed: Faculty at all Florida public universities must now make syllabi, as well as a list of required or recommended textbooks and instructional materials for each class, available online and searchable for students and the general public for five years. The new policy is part of an amendment to the Florida Board of Governors’ regulation on “Textbook and Instructional Materials Affordability and Transparency,” and it passed unanimously without discussion at a board meeting Thursday. On the agenda item description, board officials cited improved transparency as the impetus for the rule, which is meant to help students “make informed decisions as they select courses.” But some faculty members say it’s designed to chill academic freedom and allow the public to police what professors teach in the classroom.

...According to the approved amendment, professors must post the syllabi “as early as is feasible” but no fewer than 45 days prior to the start of class. Public syllabi must include “course curriculum, required and recommended textbooks and instructional materials, goals and student expectations of the course, and how student performance will be measured and evaluated, including the grading scale.” Individualized courses like independent study and theses are exempt from the rule. The Florida Board of Governors did not respond to Inside Higher Ed’s questions about the amended policy, including a question about when it will start being enforced.

...It’s not a unique policy, even in Florida. Since 2013, the University of Florida has required professors to post their syllabi online—but only three days prior to the start of class, and they have to remain publicly available for just three semesters. Now, all Florida public universities, including the University of Florida, must follow the new rules. A UF spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed the university is waiting for the Board of Governors to share guidance about when the new policy will be enforced.

...Texas similarly requires all faculty at public institutions to make a version of their syllabus public. Indiana implemented a law in July requiring public institutions to publish all course syllabi on their websites, and this fall, the University System of Georgia introduced a new policy requiring faculty to post syllabi and curriculum vitae on institution websites. Some faculty members in those states have seen firsthand the risks of posting syllabi online; several professors have been harassed and doxed over course content in their online syllabi... 

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/teaching/2025/11/10/fla-board-says-syllabi-reading-lists-must-be-posted.

Straws in the Wind - Part 144

From Inside Higher Ed: Officials at the University of Texas at Austin blocked the Graduate Student Assembly from considering two resolutions against Texas state laws last week, arguing that the student-run body must follow institutional neutrality policies. Mateo Vallejo, a first-year master’s student and representative in the GSA for the School of Social Work, drafted two resolutions for the assembly to consider: one condemning Texas SB 17, which bans diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Texas public institutions, and another against Texas SB 37, a state law that, among other changes, put faculty senates at public institutions under the control of university presidents and boards. 

On Oct. 10, GSA president David Spicer submitted the two resolutions to Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Christopher J. McCarthy for approval. According to the assembly bylaws, the dean of students’ office must approve all proposed GSA legislation before it can be considered by the full assembly, effectively giving the office an opportunity to veto, Vallejo explained. Once a bill is submitted to the dean’s office, the assembly cannot make any changes to the text. Vallejo, Spicer and the GSA vice president were careful to follow the bylaws during the drafting process to give administrators as little reason as possible to shut the resolutions down. Five days later, McCarthy nixed them.

“[The Vice President for Legal Affairs] considers the legislation to be political speech that is not permitted to be issued by a sponsored student organization in their official capacity,” McCarthy wrote in an email to Spicer, which Inside Higher Ed obtained. “This legislation should not be permitted to go forward.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/21/ut-austin-muzzles-grad-student-assemblys-political-speech.

Straws in the Wind - Part 139

From the Guardian: Faculty at the University of Texas at Austin fear entire academic departments may be on the chopping block after the university quietly appointed a committee charged with studying the restructuring of its liberal arts programs. The university – the largest in the public University of Texas system – has not made any announcements about cuts or restructuring, but faculty there have learned the committee was established earlier this semester and tasked with a review that they believe is focused on ethnic and regional disciplines such as African and African diaspora studies, Mexican American and Latina/o studies, as well as women’s and gender studies.

