UC President Milliken has talked about public discontent with higher ed with opaque admissions being one of the causes. A waitlist with a Zero probability - or even a close-to-zero probability - isn't likely to improve the situation.
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*https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/college-waitlists-national-decision-day-4cb7b5d8.
From the Yale Daily News: This academic year, some English professors have increased their preference for physical copies of readings, citing concerns related to artificial intelligence. Many English professors have identified the use of chatbots as harmful to critical thinking and writing. Now, professors who had previously allowed screens in class are tightening technology restrictions. Professor Kim Shirkhani, who teaches “Reading and Writing the Modern Essay,” explained that for about a decade prior to this semester, she did not require printed readings. This semester, she is requiring all students to have printed options. “Over the years I’ve found that when students read on paper they're more likely to read carefully, and less likely in a pinch to read on their phones or rely on chatbot summaries,” Shirkhani wrote to the News. “This improves the quality of class time by orders of magnitude.”
...Last semester, professor Pamela Newton, who also teaches the course, allowed students to bring readings either on tablets or in printed form. While laptops felt like a “wall” in class, Newton said, students could use iPads to annotate readings and lie them flat on the table during discussions. However, Newton said she felt “paranoid” that students could be texting during class. This semester, Newton has removed the option to bring iPads to class, except for accessibility needs, as a part of the general movement in the “Reading and Writing the Modern Essay” seminars to “swim against the tide of AI use,” reduce “the infiltration of tech,” and “go back to pen and paper,” she said...
Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/english-professors-double-down-on-requiring-printed-copies-of-readings.
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From the Yale Daily News: University presidents from around the country gathered at Yale [last] Tuesday for an annual summit that included a presentation of awards to Harvard President Alan Garber and former University of Virginia President James Ryan ’88 — both of whom received national attention last year for their public clashes with President Donald Trump amid his crackdown on elite higher education.
Last year, as the federal government tried to pressure Garber and Ryan into reforming their respective universities’ policies, Yale comparatively flew under Trump’s radar. Amid Trump’s pervasive criticism of higher education, [Yale] University President Maurie McInnis — one of the presenters of Tuesday’s awards — prioritized behind-the-scenes advocacy in Washington, D.C., over issuing public statements, in accordance with the guidance she adopted in October 2024 that recommends administrators largely refrain from making public statements on current events...
Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/university-leaders-convene-at-yale-honoring-two-who-clashed-with-trump.
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.
“This is war!” Stephen Long wrote on April 17 to a fellow board member about a professor who sought to preserve diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Board members have often been reluctant to speak publicly on university matters outside of meetings. But the texts, exchanged between June 2023 and mid-December by board members and top university officials, offer an unfiltered account of the body’s inner workings as it rolled back some gender affirming care, dissolved the university’s DEI office and responded to several investigations by the Trump administration, among other changes at U-Va. Ryan resigned in June amid the intensifying scrutiny. At times, the texts show tension between conservative, moderate and more liberal board members, including one who referred to his fellow board members as “crazies.”
Youngkin spokesperson Rob Damschen said the involvement of the governor and his aides were “essential to responsible oversight.” ...
Full story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026/01/09/university-virginia-board-texts-messages-youngkin-dei/.
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From the Chronicle of Higher Education: The University of Michigan’s incoming president, Kent Syverud, could make up to $3 million a year, per his contract. At $2 million, his base pay would have set a new record last year, according to Chronicle data... In addition to the $2 million, Syverud, who has been president of Syracuse University since 2014, can earn an annual performance award that is worth up to 30 percent of his base pay, or $600,000. The university will also contribute up to $360,000 a year to his retirement plan after one year of service. At the end of his time as Michigan’s president, unless he is fired for cause or leaves for another institution, Syverud will be able to take a one-year leave while earning his base pay. He can then join the faculty as a tenured professor and continue to earn his base pay for three years...
Colleges’ presidential contracts are starting to feel more like those afforded to their football coaches, who get enormous pay packages but can be fired at a moment’s notice. The people filling both positions are under pressure from board members, donors, alumni, and sometimes state lawmakers to meet certain metrics or step aside... But $3 million a year is still a lot for the leader of a public institution...
