| Tuesday, April 15, 2025 |
| MSU's International Fiesta breaks records for participation | |
 | Mississippi State University brings another annual event for students and the community. The 33rd annual International Fiesta showcases the diverse cultures on campus. "Today is a great opportunity for the community and Starkville to come to MSU, teach their kids about MSU, how great the school is and the diversity that is here and so many interesting people and food," Bonnie Renfroe said. "I'm part of a drum ensemble and representing Ghana today and Brazil." The free event featured vendors presenting their cultures in various ways. Whether it was through their food, performances, or activities, people learned about the countries from which the students traveled to study in the United States. Event coordinator Karolina Kastsiuchenka appreciates the cultures shown at the fiesta. "I am also international by origin," Kastsiuchenka said. "Then, having all of those students gives them a chance to be a part of it to show their culture to the local communities and students at MSU. That is just the best moment. I usually cry during the Parade of Flags because of how important it is to everybody carrying on their flag and showing it to the world." The fiesta was able to host a record number of participants, performances, and vendors going on the 33rd year. |
| USDA Announces New Presidential Appointments | |
 | U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins Monday announced the latest slate of presidential appointments, bringing new leadership to key roles within the Department. These appointees have been selected to implement President Trump's America First agenda at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), ensuring the needs of America's farmers, ranchers, and producers remain a top priority. "Agriculture is the backbone of America, and strong leadership at the People's Department is key to America's continued success. I'm proud to welcome this team of experienced, dedicated professionals to USDA," said Secretary Rollins. "Together, we'll work to promote rural prosperity and ensure those who feed and fuel the world can do so without regulatory burdens standing in the way." Bailey Archey has been appointed as policy advisor in the Marketing and Regulatory Programs mission area, focusing on Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issues. Bailey graduated from Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science in Animal and Dairy Sciences and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. She previously served as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, focusing on agriculture. |
| Cotton District Arts Festival returns this weekend after 18-month hiatus | |
 | The Cotton District Arts Festival is coming back this weekend after an 18-month absence, boasting a concentrated layout and host of new artists selling their wares. The event has seen its fair share of difficulties in recent years, from the pandemic, inclement weather and then skipping last year to reschedule the event from the fall back to its original spring date. Juliette Reid, the executive director of the event's organizing partner the Starkville Area Arts Council, said the festival this year is focusing on its fundamentals. "It's more condensed, with everything more centrally located," she said. "... We just pared it down to what works and what doesn't, really focusing on the art, music and food. ... We're very excited to get back to the basics." The festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, with a kickoff reception the day before at 4:30 p.m. at the Mississippi State University Visual Arts Center to show off the contestants and judges of its juried art competition. A second kickoff event has also been scheduled from 6-9 p.m. Friday at Fire Station Park with a concert and a few vendors. Saturday's festival will include more than 150 artists across 102 vendor tents, with the event historically hosting everything from traditional art to fiber arts to candles and soap to leather boots, stretching up University Drive from the VAC past Adkerson Way. |
| Community Profile: Orsini works to promote true spirit of 'recreational sports' | |
| Growing up in Utah and then Florida, Eric Orsini played just about every sport he had time for, from basketball to flag football to baseball to golf. So he understands as well as anyone what recreational youth sports can mean to a community. "Not everybody is going to get asked to be on a travel team," Orsini said. "That's really what the rec league is all about, for those kids. If they play in those travel leagues, phenomenal. We want them as well, but it's really just for anybody who wants to play a sport, get outside, exercise, have fun, meet new friends." Orsini is now in his fourth year working with Starkville Parks and Recreation through The Sports Facilities Companies -- a third-party contractor that has managed the city's parks since 2021. He started his current role as operations and event manager last spring. Orsini first came to Starkville in 2016 to study at Mississippi State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and communication and a master's in sports administration, with a concentration in sports marketing. He knew he wanted to be involved in sports in some way and considered becoming a high school athletic director or working in operations for a college athletic department. But he had a friend already working for Starkville Parks and Recreation, and when a position opened for the department's athletic programming coordinator just three weeks after he finished graduate school, he took it. |
| Trump to appoint two Northern District MS judges after Aycock takes senior status | |
