This week in college admissions, Northwestern instituted a hiring freeze, the majority of the Fulbright board resigned, 18 colleges and universities plan to formally support Harvard in its lawsuit against the Trump administration, and Williams became the first college in the nation to refuse NSF and NIH grants.
Northwestern instituted a hiring freeze and a host of new budget cuts in response to an “increasing strain” on its finances. Northwestern is among the many universities recently targeted by the Trump administration, which reportedly froze $790 million in research funding to Northwestern this spring without officially notifying university administrators.
On Wednesday almost the entire Fulbright board resigned, in protest of the Trump administration’s “illegal and unethical” intervention in the selection process.
18 colleges and universities are planning to formally support Harvard in its lawsuit challenging the Trump administration for cutting or freezing $2.8 billion in grants and contracts. The colleges—which include Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cal Tech, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Pennsylvania—requested to file an amicus brief, arguing that academic research is an “interconnected enterprise” and funding cuts at Harvard harm “the entire ecosystem.”
Williams became the first college in the nation to assert that it won’t accept NSF or NIH grants until the agencies clarify new language in their ban on colleges promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. The announcement, which garnered mixed reactions from faculty members, also stated that the college is considering offering bridge funding to faculty whose research activities could be halted by the pause in federal grants.
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