Other college presidents’ compensation will likely match or exceed Syverud’s in the near future, if they haven’t already. Their contracts are a bit of an arms race, James H. Finkelstein, an emeritus professor of public policy at George Mason University, told The Chronicle in November. Presidents, he said, tend to want what they see their peers getting.
Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/new-u-of-michigan-presidents-pay-may-set-a-record.
From the NY Times: Canada is making an aggressive effort to attract highly skilled researchers from around the world, including H-1B visa holders in the United States who are coming under growing pressure because of the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policies and cuts to research funding. The Canadian government... said it would spend more than $1 billion over the next few years to attract and retain scientists from around the world, including those at major hospitals and universities.
It also said that in coming months it would create an “accelerated pathway” for U.S. H-1B visa holders. H-1B visas are issued to highly skilled people working for American companies and are concentrated in major industries that compete for global talent, such as technology and medicine.
“As other countries constrain academic freedoms and undermine cutting-edge research, Canada is investing, and doubling down, on science,” Mélanie Joly, Canada’s Industry minister, said in written comments to the press, without explicitly mentioning the United States. In an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, Ms. Joly said that the new money would create 100 new research chairs, by funding not just individual senior researchers at the top of those efforts, but their entire teams and labs.
...In April, Toronto’s University Healthcare Network, a major hospitals and research network, said it was recruiting 100 researchers directly from the United States. The University of Toronto, Canada’s top academic institution and one of the world’s highest-ranked universities, lured several top humanities and social sciences professors from Ivy League schools during the year.
In just the past few weeks, the University of Toronto announced it had also attracted two M.I.T. professors, of planetary science and economics, as well as a Stanford economist, Mark Duggan. Mr. Duggan will become the new director at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, which is considered Canada’s equivalent to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/world/canada/canada-usa-immigration-h1-b-visa-talent.html.
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From the Washington Post: The dean of the University of Virginia’s business school... emerged as the top candidate in the search for the flagship’s next president ahead of a board meeting [last] Friday in Charlottesville, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Board of Visitors is scheduled to review candidates for the top job at the university, a role that has been vacant since James E. Ryan stepped down in the summer amid pressure from the Trump administration over diversity, equity and inclusion policies.The board is likely to vote to appoint Scott C. Beardsley, the dean of the Darden School of Business since 2015, as president, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly...
The past year has been a challenging one for U-Va., which has been thrust into several partisan fights among state and federal officials this year. That included the Justice Department launching several probes into DEI policies and the university’s response to antisemitism. Amid the negotiations, Ryan, board member Paul Manning and others have said the Justice Department made clear that the university would risk losing its federal funding if there wasn’t a change in leadership. Ryan said he stepped down to avoid a costly fight...
Full story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/12/18/university-of-virginia-president-pick-spanberger/.
The case will be dismissed, shutting down an effort to install the Republican governor’s board picks, many of whom had previously worked for or donated to the GOP and were rejected by Virginia Democrats. Now Spanberger, a Democrat, will be able to name 22 board members that otherwise would have been appointed by Youngkin, giving her the opportunity to shift the political balance of boards away from the right...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/12/11/youngkin-loses-battle-over-board-picks.
From the Cavalier Daily: Some University [of Virginia] faculty have expressed skepticism about the intentions behind Freedom of Information Act requests they have received in recent years from Virginia residents and organizations. While acknowledging the right of individuals and organizations to file FOIA requests to obtain public records — such as course syllabi or emails — some faculty also claim that the law has been weaponized and created a sense of curriculum policing at the University.
According to the Code of Virginia, the Virginia FOIA law ensures access to “public records in the custody of a public body or its officers and employees.” FOIA says that “all public records shall be available for inspection and copying upon request,” unless there is an exemption invoked. Exemptions include certain personnel records, scholastic records, health records or other information which is shared with a public institution under the condition of confidentiality. Any Virginia citizen can file a FOIA request to receive records from a state public body.
...According to Assoc. Sociology Prof. Ian Mullins, recently some FOIA requests have targeted faculty within the College of Arts and Sciences Engagements program. The Engagements program is a yearlong sequence of small, seminar style courses for first-year College students that aims to introduce them to the liberal arts and sciences. Janet Spittler, Engagements program co-director and associate religious studies professor, confirmed via an email statement to The Cavalier Daily that every course in the Engaging Aesthetics Pillar — one of four pillars in the program which focuses on exploring the world through “the lens of human creativity” — has received a FOIA request for its syllabi. Spittler was not able to confirm when these requests were filed, nor whether the requests were limited to the Fall 2025 semester or not.