| President Donald Trump can now appoint two new judges to the federal bench in the Northern District of Mississippi. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock announced recently that she was taking senior status effective April 15. This means she will still hear cases as a judge but will have a reduced caseload. "I have been so fortunate during my entire legal career," Aycock said in a statement. "As one of only a few women graduating in my law school class, I had the chance to break ground for the female practitioner." A native of Itawamba County, Aycock graduated from Tremont High School and Mississippi State University. She received her law degree from Mississippi College, where she graduated second in her class. Throughout her legal career, she blazed many trails for women practicing law and female jurists. She began her career as a judge when she was elected as a Mississippi Circuit Court judge in northeast Mississippi in 2002, the first woman ever elected to that judicial district. Federal district judges provide crucial work to the federal courts through presiding over major criminal and civil trials and applying rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals in the local districts. |
| Trial date set in Jackson bribery scandal involving Mayor, Councilman, Hinds Co. DA | |
| On Friday, U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan scheduled the trial for Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and Jackson City Councilman Aaron Banks to start July 13, 2026, with status conferences on October 1, 2025, and April 1, 2026. The Jackson Three -- Lumumba, Owens, and Banks -- were indicted in October 2024 for allegedly accepting bribes to bring a convention center hotel to downtown Jackson. All deny the allegations and have plead not guilty to the federal bribery charges. Lumumba, who is seeking re-election and is in a Democratic Primary runoff later this month, was indicted on charges of conspiracy, federal program bribery, use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements. Banks was indicted and charged with conspiracy and federal bribery. Owens was indicted on charges of conspiracy, federal program bribery, use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements. He faces eight additional charges stemming from allegedly accepting a bribe to arrange multiple meetings between out-of-state developers, who were FBI agents, and Jackson's leadership. |
| USDA Is Fast-Tracking Requests to Yank Soda from Food-Stamps Program | |
 | The Agriculture Department is fast-tracking state requests to yank soda and candy from food-stamp programs. Arkansas and Indiana are among the first in line. Both states Tuesday said they were seeking clearance from the USDA to implement the changes, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said her agency would move "very, very quickly" to approve them. "That's exactly the vision of making America healthy again," Rollins said in an interview. "I am 100% certain that these changes will be nothing but positive for those underserved communities that are food challenged." Arkansas proposes to make candy and all types of soda -- including diet and low-sugar versions -- ineligible for purchases under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, starting in July 2026. Indiana didn't say what kind of sodas it would restrict. The policy changes would be a blow to Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and other soda makers, particularly if other states followed suit. Soda companies have lobbied hard against such changes. "Our goal is not to hurt any industry but to support and promote healthier lifestyles," Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an interview. "No one is saying you can't have a Diet Coke or a candy bar. We're saying you can't do it with taxpayer money." |
| Hawley's change of heart reflects evolving politics of Medicaid | |
 | In 2018, then-Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley signed on to multistate litigation seeking to overturn the 2010 health care law -- a move that, if successful, would have eliminated protections for people with preexisting conditions and ended the expansion of Medicaid to millions of low-income people. Now, as the senior senator representing Missouri, Hawley finds himself in the unlikely position of defending Medicaid as his fellow Republicans scour for $880 billion to help extend President Donald Trump's tax cuts and pay for increased funding for border security. Hawley has made his stance clear in recent weeks: He will not support any proposal that would lead to cuts in Medicaid benefits for Missourians. "I just want to know, at the end of the day, whatever reforms or packages of things proposed, will it result in reductions to benefits to Missourians? That's my test." What's changed for Hawley, a longtime critic of the 2010 health care law? In 2020, a majority of Missouri voters approved a ballot measure to expand Medicaid in the state to cover more than 348,000 adults making $21,597 a year or less. "Our voters voted for it. It's not like the legislature can just adjust it. It's in our constitution. Our voters voted for it by a big margin," Hawley said in an interview. It's an unexpected about-face for Hawley, a conservative senator with a long-held opposition to the 2010 health care act and an 85 percent rating from the Conservative Political Action Conference. |
| JD Vance: Europe can't be a 'permanent security vassal' of the US | |
