Page 4 - Us Universities

US court blocks Trump's order to bar foreign students at Harvard University

A US federal judge blocked the Trump administration's move to bar international students at Harvard, following a swift lawsuit by the university claiming the order would cause 'serious & lasting harm'

MIT to cut student intake, staff jobs due to fund reduction by Trump govt

MIT's endowment is worth $25 billion, but most of it is already committed to specific purposes

Harvard expands lawsuit against US after Trump ends $450 mn funding

In its new complaint, Harvard cited several actions taken by the administration since the university's initial lawsuit on April 21

Campus protests flare on smaller scale but with higher stakes this time

Campus activism has flared as the academic year winds down, with pro-Palestinian demonstrations leading to arrests at several colleges. Compared with last spring, when more than 2,100 people were arrested in campus protests nationwide, the demonstrations have been smaller and more scattered. But the stakes are also much higher. President Donald Trump's administration has been investigating dozens of colleges over their handling of protests, including allegations of antisemitism, and frozen federal grant money as leverage to press demands for new rules on activism. Colleges, in turn, have been taking a harder line on discipline and enforcement, following new policies adopted to prevent tent encampments of the kind that stayed up for weeks last year on many campuses. What are protesters demanding? More are pushing for the same goal that drove last year's protests an end to university ties with Israel or companies that provide weapons or other support to Israel. Protesters who took

Trump's reshaping of higher education tests US' appeal for int'l students

As he finishes college in China, computer science student Ma Tianyu has set his sights on graduate school in the United States. No country offers better programmes for the career he wants as a game developer, he said. He applied only to US schools and was accepted by some. But after the initial excitement, he began seeing reasons for doubt. First, there was President Donald Trump's trade war with China. Then, China's Ministry of Education issued a warning about studying in America. When he saw the wave of legal status terminations for international students in the US, he realised he needed to consider how American politics could affect him. The recent developments soured some of his classmates on studying in the US, but he plans to come anyway. He is ready to adapt to whatever changes may come," he said. American universities, home to many programmes at the top of their fields, have long appealed to students around the world hoping to pursue research and get a foothold in the US jo

Tufts grad student Ozturk freed on bail in setback to Trump administration

The Friday ruling in favor of Tufts student Rümeysa Ozturk marks a setback for the administration amid its crackdown on foreign students accused of antisemitic activism over the Israel-Hamas conflict

Columbia University lays off 180 after Trump pulls $400 mn for antisemitism

Columbia University said Tuesday that it will be laying off nearly 180 staffers in response to President Donald Trump's decision to cancel $400 million in funding over the Manhattan college's handling of student protests against the war in Gaza. Those receiving non-renewal or termination notices Tuesday represent about 20% of the employees funded in some manner by the terminated federal grants, the university said in a statement Tuesday. We have had to make deliberate, considered decisions about the allocation of our financial resources, the university said. Those decisions also impact our greatest resource, our people. We understand this news will be hard. University spokesperson Jessica Murphy declined to say whether more layoffs were expected, but said Columbia is taking a range of steps to create financial flexibility, including maintaining current salary levels and offering voluntary retirement incentives. Research will also be scaled back, with some departments winding down .

Donald Trump speaks to graduating students at Alabama amid protests

President Donald Trump was addressing graduating students at the University of Alabama on Thursday, a visit that drew hundreds of protesters to an off-campus rally. Trump's remarks in Tuscaloosa are the Republican president's first address to graduates in his second term and come as he has been celebrating the first 100 days of his administration. The previously scheduled visit came shortly after he announced a shake-up to his national security team, with Mike Waltz being tapped for United Nations ambassador and Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking over Waltz's national security adviser role on an interim basis. What a nice looking group this is, Trump said to open his speech. There's nowhere I'd rather be than Tuscaloosa. Alabama, where Trump won a commanding 64 per cent of the vote in 2024, is where he has staged a number of his trademark large rallies over the past decade. It is also where Trump showed early signs of strength in his first presidential campaign when he began ...

