Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
Washington Post
Excerpt: The University of Virginia’s governing board voted Friday to dissolve its office of diversity, equity and inclusion, joining other efforts by President Donald Trump and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) to remove DEI initiatives in the state and beyond.
The Board of Visitors, overwhelmingly controlled by Youngkin appointees, voted unanimously in favor of a resolution that dismantled the office. It said state law does not call for such stand-alone offices, but the resolution allows the university to transfer programs “permissible” by law to other homes. It was not immediately clear what would qualify as permissible.
Ryan D. Enos and Steven Levitsky
Harvard Crimson
Excerpt: Democracy is in greater peril today than at any time in modern U.S. history. President Donald Trump ran an openly authoritarian campaign in 2024, pledging to prosecute his rivals, punish media critics, and deploy the military to repress protest. Now, with stunning speed, he is doing just that.
Maggie Kelly
Inside UATX
Excerpt: Last week, UATX founding trustee Bari Weiss and Palantir CEO Alex Karp visited campus to discuss the failures of American education and the urgent need to build anew.
“Our educational institutions have really done us a disservice,” Karp said. “The primary disservice was somehow teaching people that it's better to believe in nothing than in something."
Kate Hidalgo Bellows
Chronicle of Higher Education
Excerpt: The Trump administration has sent its first notice to a college that it may take away federal funding.
A new federal task force on antisemitism will review more than $5 billion that Columbia University receives from the government, and will immediately consider imposing stop-work orders on $51.4 million in federal contracts that Columbia holds.
FIRE
Excerpt: The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of an LGBTQ+ student organization to block a new policy from the Texas A&M University System that bans drag performances on its 11 public campuses — a clear violation of the First Amendment.
Spencer S. Hsu and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
Washington Post
Excerpt: Interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin demanded that the dean of Georgetown Law School end all diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the school, asserting in a letter that his office will not consider hiring anyone affiliated with a university that utilizes DEI.