| There's at least one mainstream European politician JD Vance is a fan of: iconic French postwar leader Charles de Gaulle. In an interview with British news and opinion website UnHerd, the U.S. vice president said that de Gaulle -- who led the French World War II resistance against the Nazis and was president from 1959 to 1969 -- had it right when it came to European military independence. De Gaulle "loved the United States of America," Vance said, "but [he] recognised what I certainly recognise, that it's not in Europe's interest, and it's not in America's interest, for Europe to be a permanent security vassal of the United States." Vance's comments land as President Donald Trump's administration repeatedly hammers European capitals over their overreliance on American military might for their own defense, while hinting repeatedly that the U.S. would not come to the aid of NATO allies who don't invest in their own security. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also warned American military presence in Europe is not "forever." With the exception of Britain, France and Poland, "most European nations don't have militaries that can provide for their reasonable defence," Vance argued. "The reality is -- it's blunt to say it, but it's also true -- that Europe's entire security infrastructure, for my entire life, has been subsidized by the United States of America." |
| DOGE associate is made acting head of foreign assistance at the State Department, a US official says | |
 | The Trump administration has expanded the power of adviser Elon Musk's government-cutting team over the State Department, making a Musk lieutenant acting head of all foreign assistance there. A senior U.S. official confirmed the new job for Jeremy Lewin, an associate of the Department of Government Efficiency earlier appointed to help finish dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. The official was not authorized to speak publicly on a personnel matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The move comes as President Donald Trump's administration is pushing to greatly reduce what in 2024 was $52 billion in humanitarian, health and development programs overseas by the State Department and USAID. Lewin's appointment gives Musk's team, which has worked with the Republican administration to make deep cuts to government programs and services, one of its highest formal roles in the federal government. Lewin's appointment follows the departure of a Trump political appointee, Pete Marocco, as the administration's head of foreign assistance. State officials credited Marocco with helping oversee the elimination of staff, programs and funding at USAID. Marocco in the role reportedly clashed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others in the administration and Congress. |
| DOGE is collecting federal data to remove immigrants from housing, jobs | |
 | The Trump administration is using personal data normally protected from dissemination to find undocumented immigrants where they work, study and live, often with the goal of removing them from their housing and the workforce. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for example, officials are working on a rule that would ban mixed-status households -- in which some family members have legal status and others don't -- from public housing, according to multiple staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution. Affiliates from the U.S. DOGE Service are also looking to kick out existing mixed-status households, vowing to ensure that undocumented immigrants do not benefit from public programs, even if they live with citizens or other eligible family members. The push extends across agencies: Last week, the Social Security Administration entered the names and Social Security numbers of more than 6,000 mostly Latino immigrants into a database it uses to track dead people, effectively slashing their ability to receive benefits or work legally in the United States. Federal tax and immigration enforcement officials recently reached a deal to share confidential tax data for people suspected of being in the United States illegally. |
| Brain drain? Trump cutbacks force scientists to seek jobs in Europe | |
| David Die Dejean is passionate about studying tuna. Last year, he landed a dream job at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Miami to pursue his research. By January, he was settled in, had received a good review and loved working with his colleagues, he said. Then in mid-February he received an email to vacate the premises within 90 minutes. He and hundreds of others had been dismissed in job cuts targeting probationary workers as U.S. President Donald Trump's new administration began slashing funding for universities and research bodies. Now Die Dejean is applying for positions in Europe. "I want to work wherever they allow me to do the research," said the scientist, who studies fish stocks to ensure tuna is being fished sustainably. "I'm eagerly waiting for some of the things that are coming from the European Union...increasing the opportunities for scientists like me to come back," said Die Dejean, who was born in Spain but has spent most of his career in the U.S. and Australia. The threat to academics' livelihoods at universities including Yale, Columbia and Johns Hopkins has given Europe's political leaders hope they could reap an intellectual windfall. |
| Trump eyes major cuts to NOAA research | |
