Ansley Skipper
If you can keep it, Substack
Excerpt: The Trump administration just forced the president of my alma mater to resign as part of a larger campaign to ostensibly enforce “intellectual diversity” and “advance academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and student learning.”
Michael S. Schmidt and Michael C. Bender
New York Times
Excerpt: 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 in order to help resolve a Justice Department inquiry into the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to three people briefed on the matter.
Christopher F. Rufo, Ryan Thorpe
City Journal
Excerpt: In recent months, Ivy League universities have changed their tune on “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Under pressure from President Trump, these institutions have renamed DEI departments, scuttled unpopular programs, and assured the administration that they are following the law. As Cornell president Michael Kotlikoff explained in February: “Just as we do not exclude anyone at Cornell for reasons irrelevant to merit, neither do we . . . hire or promote employees, award chairs or tenure, or make any other merit-driven decisions at Cornell based on race, ethnicity, or other attributes.”
Kotlikoff’s statement was unequivocal, but according to a trove of internal documents we have obtained, it was also untrue.
Ryan Quinn
Inside Higher Ed
Excerpt: A university president took the platform he was given at the annual convening of Heterodox Academy, a viewpoint-diversity group, to tell attendees that their long-standing gripes had found “resonance” with those trying to destroy higher education.
Susan H. Greenberg
Inside Higher Ed
Excerpt: 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 earlier this month that prohibits students who are not legal residents from paying in-state tuition.
In a letter to the state's public college presidents last week, 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.”
Jacob Sullum
Reason Magazine
Excerpt: Mahmoud Khalil, the first target of President Donald Trump's crusade against international students he describes as "terrorist sympathizers," was released from custody on Friday after more than three months of detention. But the Trump administration is still trying to deport Khalil, a legal permanent resident, based on his participation in anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.
The official rationale for expelling Khalil is that he poses a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests. That justification is alarmingly broad and vague, raising due process and free speech concerns that interact with each other.