Straws in the Wind - Part 72

From The Hill: A congressional watchdog determined... that the Trump administration broke the law when it directed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to cancel hundreds of research grants earlier this year. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the NIH violated the Impoundment Control Act when it canceled 1,800 grants in an effort to follow a series of executive orders aimed at cutting federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, according to a report from the agency. 

The 1974 law regulates how the president can cancel or delay federal funds that Congress has already appropriated. 

The GAO also found the NIH violated the law when it awarded $8 billion less in grants between January and June of this year compared to the same time in 2024 to follow the Trump administration’s executive orders...

Full story at https://thehill.com/homenews/5437295-nih-broke-law-by-withholding-funding-gao/.

From the Deseret News: The University of Utah announced plans... to cut more than 80 courses and programs — ranging in academic fields from modern dance to mining engineering — as part of the strategic reinvestment process mandated by the Utah Legislature. The Board of Trustees at the state’s flagship university approved the list of programs expected to be discontinued, pending approval by the Utah System of Higher Education and Utah lawmakers, according to a university release. Earlier this year, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed into law House Bill 265 — the divisive “strategic reinvestment” legislation requiring the state’s eight public colleges and universities to reallocate millions to programs determined to be of highest value. The University of Utah is being asked to absorb the largest HB265 reallocation burden: More than $19.5 million.

The state-imposed reallocation/reinvestment plans will occur over a three-year period. At least 30% of the reallocated dollars must be deployed by each school in fiscal year 2026. At least 70% in 2027. And 100% in 2028...

Full story at https://www.deseret.com/utah/2025/08/05/university-of-utah-cuts-programs/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 54

From Chemistry World: Employees at the embattled US National Science Foundation (NSF), which supports fundamental research, were all set to follow the lead of workers at two other science agencies and publish a statement warning about concerning developments under the Trump administration. But that effort has been indefinitely delayed... A leaked version of the NSF document echoes similar concerns to those aired by workers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In early June, several hundred current and former NIH employees signed the Bethesda Declaration, which criticized the leadership of director Jay Bhattacharya, who took the agency’s helm in April... A draft of the NIH document, which reportedly was endorsed by the NIH Fellows United union, apparently expressed several concerns including that the Trump administration halted high-quality, peer reviewed grants and contracts at the agency, dismissed crucial NIH staff, terminated key international research collaborations, and took action to enact a blanket 15% cap on indirect costs that the NIH provides to grantees to cover essential facilities and administrative expenses, which courts have temporarily paused amid an agency appeal...

Then, just a few weeks later, current and former EPA employees published their own Declaration of Dissent, which highlighted problems with the leadership of Trump-appointed administrator, Lee Zeldin... In response, Zeldin declared ‘zero tolerance’ for this criticism and reportedly placed 139 of the agency’s workers who signed the document on administrative leave, pending an investigation. Earlier this month, a union representing more than 8000 EPA workers across the US called on Zeldin to reinstate those employees.

Full story https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/national-science-foundation-employees-dissent-declaration-on-indefinite-hold/4021854.article.

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From the Deseret News: The Trump administration’s proposal to significantly cut medical research funding at American colleges could cost the University of Utah $110 million annually — while severely impacting the school’s ability to fulfill its research endeavors. That was the sobering report shared... by University of Utah Vice President for Research Erin Rothwell with the Utah Board of Higher Education. “There will be some hits to the research enterprise,” she said.

Earlier this year, the National Institutes of Health announced a 15% cap on the amount grant recipients such as the University of Utah could request for “indirect” costs — those funds that grant recipients are allowed to use on facility and administrative expenses. The Trump administration has dismissed these expenses as “overhead.”

...As Rothwell reported..., it is a historically seismic moment for the University of Utah’s vast research endeavors. “In terms of grant cancellations, we’ve had 77 grant cancellations,” she said. Many of those cancellations were for grants that had already expended most of their funding...

Full story at https://www.deseret.com/utah/2025/07/18/utah-research-grant-cuts/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 10

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: Earlier this year, Utah lawmakers passed two bills that cut $60 million to its higher-education system. That cut, however, came with a caveat — public colleges could earn the money back if they worked out a plan to shift the lost funds away from “operational inefficiencies” and toward high-demand, high-wage majors. The state’s eight public colleges have now spelled out precisely how they plan to do that.

After just 10 weeks of deliberating on what to cut, combine, or continue, leaders of Utah public colleges presented their “strategic reallocation” plans to the Utah System of Higher Education on Friday. All eight colleges’ plans were approved. Three colleges — the University of Utah, Utah State University, and Weber State University — were approved on the condition that they provide more details to the board later. Utah State’s approval is also dependent on review and approval by the institution’s next president.

Common strategies across the colleges included eliminating academic programs, cutting course offerings, reducing administrative staff, and consolidating programs.

The University of Utah plans to reallocate about $19.6 million over three years. Its report did not specify what academic programs it would be cutting, but said the resulting sums would be invested in “engineering, biotechnology, civic engagement, responsible AI, nursing & simulation, and behavioral health.” ...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/heres-what-utahs-colleges-are-doing-to-win-back-state-funding.

Conference-only

Pac-12 News Release: The Pac-12 CEO Group announced today that the fall season for several Pac-12 sports, including football, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball, would schedule Conference-only games, and that it is delaying the start of mandatory athletic activities, until a series of health and safety indicators, which have recently trended in a negative direction, provided sufficient positive data to enable a move to a second phase of return-to-play activities.  

The CEO Group made clear that it hopes to play football and all other fall sports provided that it can meet the health and safety needs of its student-athletes and obtain appropriate permissions from state and local health authorities.  Today’s decision will result in the start dates for the impacted sports being delayed. The decision is effective immediately across all Pac-12 member universities and was made following a meeting of the Pac-12 CEO Group (Friday)...

Full release at https://pac-12.com/article/2020/07/10/pac-12-ceo-group-announces-decision-schedule-conference-only-play-several-fall

Note (from the release): The Conference comprises 12 leading U.S. universities - the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California at [sic] Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Colorado, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the University of Utah, the University of Washington and Washington State University.
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From CBS Sports: The Pac-12 Conference will move to a modified, conference-only football schedule for the fall, with an announcement regarding 2020 college football season schedules to come no later than July 31. The news comes one day after the Big Ten announced its own conference-only schedule.

The conference will also delay the start of mandatory athletic activities "until a series of health and safety indicators, which have recently trended in a negative direction, provided sufficient positive data to enable a move to a second phase of return-to-play activities." Athletes who choose not to participate due to concerns about COVID-19 will continue to have their scholarships honored by and will remain in good standing with their team...

Full source at https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/pac-12-follows-big-tens-lead-moves-to-conference-only-college-football-schedule-for-2020-season/
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UPDATE: Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott has tested positive for COVID-19. The 55-year-old tested positive late this week after experiencing flu-like symptoms and is self quarantining at the direction of his doctor, according to a statement by the conference. Scott is continuing to carry on his duties as commissioner remotely...

Full story at https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/The-Latest-Red-Sox-Jays-set-for-exhibition-15399431.php