 | The Trump administration is eyeing cuts to climate, weather and ocean research in a draft budget blueprint for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A draft document from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) obtained by The Hill shows the administration wants to eliminate NOAA's Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Office and cut 74 percent of its funding. The document, a proposal for the agency's 2026 budget, says it wants to eliminate "all funding" for climate, weather and ocean laboratories and cooperative institutes, as well as funding for regional climate data. It still provides funding for programs that research weather and tornadoes and suggests moving them to the offices within NOAA. The proposal suggests a 27 percent overall cut in NOAA's funding. The federal budget typically needs to be approved by Congress and is subject to the filibuster, making it generally a somewhat bipartisan process. However, as the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency seeks to make cuts and firings at agencies across the board, the document could provide a road map for forthcoming layoffs the agency will take on. |
| 'Draconian' Layoffs, Grant Terminations Come for the NEH | |
 | The National Endowment for the Humanities sent termination notices to 65 percent of its employees Thursday evening in a move that experts say will have far-reaching consequences for higher education institutions and the communities they serve. The cuts to the NEH, which has a $200 million budget, come about a month after President Donald Trump forced out Shelly C. Lowe -- the first Native American to head the agency -- and a week after the agency terminated more than 1,000 grants. Many of those grants supported work at colleges and universities, including an initiative to digitize North Carolina Central University's historical records, an oral history project at Kennesaw State University and a library renovation at the University of Missouri, according to a database of the terminated grants compiled by the Association for Computers and the Humanities. The deep cuts to NEH are just the latest purge by DOGE, which has already fired tens of thousands of employees across numerous federal agencies. Since its founding in 1965, the NEH has sent more than $6 billion in grants to museums, historical sites, libraries, state humanities councils and higher education institutions to support research, curriculum development and public programming, among other initiatives. This year, it had a grant budget of $74.4 million. But before the NEH agrees to fund a project, that project has to go through a rigorous peer-review process. |
| White House to ask Congress to cut $9B in funds, including for NPR, PBS, USAID | |
| The White House is preparing a rescission package that will seek to have Congress claw back more than $9 billion in approved funding through cuts to public broadcasting, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and agencies President Trump has sought to eliminate. A White House official confirmed to The Hill that the package will be sent to Congress when lawmakers return from Easter recess on April 28. The package requests to eliminate $9.3 billion in spending, the official said. That includes money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees PBS and NPR, money for USAID and agencies like the U.S. Institute of Peace, which Trump aimed to dismantle via an executive order signed in February. The New York Post, which first reported on the planned request, noted the request covered roughly $1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and more than $8 billion for USAID and other State Department efforts. Simple majorities in both the House and Senate would need to vote to approve the rescission package in order to eliminate the congressionally approved funding. Republicans control both chambers, though their margin in the House is especially narrow. |
| U. of Mississippi launches new center to expand cannabis research | |
| The University of Mississippi has announced plans for a new research center to support national efforts in prevailing the scientific and regulatory challenges in cannabis research. The Resource Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research (R3CR) will be housed in the university's already existing National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR), which is one of the nation's leading marijuana research programs. R3CR is supported by the National Institutes of Health and includes the University of Mississippi (UM) partnering with Washington State University (WSU) and the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). "This is a unique opportunity to assist others and encourage further research in all fields of cannabis research," NCNPR director Ikhlas Khan said. The new center will provide tools such as seed funding, webinars, conferences, and an interactive website to help guide researchers in areas including regulatory compliance, research support, and standard developments, which aim to expand and improve cannabis research across the U.S., contributing to safer, more effective therapeutic applications of cannabis-derived compounds. |
| JSU's Sonic Boom performs with Travis Scott at Coachella | |
 | Jackson State University's (JSU) Sonic Boom of the South performed alongside headliner Travis Scott for the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. According to officials, the band joined Scott in a fiery display opening the concert with a dynamic orchestra-style rendition of his single "4×4," on April 12, 2025. "Anything great is connected to hard work, and it's something that our students are not unfamiliar with. They're familiar with working hard and they've been doing so in grand style up until this point and I'm very proud of them," said Roderick Little, Ph.D., director of bands. "Our hope is that opportunities like these will show how important HBCU bands are to the nation and ultimately reach the right people who are ready to be long-term partners and donors of the university, the band program and most importantly, our students." On February 4, Scott petitioned for an HBCU or college band to send videos playing the horn arrangement for his song "4×4," for a chance to be invited to perform the song with him at the 2025 Coachella festival. He also mentioned that students from the chosen institution may be eligible for scholarships or other support for a college semester. SU Assistant Band Director and Chief Arranger Kevan Johnson saw an opportunity for the students and began arranging the song. The Boom garnered more than 17,000 likes and 860 comments on a February 8, Instagram reel covering Scott's "4×4" hit single. |