...Although [Media Studies Prof. Robin Means] Coleman emphasized that individuals and organizations have the right to access these records, and that these rights are crucial for holding public institutions accountable, she also stressed that this right has been abused to target certain offices and faculty at universities across the country. “I'm not opposed in any way to the spirit [or] the principles of what's behind [open records requests],” Coleman said. “The challenge that folks are facing is navigating the weaponization of that really useful tool … It becomes sort of de facto censorship that faculty have to worry about.” ...
Full story at https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025/11/faculty-question-the-motives-behind-foia-requests-for-course-materials-text-messages.
Note: UC emails, etc., are subject to Public Records requests. You should not assume privacy.
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From the NY Times: A University of Oklahoma student says she is the victim of religious discrimination because a psychology instructor gave her a zero for an essay that cited the Bible and said that “the lie that there are multiple genders” is “demonic.” The complaint by the student, Samantha Fulnecky, follows a series of similar conflicts at colleges around the country over how professors should talk about gender in the classroom, a battle in which each side insists it is protecting academic freedom and First Amendment rights.
The instructor who flunked Ms. Fulnecky on the essay has been placed on administrative leave while the school investigates the episode, according to a statement the University of Oklahoma posted on social media. The instructor is a graduate student at the university. Dozens of professors have lost their jobs or been disciplined in recent months over issues related to political speech, often because of posts on social media. Texas A&M University fired a faculty member who was accused of teaching a course that recognized more than two genders, after a video of her discussing gender in class was posted online.
...The instructor, who was not named in the university’s statement, declined to comment, writing in an email that, “as advised by my lawyer, I will not be making any public statements at this time.” ...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/us/oklahoma-bible-essay-gender-teasing-zero.html.
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...
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.
From the NY Times: The former president of the University of Virginia, in his most expansive statement since he resigned in June, described in a letter to the faculty on Friday the immense pressure the Justice Department had directed at him and the school in his final days in the position and said that his ouster had been publicly mischaracterized. In an extraordinary 12-page letter, the former president, James E. Ryan, said the school’s board had been unwilling to take on the Trump administration and had essentially traded his resignation for a deal to spare the school investigations and fines.
The Justice Department has said it never told the school to oust Mr. Ryan. The school’s board, however, has said that the department wanted him to step aside. Mr. Ryan said in the letter that on June 26, a member of the board and two lawyers for the university told him that, following a call with a top Justice Department official, he had four hours to resign, or severe punitive measures would be leveled against the school by the Trump administration. “The call for my resignation, right until the end, seemed so outlandish as not to be entirely believable,” Mr. Ryan said. “It also felt like a hostage situation, where the kidnapper threatens harm if you do not keep information about the demands confidential. I was repeatedly told to keep this threat confidential and scolded for sharing the information with some close colleagues to help me think through the best path.” ...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/us/politics/uva-james-ryan-trump.html.
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.
From The Athletic/NY Times: Penn State fired head coach James Franklin... despite being on the hook for $45 million remaining on his contract, according to a school source. It is the second-largest buyout in college football history, behind what Texas A&M owed Jimbo Fisher when it fired him on Nov. 12, 2023. The Aggies owed Fisher roughly $77 million on a contract that runs through 2031. Franklin’s buyout is only the third in college football history to surpass the $20 million threshold for a fired coach, joining that of Fisher and Gus Malzahten, who was owed $21.4 million when he was fired by Auburn in December 2020.
In 2021, Franklin signed a 10-year contract that paid him $7 million per year in annual compensation plus a $1 million annual loan for life insurance. There were also incentives and retention bonuses in Franklin’s contract, but only his annual compensation and loan are part of the buyout. The massive buyout figure comes as coaching salaries have skyrocketed in recent years. In the late 2010s and early 2020s, the industry saw an increase in fully guaranteed contracts awarded to top coaches with buyouts that crept up into the upper eight figures...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6711634/2025/10/12/penn-state-james-franklin-buyout-explained/.
