ICE detained Columbia alum Mahmoud Khalil, a legal resident, for leading pro-Palestinian protests. Free speech advocates call it a test of the First Amendment, while the Trump administration defends his deportation.
Student loans and Pell Grants are safe but Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says she has started the process of shutting down the Department of Education.
One part of the law blocks state funding for university programs promoting DEI or activism. Another bans general-ed courses teaching identity politics or systemic inequities in U.S. institutions.
Rights advocates raised alarm, including free speech concerns, after it was reported that the U.S. State Department will use artificial intelligence to revoke visas of foreign students who it perceives as supporters of Palestinian Hamas militants.
'Instead of allowing free-range debate,” lawyers for Speech First told the Supreme Court, “many colleges are more interested in protecting students from ideas that make them uncomfortable.'
New college rankings from FIRE and ADL emphasize free speech and antisemitism over academics, diverging sharply from U.S. News rankings. Critics argue their flawed methodologies make them unreliable for guiding federal research funding.
Linda McMahon, President Trump's pick for the Department of Education, hinted at several ways she plans to lead the agency during her confirmation hearing last week.
Proposed legislation would prohibit universities from offering certificates, degrees or courses in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer studies or DEI. Employees found to be teaching these subjects could be fired and have their name added to a do-not-hire list.