| Arkansas ACCESS Law Overhauls College Admissions, Scholarships & Funding | |
 | Arkansas' higher education admissions, scholarships and funding are getting a refresh. Signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on March 18, Arkansas ACCESS, a legislative overhaul of the state's higher education system, aims to transform how Arkansas colleges and universities operate. In what Arkansas Division of Higher Education Commissioner Ken Warden called a "common-sense approach," one of the legislation's top priorities is preparing students for the workforce through diverse types of higher education, not just four-year degrees. It also aims to make it easier for Arkansas students to receive education past high school. At a press conference announcing the plan, Sanders said ACCESS addresses an education system that is too complicated, too "woke" and that doesn't "fully prepare students for the jobs of the future." The acronym ACCESS represents six focus areas: acceleration, common sense, cost, eligibility, scholarships and standardization. Though some of the changes outlined in the ACCESS plan will take place immediately, many aspects require the Division of Higher Education to promulgate rules and regulations. "Where there is ambiguity, the division will be required to update coordinating board policies," Warden told Arkansas Business. "Some changes will be immediate; others will take time. Throughout the next year, rules will be fully implemented, and policies should reflect the necessary changes." |
| Under Trump, freedom of speech in universities takes on a new meaning | |
 | Being openly conservative at a liberal university comes with certain hazards, according to Miguel Muniz and Martin Bertao. They are the incoming and outgoing presidents of the University of California Berkeley College Republicans and say they face harassment whenever they set up a table on campus. "We're called fascist. We're yelled at. We're spit at," Muniz says, adding that verbal attacks are a constant. "You're not always going to have someone pushing you." Bertao says that since President Trump began his second term, members are more willing to speak their minds and more people show up for tabling -- a boost for conservative views at Berkeley. "A university is supposed to be a place where you go and diversify your thoughts and beliefs," says Bertao, "And I think having a good conservative voice on our college campuses, which has been missing for, I would say, decades here, is extremely important to our next generation." Some conservatives say Trump's election has provoked a backlash on campus. Kristan Hawkins, president of the anti-abortion rights group Students For Life, says college administrators have thrown up bureaucratic roadblocks that stymie her speaking engagements, like requiring event insurance or billing her group for security. "They understand that we certainly should have a right to speak on campus, but they can make it as difficult or as easy as they wish," Hawkins says. |
| How Trump's Early Actions Compare to Project 2025, Other Blueprints | |
| President Donald Trump's first three months in office have rocked higher education. From cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to gutting the Education Department and deporting hundreds of international students, he has made clear that he intends to reclaim colleges from what he calls "Marxist maniacs." And all this has been accomplished during the president's first 85 days in office. Over the next three years, Trump wants to reform the student loan system, roll back many of the Biden administration's consumer protection regulations and gain the legislative support needed to close the Education Department altogether. Collectively, the Trump administration's early moves have caused chaos and uncertainty, stunning higher education leaders -- some of whom doubted the president would follow through on his campaign promises at all. But the president's intentions were clear throughout his time on the campaign trail, and his actions have closely aligned with the controversial recommendations made in Project 2025 and other key blueprints for the second administration. So far, nearly one-third of the 50 or so higher ed policy recommendations in Project 2025 have been either fully or partially executed in Trump's first 12 weeks, an Inside Higher Ed analysis found. Many of the other recommendations would require Congress to pass laws or the Education Department to issue new regulations, so following through on those items will take longer. |
| Harvard hit with $2.2 billion funding freeze after rejecting Trump's demands | |
| Harvard University officials on Monday rejected Trump administration demands that the school yield to extensive government oversight and make sweeping changes to governance, admissions and hiring practices, calling the directives unlawful and unconstitutional. The administration responded Monday night by saying it would freeze more than $2 billion in federal funding to the Ivy League school. The government's demands, received by Harvard on Friday after the administration had previously announced a review of nearly $9 billion in federal funding to Harvard, are part of the administration's crackdown on what it calls rampant antisemitism and leftist ideology on college campuses. Harvard will continue to work to combat antisemitism and "remains open to dialogue about what the university has done, and is planning to do, to improve the experience of every member of its community," two attorneys representing the school wrote in a letter Monday, but the school "is not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration." Harrison Fields, a spokesperson for the White House, said universities are not entitled to federal funding. |