The university did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment and faculty who asked administrators about the committee said they have received no clear answers. On Thursday, UT Austin also announced a taskforce to conduct a “thorough review” of the university’s core curriculum – a set of required courses taken by all students – “to better fulfill the purpose of this curriculum and identify gaps in quality, rigor, or intellectual cohesion”, the university’s president wrote in an email. The taskforce is made up of 18 professors – none from the departments where cuts are feared. Students have circulated an image in private emails and chats mocking the fact that almost all faculty on it are white...

Concerns escalated after a new state law went into effect on 1 September, disbanding the public university system’s long-established faculty senates and giving university administrators near-absolute control over university governance matters. While university senates hold advisory roles at most schools, they are generally a primary outlet for faculty to engage in decisions concerning the university. As the law kicked in, UT Austin’s new president – the first to be appointed without faculty input – announced the establishment of a 12-person faculty advisory board entirely selected by him and “charged with advising on institutional matters and focusing on the best interests of the entire University”...

Full story at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/17/university-of-texas-cuts-liberal-arts.

From the NY Times: Seven of the nine universities that the White House initially approached about a plan to steer more federal money toward schools aligned with President Trump’s priorities have refused to endorse the proposal. On Monday evening, an eighth signaled that it had reservations about it. Only one, the University of Texas, suggested it might be open to signing on quickly.

The University of Arizona rejected the Trump administration’s compact on Monday, joining Brown University, Dartmouth College, M.I.T., the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California and the University of Virginia. Vanderbilt University did not directly express a view about the plan on Monday — the deadline the Trump administration initially gave universities for feedback — but its chancellor suggested misgivings about parts of it...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/us/politics/universities-funding-compact.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 130

From Inside Higher Ed: ...The University of Texas system is reviewing all courses on gender identity to “ensure compliance and alignment with applicable law and state and federal guidance, and to make sure any courses that are taught on a U.T. campus are aligned with the direction and priorities of the Board of Regents,” according to a statement from the system. The review will be discussed at the Board of Regents meeting in November. System leaders at several public institutions have cited Texas House Bill 229, President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order and a Jan. 30 letter from Gov. Greg Abbott that said, “All Texas agencies must ensure that agency rules, internal policies, employment practices, and other actions comply with the law and the biological reality that there are only two sexes—male and female.” Yet no current federal or state laws prohibit public university professors from teaching about transgender identity...

Hundreds of American colleges and universities are now requiring their faculty to upload syllabi to Simple Syllabus, a third-party platform that offers uniform syllabus templates and easy editing; it also allows faculty to embed syllabi into campus learning management systems. According to the company’s website, more than 500 colleges and universities currently use the platform. Institutions may limit who can view the syllabi—for example, Clemson University requires users to log in with university credentials. But other institutions—including the University of Houston, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin—allow the general public to view their Simple Syllabus pages. This may be in part due to Texas House Bill 2504, a 15-year-old law that requires public institutions to provide publicly accessible syllabi that include major assignments and exams, required or recommended readings, and a general description of lecture or discussion topics...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/curriculum/2025/10/09/texas-systems-review-course-descriptions-syllabi.

They must be somewhere

We're all looking for that 28-page letter from the Dept. of Justice with various demands for UCLA that the LA Times has seen.

We can now add to that the 10-point memo that has been reported in various news sources (Washington Post, NY Times, Wall St. Journal) from the Dept. of Education to nine universities on conditions for advantageous access to federal funds. No one else seems to have the actual memo. We seem to be in a period where things can be described but not seen.