From the NY Times: The University of Virginia became the fifth school to rebuff a White House proposal to give universities preferential treatment if they uphold a set of White House demands. The White House offered the proposal to nine universities last week, asking them to sign on to a list of requirements laid out in a 10-page document in exchange for funds. In declining to sign on to the agreement, Paul G. Mahoney, Virginia’s interim president, said that while the university agreed with many principles outlined in the proposal, it wanted “no special treatment” in funding.
“A contractual arrangement predicating assessment on anything other than merit will undermine the integrity of the vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education,” Mr. Mahoney wrote in a note to Linda McMahon, the education secretary, and two other administration officials. Mr. Mahoney’s announcement, which also went out to the campus community late Friday afternoon, followed similar decisions in the past week by other schools that received the government’s offer, including M.I.T., Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/us/university-of-virginia-white-house-compact.html.
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:
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:
Marzulla Law LLC characterized the research published by Brown’s Climate and Development Lab as “false and injurious” in a... letter to Brown’s general counsel. It threatened to file complaints with Brown’s public and private funders, including the Energy Department, the National Science Foundation and the Mellon Foundation... Brown researchers who authored a case study about Marzulla Law have written that the firm has “a history of advancing anti-environmental lawsuits and significant ties with the fossil fuel industry.” Researchers have also published findings accusing one of the firm’s clients—the nonprofit Green Oceans, which is trying to shut down the construction of a nearly complete $4 billion wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island—of being part of “a fossil-fuel-funded disinformation network.” ...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/08/26/law-firm-threatens-brown-climate-researchers.
From Inside Higher Ed: Virginia Democrats blocked 14 gubernatorial appointments to state university boards last week, escalating a fight with Republican governor Glenn Youngkin over institutional leadership. The Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections, led by a Democratic majority, voted 8 to 6 to reject four Youngkin appointments to the Virginia Military Institute board, four to the University of Virginia’s board and six to George Mason University’s board. The latter rejections now leave the GMU Board of Visitors without a quorum at a time when they are under federal scrutiny for alleged discriminatory hiring practices, which GMU president Gregory Washington has sharply disputed, even as concerns over his future hang in the balance.
Youngkin called the move “blatant partisanship.” But Senate Democrats have argued that the governor participated in his own brand of partisanship, stocking college boards with divisive conservative political figures. (An Inside Higher Ed analysis in July found that Youngkin has appointed numerous conservative activists, former Republican lawmakers and officials, and multiple GOP megadonors, among others.) Commonwealth Democrats have also demanded that Youngkin cease such appointments until he meets with Senate leaders, who have accused the governor of failing to adequately consult with them. The Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections previously blocked eight appointments in June. That action prompted a legal fight, with the governor arguing that his picks should be allowed to serve on their respective boards until the full Senate weighs in.
Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, backed the governor’s view, but a judge blocked that effort in July after Democrats sued. Miyares has since appealed the case to the Virginia Supreme Court...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/trustees-regents/2025/09/03/virginia-democrats-block-14-board-appointments.
From Inside Higher Ed: Republican governor Glenn Youngkin was overruled... as a Virginia circuit court ordered eight of his nominees be removed from their posts on three public universities’ boards, the Associated Press reported and court records confirm. Nine Democrats on the state Senate Privileges and Elections Committee had rejected the nominees’ appointment to serve the University of Virginia, George Mason University and the Virginia Military Institute during a special session in June. But Youngkin and his attorney general, Jason Miyares, instructed board chairs to proceed in welcoming the nominees as members, citing a provision in the state Constitution that says all gubernatorial appointees must be approved by the General Assembly. Miyares argued that because a committee, not the full General Assembly, rejected the nominees, that wasn’t the final decision. But Fairfax Circuit Court judge Jonathan Frieden disagreed.
...For now, the ruling serves as a win for the Senate Democrats who filed the lawsuit, arguing Youngkin’s actions fly in the face of the state Constitution. Shaun Kenney, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, however, said they intend to appeal...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/state-policy/2025/07/30/judge-removes-youngkins-university-board-picks.
From the NY Times: When the Department of Justice recently opened an investigation into George Mason University over accusations that the university’s diversity programs were discriminatory, many members of the faculty were outraged. Professors quickly published a resolution supporting their president and the university’s efforts around diversity. Now, Justice Department officials say they will investigate the faculty, too.