| As Trump Freezes Billions in Funding, Harvard Steels Itself for a Fight | |
 | The Trump administration is freezing more than $2 billion in funding to Harvard University after its president, Alan M. Garber, announced on Monday the institution would not give in to a new set of demands that would have granted the government remarkable power to shape campus operations. News of the funding freeze -- totaling $2.2 billion in multiyear grants and $60 million in multiyear contract value -- came in a Monday-evening statement from the White House's Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. "Harvard's statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges -- that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws," the task force wrote. Harvard appears to be steeling itself for a fight. Asked for comment late Monday, a university spokesperson referred The Chronicle to excerpts of Garber's earlier statement refusing Trump's demands, including this line: "The university will not surrender its independence or its constitutional rights." "No government -- regardless of which party is in power -- should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," Garber wrote, adding that the Trump administration's assertions of authority were "unmoored from the law." |
| College Presidents Share Their Fears and Frustrations | |
| Harvard University made headlines yesterday for refusing to acquiesce to the Trump administration's lengthy list of demands, issued as a kind of ransom to be paid in exchange for the release of $9 billion in federal research funds. In a widely celebrated letter to the college community, Harvard president Alan Garber wrote, "We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement. The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights." That makes Garber one of the first -- and certainly the most high-profile -- higher ed leader to publicly take a stand against the president's unbridled assault on postsecondary education. Wesleyan University president Michael Roth is another; in a recent Inside Higher Ed op-ed, he wrote that college leaders have all the tools they need to preserve diversity, equity and inclusion and academic freedom, "as long as we resist the attempts by politicians and their billionaire allies to drown us out with invective and fear-mongering." But plenty of other college leaders without the platform, board support or overflowing coffers that Garber and Roth enjoy are waging their own spirited battles to save academe from President Donald J. Trump. |
| The Little-Known Bureaucrats Tearing Through American Universities | |
| Columbia University's president had already been hounded out of office, but her ordeal wasn't over. Four days after she stepped down under government pressure during fraught federal funding negotiations, Katrina Armstrong spent three hours being deposed by a government attorney in Washington, D.C. The lawyer grilled Armstrong over whether she had done enough to protect Jewish students against antisemitism. As she dodged specifics under questioning, the lawyer said her answer "makes absolutely no sense" and that he was "baffled" by her leadership style. "I'm just trying to understand how you have such a terrible memory of specific incidents of antisemitism when you're clearly an intelligent doctor," he said. The attorney in the room during the April 1 deposition, a senior Health and Human Services official named Sean Keveney, is part of a little-known government task force that has shaken elite American universities to their core in recent weeks. It has targeted billions of dollars in federal funding at premiere institutions such as Columbia and Harvard, with cascading effects on campuses nationwide. Now it is pressing to put Columbia under a form of federal oversight known as a consent decree. Called the Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, the group's stated goal is to "root out antisemitic harassment in schools and on college campuses," a mission that emerged from pro-Palestinian protests that disrupted campuses last year. But along the way, the task force is taking on university culture more broadly in ways that echo the MAGA dreams for remaking higher education -- including ending racial preferences in admissions and hiring. |
| Inside Trump's Pressure Campaign on Universities | |
 | As he finished lunch in the private dining room outside the Oval Office on April 1, President Trump floated an astounding proposal: What if the government simply canceled every dollar of the nearly $9 billion promised to Harvard University? The administration's campaign to expunge "woke" ideology from college campuses had already forced Columbia University to strike a deal. Now, the White House was eyeing the nation's oldest and wealthiest university. "What if we never pay them?" Mr. Trump casually asked, according to a person familiar with the conversation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussion. "Wouldn't that be cool?" The moment underscored the aggressive, ad hoc approach continuing to shape one of the new administration's most consequential policies. Mr. Trump and his top aides are exerting control of huge sums of federal research money to shift the ideological tilt of the higher education system, which they see as hostile to conservatives and intent on perpetuating liberalism. Soon after taking office, Mr. Trump formed the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, which is scrutinizing leading universities for potential civil rights violations and serving as an entry point to pressure schools to reassess their policies. The opaque process is upending campuses nationwide, leaving elite institutions, long accustomed to operating with relative freedom from Washington, reeling from a blunt-force political attack that is at the leading edge of a bigger cultural battle. |