Yale weighs $850 mn bond sale amid Trump's attack on higher education

The sale would consist of two bond series: one offering $500 million of tax-exempt bonds and another selling $350 million of taxable bonds, both are expected to price the week of May 5

Trump admin opens investigation into UC Berkeley over foreign funding

The Trump administration launched an investigation into the University of California, Berkeley, on Friday centred on foreign funding, making it the latest university to be targeted by the federal government. The investigation revives criticism from several years ago about the university's partnership with China's Tsinghua University. It comes after President Donald Trump earlier this week signed a series of executive orders focused on universities that he views as liberal adversaries to his political agenda. One order called for harder enforcement of Section 117, a federal law requiring colleges to disclose foreign gifts and contracts valued at USD 2,50,000 or more. The Department of Education's Office of General Counsel will investigate "UC Berkeley's apparent failure to fully and accurately disclose significant funding received from foreign sources", Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. UC Berkeley denied the government's claims, saying that for the last two yea

Trump signs executive orders targeting US colleges, accreditation system

US President Donald Trump has directed the education department and the attorney general to take strict action against institutions that violate Section 117 of the Higher Education Act

Harvard seeks speedy resolution of lawsuit over Trump's funding cuts

Harvard filed the lawsuit after the White House froze $2.2 billion in research grants on 14 April over its refusal to change policies on governance, discipline, hiring and admissions

Campus calls: Pressures on US universities could be India's opportunity

With notable exceptions, the state of higher education in India leaves much to be desired

Lawsuit challenges Trump administration crackdown on international students

A class action lawsuit filed Friday asks a federal court to reinstate the legal status of international students caught up in a Trump administration crackdown that has left more than a thousand fearful of deportation. The suit filed by several American Civil Liberties Union affiliates seeks to represent more than 100 students in New England and Puerto Rico. "International students are a vital community in our state's universities, and no administration should be allowed to circumvent the law to unilaterally strip students of status, disrupt their studies, and put them at risk of deportation, said Gilles Bissonnette, legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire. At schools around the country, students have seen their visas revoked or their legal status terminated, typically with little notice. About 1,100 students at more than 170 colleges, universities and university systems have been affected since late March, according to an Associated Press review of university statements, ...

IRS move to revoke tax-exempt status would be 'unlawful', says Harvard

With a $53 billion endowment, Harvard has emerged as the highest-profile university to contest Trump's attempts to force sweeping changes on higher education

Facing funding cuts, Cornell, Brown look to short-term borrowing for cash

By tapping commercial paper or selling longer-term debt, colleges can keep their cash stockpiles to help weather the uncertainty

US colleges face funding cuts as Trump ties aid to policy compliance

After decades of partnership with the US government, colleges are facing new doubts about the future of their federal funding. President Donald Trump's administration has been using the funding spigot to seek compliance with his agenda, cutting off money to schools including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. All the while, universities across the country are navigating cuts to grants for research institutions. The squeeze on higher education underscores how much American colleges depend on the federal government a provider of grants and contracts that have amounted to close to half the total revenue of some research universities, according to an Associated Press analysis. It adds up to a crisis for universities, and a problem for the country as a whole, say school administrators and advocates for academic freedom. America's scientific and medical research capabilities are tightly entwined with its universities as part of a compact that started after World War

Under threat from Trump, Columbia University agrees to policy changes

Under threat from the Trump administration, Columbia University has agreed to implement a suite of policy changes, including overhauling its rules for protests and conducting an immediate review of its Middle Eastern studies department. The changes, detailed in a letter sent by interim president, Katrina Armstrong, came one week after the Trump administration ordered the Ivy League school to implement those and other changes in order to continue receiving federal funding, an ultimatum widely criticised in academia as an attack on academic freedom. In her letter, Armstrong said the university would immediately appoint a senior vice provost to conduct a thorough review of the portfolio of its regional studies programs, starting immediately with the Middle East. Columbia will also bar protests inside academic buildings and the wearing of face masks on campus for the purposes of concealing one's identity. An exception would be made for people wearing them for health reasons. The Trump

As Trump cuts funding, Europe looks to poach top researchers from the US

A coalition of 12 European governments is pushing for measures to attract US researchers as Trump's administration enforces deep funding cuts in education and research

Trump demands control at Columbia, alarming scholars and speech groups

The Trump administration brushed aside decades of precedent when it ordered Columbia University to oust the leadership of an academic department, a demand seen as a direct attack on academic freedom and a warning of what is to come for other colleges facing federal scrutiny. Federal officials told the university it must immediately place its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under "academic receivership for a minimum of five years". The demand was among several described as conditions for receiving federal funding, including USD 400 million already pulled over allegations of antisemitism. Across academia, it was seen as a stunning intrusion. "It is an escalation of a kind that is unheard of," said Joan Scott, a historian and member of the academic freedom committee of the American Association of University Professors. "Even during the McCarthy period in the United States, this was not done." President Donald Trump has been threatening to withhold federal .