From Inside Higher Ed:

...The proposal seeks an agreement with nine institutions that are being asked to commit to a 10-point memo referred to as the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”

Among the various conditions, institutions are reportedly being asked to:

• Ban consideration of race or sex in hiring and admissions processes
• Freeze tuition for a five-year period
• Limit international undergraduate enrollment to 15 percent of the student body
• Commit to institutional neutrality
• Require applicants to take standardized tests, such as the SAT or ACT
• Clamp down on grade inflation
• Ensure a “vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus” 
• Restrict employees from expressing political views on behalf of the institution
• Shut down departments that “punish, belittle” or “spark violence against conservative ideas”
• Anonymously poll students and employees on compact compliance and publish the results

Another requirement mandates that signatories “deploy their endowments to the public good,” such as by not charging tuition to students “pursuing hard science programs (with exceptions, as desired, for families of substantial means)” for universities with more than $2 million per undergraduate student in endowment assets. Universities would also be required to post more details about graduates’ earnings and refund tuition to those who drop out in their first semester...

Institutions reportedly invited to join are: Brown University, Dartmouth College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Arizona, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/10/02/white-house-floats-compact-preferential.

And then there's this:

Source: https://x.com/CAgovernor/status/1973848963662172242.

Or direct to https://ia800103.us.archive.org/6/items/united-we-can-yes-on-50-united-we-can-10-3-2025/newsom%2010-3-2025%20universities%20should%20reject%20Trump%20offer.mp4.

Straws in the Wind - Part 88

From the Austin American-Statesman: Faculty senates — a long-standing advisory body of elected members that helps university leadership on curriculum, policy and programs — will no longer exist at University of Texas institutions starting Sept. 1, after the UT System Board of Regents on Thursday approved compliance with Senate Bill 37. Chairman Kevin Eltife said the board will "take their time" deciding if faculty senates compliant with the law will be reinstated to university campuses, and may not be needed at all 14 campuses. "The Legislature spoke very clear through the legislation that governing boards are responsible for deciding if and when faculty senates will be established on campuses," he told regents... "That is a responsibility that this board takes very seriously."

...Lawmakers had cast faculty senates as powerful voices that should be curbed last legislative session. Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, authored SB 37 to give regents more control following complaints from conservatives that the institution's faculty have become too liberal or "woke."

...Faculty advocates warned during the legislative session that shared governance is a hallmark of university operations, and weakening faculty senates jeopardizes that work...

Full story at https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/university-texas-system-faculty-senate-abolish-20822502.php.

From Higher Ed Dive: ...With the passage of the new legislation, also known as SB 1, Ohio lawmakers made deep inroads into the academic operations of public colleges, asserting new state controls over decisions historically left to faculty and administrators. The law bans diversity, equity and inclusion training, requires post-tenure review, prohibits full-time faculty from striking and even requires certain questions in student evaluations of professors. SB 1 also created a policy that could wipe out dozens or even hundreds of academic programs if the experience of Ohio’s neighboring state is any gauge. 

In Indiana, a similar policy with programmatic graduation thresholds — inserted into the most recent state budget bill — has already put 75 degree programs on the chopping block. The state’s public colleges also moved to suspend another 101 programs and consolidate 232. As in Ohio, Indiana state colleges only had months to review their portfolios for cuts. That created uncertainty for many. “Even tenured faculty are wondering, am I going to have a job in two months?” one faculty governance leader in Indiana told local media, describing “chaos and confusion” on campus...

Full story at https://www.highereddive.com/news/ohio-university-program-cuts-comply-SB1/758788/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 81

From Inside Higher Ed: The University of Chicago’s Arts and Humanities Division is reducing how many new Ph.D. students it admits for the 2026–27 academic year across about half of its departments and completely halting Ph.D. admissions elsewhere. Multiple language programs are among those affected... Arts and Humanities dean Deborah Nelson told faculty, staff and Ph.D. students, “We will accept a smaller overall Ph.D. cohort across seven departments: Art History, Cinema and Media Studies, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, English Language and Literature, Linguistics, Music (composition), and Philosophy.” The university didn’t tell Inside Higher Ed how many fewer Ph.D. students would be accepted across those departments. “Other departments will pause admissions,” Nelson wrote.