| Universities Sue Over DOE's Plan to Cap Indirect Cost Rates | |
| A coalition of research universities and higher education advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Department of Energy, asking a judge to immediately block the department's plan to cap universities' indirect research cost reimbursement rates at 15 percent. The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts district court, argues that "if the DOE's policy is allowed to stand, it will devastate scientific research at America's universities and badly undermine our Nation's enviable status as a global leader in scientific research and innovation." Plaintiffs include the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and nine individual universities, including Brown and Cornell Universities and the Universities of Michigan, Illinois and Rochester. DOE grant recipients at colleges and universities currently have an average 30 percent indirect cost rate, and the Trump administration has cast indirect costs as an example of wasteful, difficult-to-oversee spending by universities, even though the costs are audited extensively. However, the lawsuit against the DOE argues that slashing indirect cost rates in half "ignores that indirect costs are necessary for critical research to proceed and are distinguished from direct costs only in that they are not attributable to just one grant." |
| After Trump grant cuts, some universities give researchers a lifeline | |
| Last fall, Keith Maggert's grant proposal to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to extend his work in chromosome biology and gene regulation received a score from reviewers that put it over the threshold for funding. Final approval was due in February, but turmoil at NIH delayed it until late May, leaving him with a gap in supporting his fly genetics lab at the University of Arizona (UA). This week, however, he received $37,619 in short-term support from another source: his own university. The money will allow him to continue to pay two graduate students and buy needed supplies. Maggert is one of seven UA faculty members to date who have benefited from the university's new "bridge" program, designed for those whose research has been disrupted by the wave of spending cuts and freezes in grantmaking by President Donald Trump and his administration. Several U.S. universities are taking similar steps to assist their researchers in dire straits. They're experimenting with different flavors -- for example, some are helping faculty reimagine their research programs while others try to ensure their doctoral students are able to complete their degrees. Most aren't sharing how much money they are committing to these efforts, though wealthier institutions probably can do more to keep labs afloat. And all bridge programs are likely to be oversubscribed. |
| Federal Grants Website Gets DOGE'd | |
| The Department of Government Efficiency has taken control of a federal website that universities and other organizations use to find out about -- and apply for -- federal grant opportunities, The Washington Post reported Friday. Federal officials have historically listed on Grants.gov more than $500 billion in annual federal grant opportunities from numerous agencies, including the Defense, State and Interior Departments, that fund research on a range of topics, such as cancer, cybersecurity and wastewater management. However, an engineer from DOGE -- the agency run by billionaire Donald Trump donor Elon Musk -- deleted, without notice, many of those officials' permissions to post those funding opportunities. Agency officials have been instructed instead to send their planned grant notices to a Department of Health and Human Services email address that DOGE is monitoring. The HHS, which has long managed Grants.gov, said it's "taking action to ensure new grant opportunities are aligned" with the Trump administration's priorities outlined in its Make America Healthy Again agenda, according to the Post. Now DOGE is responsible for posting grant opportunities. And if it delays them or stops posting them altogether, that "could effectively shut down federal-grant making," an anonymous federal official told the Post. |
| Partnership between research universities and government drives innovation | |
| Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz writes in The Detroit News: A 1965 discovery in a Michigan State University laboratory launched a revolution in medicine. Today, the chemotherapy drug cisplatin and related platinum-based compounds save countless lives across a range of cancers, including testicular, ovarian, bladder, breast and skin melanoma. This breakthrough was not just the result of scientific insight, dogged experimental curiosity and collaboration -- it was made possible by a strong, deliberate partnership between research universities and the federal government. Michigan State biophysicist Barnett Rosenberg and colleagues discovered that platinum compounds can stop cellular division and shrink cancerous tumors. The National Cancer Institute, funded by the American people through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), supported both MSU's Rosenberg Laboratory and the clinical trials that led to cisplatin's success. I highlight this "eureka!" moment to underscore the power of partnership between research universities and the federal government, which grew from the post-World War II realization of its importance to America's health, prosperity and national security. This powerful research ecosystem, which prioritizes discovery and progress, has ensured that America maintains an innovative lead ahead of its rivals. Yet, today, that successful ecosystem is under threat of being dismantled. |