...The Trump administration said it would seek drafts of the faculty resolution, all written communications among the Faculty Senate members who drafted the resolution, and all communications between those faculty members and the office of the university’s president, Gregory Washington. ...The faculty resolution affirmed the university’s previous stance that “diversity is our strength.” It also defended Dr. Washington, the university’s first Black president, who has been a target of the Trump administration.
...The Justice Department’s interest in the faculty resolution suggested that the Trump administration was widening its targets as it escalates attacks on what it views as a left-leaning climate on college campuses...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/us/justice-department-george-mason-faculty-senate-investigation.html.
From the NY Times: Paul G. Mahoney, a former dean of the law school at the University of Virginia, was named the institution’s interim president on Monday, after his predecessor as president resigned under intense pressure from the Trump administration. The university’s governing board met on Monday to approve Mr. Mahoney’s appointment. He is taking over the helm of a university that was operating in a leadership vacuum as it attempted to negotiate a tricky legal predicament posed by several Department of Justice investigations.
The former president, James E. Ryan, left in July following a campaign waged against him by the Department of Justice and a conservative Virginia alumni group, the Jefferson Council, that led a multiyear crusade attacking the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The university’s longtime provost and second-highest executive, Ian Baucom, left earlier in the year to become president of Middlebury College. Members of the university’s board, who are appointees of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, said at the meeting Monday that they hoped to select a new permanent president within four to six months...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/us/politics/university-virginia-appoints-interim-president.html.
The item sheds light on the reason for the sudden resignation of the UVA president noted in an earlier "straw" post:
From NBC News: [Follow up on July 4th "straw" post] - University of Virginia President James Ryan resigned last month amid a Justice Department investigation into allegations the school failed to wipe out its diversity programs. But a letter the agency sent U.Va., released last week as part of a public records request, reveals another reason the Justice Department targeted the university. In it, the department zeroed in on allegations that a fourth-year Jewish student had endured antisemitic bullying and that U.Va. had mishandled the case...
According to court documents, the housemates had been arguing over parties the Jewish student hosted. One of the roommates, Robert Romer, is alleged to have posted antisemitic memes in a group chat for the residents over several days in mid-October, including a photo of Hasidic Jewish men under the heading “Battle of $18.20.” On Oct. 21, Romer texted the house, “I am going to attempt to free Palestine. Anyone is welcome to join in on the beating,” which the Jewish student interpreted as a threat against him, according to court records. Two days later, the student alleged, Romer tried to force his way into his room.
Early Oct. 31, he later testified in court, the Jewish student entered his room and found Romer holding a gun. He said that he touched it to see that it was real and repeatedly asked whether it was loaded but that Romer wouldn’t say. After he alerted other housemates, he said, some began passing the gun around, while others were “freaking out,” before eventually someone hid it. “I’m very scared at this point,” he said in court. “Especially because someone who had sent messages that I interpreted as antisemitic and I interpreted as pointed towards me, had previously threatened to fight me, didn’t apologize for it, and then was waiting for me in my room holding a gun at midnight — that was something that was incredibly scary.” He reported the incident to the university and law enforcement the next day, then moved out of the house and arranged to study abroad for the spring semester. “I was afraid to stay at U.Va.,” he testified...
According to court documents, the housemates had been arguing over parties the Jewish student hosted. One of the roommates, Robert Romer, is alleged to have posted antisemitic memes in a group chat for the residents over several days in mid-October, including a photo of Hasidic Jewish men under the heading “Battle of $18.20.” On Oct. 21, Romer texted the house, “I am going to attempt to free Palestine. Anyone is welcome to join in on the beating,” which the Jewish student interpreted as a threat against him, according to court records. Two days later, the student alleged, Romer tried to force his way into his room.
Early Oct. 31, he later testified in court, the Jewish student entered his room and found Romer holding a gun. He said that he touched it to see that it was real and repeatedly asked whether it was loaded but that Romer wouldn’t say. After he alerted other housemates, he said, some began passing the gun around, while others were “freaking out,” before eventually someone hid it. “I’m very scared at this point,” he said in court. “Especially because someone who had sent messages that I interpreted as antisemitic and I interpreted as pointed towards me, had previously threatened to fight me, didn’t apologize for it, and then was waiting for me in my room holding a gun at midnight — that was something that was incredibly scary.”
