Welcome back to After the First 100 Days, Inside Higher Ed’s weekly roundup of news from the Hill to the Oval Office. I’m your host, Katherine Knott, IHE’s news editor who is ready for a long holiday weekend.
It’s been 221 days since Trump took office for the second time. And it’s been three days since Taylor Swift got engaged. Yes, your host is an unabashed Swiftie. Back to higher ed: We learned more about how the Supreme Court’s ruling on NIH grants could doom other, similar legal challenges. And we got another example of what resistance to the administration could look like: George Mason University’s president Gregory Washington plans to fight the Education Department’s accusations that his institution violated civil rights law.
But let’s talk about Hispanic-serving institutions.
HSIs are a group of more than 1,000 institutions that are eligible for more than $350 million annually from the federal government. The program is now in jeopardy after we found out the Justice Department is refusing to defend it in a lawsuit that argues the HSI designation is unconstitutional. The state of Tennessee, which sued the Department of Education, takes issue with the requirement that to be an HSI, at least 25 percent of the students at a college must be Hispanic. In a nutshell, Tennessee and Students for Fair Admissions (remember them?) say that criteria would require colleges to use affirmative action or racial quotas, which the Supreme Court has since banned. And it appears that the DOJ agrees.
Now, Congress created the HSI designation and they should be the only ones who can eliminate it, so it’s unclear what’s next. But advocates are worried that the DOJ’s decision could imperil not only the HSI program but also other grants that are geared toward minority-serving institutions. And the Education Department has said as much, so that fear is warranted.
“This is part of an ongoing effort that has been pretty fastidious in its attempts to try to really cut back on any of the gains that I think that we’ve made over the past few decades of understanding that racially aware ways of apportioning resources is a pathway towards greater educational equity,” Andrés Castro Samayoa, associate professor of higher education at Boston College, told us.
In Other News: International students continue to face challenges in getting visas for this academic year, throwing a monkey wrench into plans for the fall semester. For instance, some students are either deferring until the spring or taking classes with their college’s international partners. And now, the Department of Homeland Security is resurrecting a proposal from Trump’s first term to limit how long students can stay in the country. Under the plan, they would be limited to four years. Right now, students can stay as long as their program takes. All this adds up to more uncertainty for international students and scholars.
(Journo request: We want to hear how things are for international students on your campus and to find out how many students showed up compared to last year. So if you have data or other insights to share, reach out!)
What’s in Store for September and October:
- The House and Senate are back in session next week, and getting a deal on funding the government after Sept. 30 will be a top priority. If there’s no deal, the government could shut down.
- Negotiated rule making for a batch of student loan changes, including the caps on graduate and professional programs, kicks off Sept. 29.
- We’re watching closely to see whom McMahon will pick to serve on the accrediting advisory panel. She gets to pick six of the panel’s 18 members. The next meeting is slated for Oct. 21.
- It’s the start of a new academic year, and I’m curious to see how students, faculty and administrators respond to the continued attacks from the Trump administration.
That’s it for Week 32. It’s now fall in D.C., which is excellent news for my cat, Lois, who has never seen an open window she won’t sit by. What’s your favorite part of the season and the return to classes? Anything you are looking forward to in particular? I’m at katherine.knott@insidehighered.com if you want to chat.
If, or when, news breaks this afternoon or over the weekend, you can find the latest at InsideHigherEd.com. In the meantime, I’ll be once again imploring the refs to use their yellow cards at the Washington Spirit game. Have a good weekend!
Did someone forward you this email and you want to receive it in your inbox? You can also read more about this newsletter here.