SPORTS
| Baseball: Mississippi State Set To Host Southern | |
| Mississippi State is shaping into form having won back-to-back Southeastern Conference series and five of its last six games overall. The Diamond Dawgs (22-14) took two from then 12th-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa over the weekend and return home for a Tuesday night affair against Southern at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+ with Bart Gregory and Charlie Winfield on the call. MSU is 4-0 all-time in the series having outscored the Jaguars 45-12 during the previous meetings, all at Dudy Noble Field. The Bulldogs claimed the last matchup against Southern 14-5 in 2022 with Hunter Hines going 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs and Pico Kohn picking up the win on the mound. Mississippi State has also won seven-straight midweek games dating back to March 5. Freshman right-hander Ryan McPherson is scheduled to make his first-career start for State on Tuesday. In 10 appearances, McPherson is 3-0 with one save and a 2.61 earned run average. He has struck out 32 and walked eight over 20 2/3 innings of work out of the bullpen. |
| Roster limit changes not offered in latest filing on $2.8 billion NCAA lawsuit settlement | |
| Attorneys working on the $2.8 billion legal settlement designed to reshape college sports filed a brief Monday night that did not include changes a judge suggested regarding team roster limits, saying such a late change to that rule would create havoc. The plan on the table, the attorneys said, "is a vast improvement over the status quo" and they offered only a few tweaks to the sprawling deal announced last year that will clear the way for schools to begin sharing millions in revenue with their athletes and pay hundreds of millions more to former and current athletes who said they were illegally prevented from earning money. The filing came in response to U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken's suggestion last week that the terms of the roster limit rules be adjusted "to grandfather in a group of rostered people" set to lose their spots on teams if the caps come into play. The defendants -- the NCAA and the nation's five largest conferences -- said such a move would "cause significant disruption." They said countless roster moves have already been made in anticipation of the settlement going into effect on July 1. |
| House vs. NCAA settlement gets possible revisions, but not on roster limits | |
 | The principal parties to the proposed settlement of three athlete-compensation antitrust cases against the NCAA and Power Five conferences late Monday night Pacific Time (early Tuesday morning Eastern Time) filed a revised version of their agreement that did not include any changes to roster limits that would take effect July 1 -- one of the most discussed issues of a final-approval hearing U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken held last week in Oakland, California. The new filing also attempts to further clarify the rights of future athletes under the 10-year period that the settlement seeks to cover. This was another issue on which Wilken spent considerable time during last week's hearing. She also covered it during the preliminary-approval hearing in September. In addition, the new filing attempts to address issues that some athletes said they had in submitting information via an online portal set up by the third-party administrator that is helping the plaintiffs' attorneys handle claims for payments from what is set to be a $2.8 billion damages pool. Under the presumptive revisions, athletes would be given additional time to file claims -- until May 16. In addition, the plaintiffs' lawyers said they and the administrator would continue to work with athletes regarding claims and that updates to damages allocations are still being made. |
| House v. NCAA Settlement Lawyers Stand Firm on Roster Limits | |
| Last week's fairness hearing for the proposed settlement to resolve the House, Carter and Hubbard cases against the NCAA encountered some resistance from U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken. In a filing late Monday, attorneys for the parties tweaked or expounded on several terms -- but not the imposition of roster limits -- while insisting Wilken should approve the settlement. The filing, a joint supplemental brief in support of final approval, was authored by Rakesh Kilaru, Jeffrey Kessler, Steve Berman and other lead attorneys of the parties. They assert the key question for Wilken is whether the settlement "taken as a whole, rather than the individual component parts" is "fair and reasonable." The attorneys highlight that the deal contemplates schools sharing around 50% of athletic revenues with athletes when new forms of direct athlete pay are added to full scholarships and other benefits of grant-in-aids. They also argue that NIL deals will continue except with "a fairer and more transparent review and enforcement process." The settlement is "vast improvement over the status quo," the attorneys write, and is superior to the alternative of continued litigation that could last many years. |
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