He reported the incident to the university and law enforcement the next day, then moved out of the house and arranged to study abroad for the spring semester. “I was afraid to stay at U.Va.,” he testified. Romer was arrested Nov. 1 and hit with four charges, including brandishing a weapon and hate crime assault, according to his defense attorney, Graven Craig. He was suspended but allowed to return to school in January after he completed a student-run university judicial process, Craig said, while an investigation led by the administration continues...
Full story at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna217292.
From Forbes: The University of Virginia Faculty Senate has voted that it has no confidence in the school’s Board of Visitors. The resolution of no-confidence in the Board passed 46 to 6, with eight senators abstaining. The vote occurred on Friday, July 11, the same day that UVA President Jim Ryan officially stepped down from his post and released a video of farewell and gratitude to the campus community. Ryan had been a popular and effective president for the university, but he had been under intense pressure from the Trump administration to resign in part because of his leadership on behalf of the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which the administration had claimed violated federal civil-rights law.
Ryan, who had served since 2018 as the university’s ninth president, said he was resigning “with a very heavy heart.”
...The Senate resolution cited several justifications for the no-confidence vote, including at attempt by the Department of Justice to improperly influence the governance of the University and the power of the university president to control the administrative direction of the institution; violations of the Constitution and Bylaws of the Faculty Senate of the University of Virginia; and the Board’s failure to inform or consult with the Senate over demands made upon the University by representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice...
Full story at https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2025/07/13/university-of-virginia-faculty-vote-no-confidence-in-governing-board/.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed S.B. 1 into law on March 28 after it quickly passed the House and Senate earlier this year. S.B. 1 creates post-tenure reviews, puts diversity scholarships at risk, sets rules around classroom discussion, and creates a retrenchment provision that blocks unions from negotiating on tenure, among other things. The law affects Ohio’s public universities and community colleges...
Some of Ohio’s public universities have started making decisions because of the new law. Ohio University announced it will close the Pride Center, the Women’s Center and the Multicultural Center. The University of Toledo is suspending nine undergraduate programs. Kent State University is closing its LGBTQ+ Center, Women’s Center and Student Multicultural Center...
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From the NY Times: The University of Virginia’s president, James E. Ryan, has told the board overseeing the school that he will resign in the face of demands by the Trump administration that he step aside to help resolve a Justice Department inquiry into the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to three people briefed on the matter. For the leader of one of the nation’s most prominent public universities to take such an extraordinary step demonstrates President Trump’s success in harnessing the investigative powers of the federal government to accomplish his administration’s policy goals.
The New York Times reported... that the Justice Department had demanded Mr. Ryan’s resignation as a condition to settle a civil rights investigation into the school’s diversity practices. In a letter sent on Thursday to the head of the board overseeing the university, Mr. Ryan said that he had planned to step down at the end of the next academic year but “given the circumstances and today’s conversations” he had decided, “with deep sadness,” to tender his resignation now, according to one of the people familiar with the matter who was briefed on the contents of the letter...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/us/politics/uva-president-resigns-jim-ryan-trump.html.
Over the last few months, we noted the controversy over the rankings by US News and World Report of law schools and the decision of several major law schools not to participate. The magazine went ahead and gathered information without cooperation and its rankings have now emerged for the top 14 schools.
Its news release takes note of the controversy and states that "earlier this year, some law schools chose not to provide their institution’s statistical data to U.S. News. In an effort to provide students with a level playing field for comparison, U.S. News ranked law schools using metrics that are mandatory for disclosure by the American Bar Association. This means that certain factors such as expenditures, at-graduation employment rate and JD graduate indebtedness are no longer included in the formula." Apparently, the full list of ranked schools will appear on April 18th.
RANK SCHOOL
1 Stanford University (tie)
1 Yale University (tie)
3 University of Chicago
4 Harvard University (tie)
4 University of Pennsylvania (Carey) (tie)
6 Duke University (tie)
6 New York University (tie)
8 Columbia University (tie)
8 University of Virginia (tie)
10 Northwestern University (Pritzker) (tie)
10 University of California, Berkeley (tie)
10 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (tie)
13 Cornell University
14 University of California—Los Angeles
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Business Insider reports on endowment returns over the last fiscal year from various institutions during the caronavirus crisis:
MIT 8.3%
Harvard 7.3
Yale 6.8
U of Virginia 5.3
UC 5.0
Median of university endowments from Wall Street Journal 2.6