Andrew Ollett, an associate professor of South Asian languages and civilizations, said that means no new Ph.D. students for these departments: classics, comparative literature, Germanic studies, Middle Eastern studies, Romance languages and literatures, Slavic languages and literatures, and South Asian languages and civilizations, plus the ethnomusicology and history and theory of music programs in the music department. While the university didn’t provide an interview or respond to multiple written questions, a spokesperson did point out that the UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice is also pausing Ph.D. admissions, while the Harris School of Public Policy is pausing admissions for the Harris Ph.D., the political economy Ph.D. and the master of arts in public policy with certificate in research methods...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/academic-programs/2025/08/14/uchicago-freezing-phd-admissions-multiple-programs.

From Inside Higher Ed: The University of Texas System Board of Regents voted... to disband the system’s long-standing faculty senates in compliance with Senate Bill 37, the sweeping Texas higher education law that gives university boards and presidents control over faculty governing bodies. The UT board also voted... to create faculty advisory groups, which will “perform the work of faculty governance bodies”—such as reviewing degree requirements, suggesting curricular changes, coordinating campus events and revising the faculty handbook—while keeping all decision-making power in the hands of the administration. The University of Houston system Board of Regents did the same..., voting to create faculty councils that will “provide structured, meaningful avenues for faculty to help shape academic priorities, strengthen excellence and contribute to decisions that guide our future,” a university spokesperson said in a statement.

But the groups won’t give the faculty independent representation or any real power. In accordance with SB 37, the board bylaws now state, “a faculty council is advisory only and may not be delegated the final decision-making authority on any matter.”

...The president will also choose the presiding officer, associate presiding officer and secretary for each group. Appointees may serve for six years before taking a mandatory two-year break from the group, while faculty-elected representatives may only serve for two years before the two-year break...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/shared-governance/2025/08/22/tex-boards-abolish-faculty-senates-create.

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 42

From Poets&Quants: The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business appears to have ended its decades-long partnership with the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management effective July 1, according to a consortium email to prospective applicants obtained by Poets&Quants. “Due to recent changes in state and federal policies regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, UT Austin has notified us that they will be ending our formal partnership,” writes Consortium Vice President for Graduate Programs Michael J. Bates in an email to applicants that was forwarded to P&Q. “This decision comes after four decades of collaboration since our partnership began in 1984,” he writes. “This separation is not a reflection of the value or quality of our work together. UT Austin has made clear that this decision is purely driven by regulatory compliance requirements, not by any dissatisfaction with our partnership or mission.”

The Consortium was founded in 1966 at Washington University in St. Louis when management professor Sterling Schoen realized that no Fortune 500 company of the time had an African American in its management. He and others created a network of universities who pledged to help Black students earn MBAs and enter corporate leadership pipelines. Today, the Consortium has 24 top business schools and more than 75 corporate partners in its network and has expanded its mission to create pathways for underrepresented minorities in graduate management education. University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business was the latest school to join, effective July 1, 2024. The networks provide full-tuition fellowships, professional development, and a powerful network of peers and alumni for MBAs...

Full story at https://poetsandquants.com/2025/07/04/dei-the-consortium/.

From Inside Higher Ed: House Republicans want to cut the National Science Foundation’s funding by about $2 billion, according to budget documents released Monday. The House proposal shows Republicans’ priorities as funding talks for the coming fiscal year ramp up. Congress has until Sept. 30 to reach an agreement on a budget, which is made up of 12 appropriations bills, or else the government could shut down. The House appropriations committee has released several proposal bills, while its Senate counterpart is just getting started. Still, funding for NSF is already one point of disagreement between House and Senate appropriators. Last week, Senate Republicans indicated that they would cut only about $16 million from NSF, leaving the agency with just over $9 billion. The House plan, which would give NSF about $7 billion, is just a proposal and doesn’t go as far as President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026, which cuts more than $5 billion from the agency...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/07/15/house-appropriators-propose-23-cut-nsf.

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/.