Most clicked story of the week:
Drexel University President Antonio Merlo started in his role last July, as the private Philadelphia institution was undergoing a major overhaul that included restructuring its academic calendar. Merlo spoke to Higher Ed Dive about taking over mid-transformation, navigating a chaotic and competitive higher education sector, and embedding experiential education into Drexel’s DNA.
Number of the week: 9
That’s how many agreements the U.S. Department of Education has announced with other federal agencies between May 2025 and last week as it looks to offload responsibilities and shrink its footprint. The agreements, which amount to billions of dollars worth of activities and responsibilities, are part of President Donald Trump’s plan to ultimately shutter the Education Department. Critics have derided both the agreements and the White House's goal of closing the agency as illegal.
Trump administration keeps the pressure on University of California:
- The U.S. Department of Justice sued the University of California last week, alleging the system allowed antisemitic harassment of employees at its Los Angeles flagship. DOJ accused UCLA of failing to properly investigate and address Jewish and Israeli employee complaints and retaliating against complainants.
- In response, a vice chancellor for UCLA said the university has taken “concrete and significant steps to strengthen campus safety, enforce policies, and combat antisemitism in a systemic and sustained manner” under Chancellor Julio Frenk, who took over at the start of 2025.
- Amid attacks from the Trump administration, UC sold $2 billion in bonds during the week. That’s on top of selling $2.2 billion in debt in December. Documents tied to the latest bonds said UC officials were monitoring “the federal government's actions with respect to the higher education sector and, in particular, the university,” and the institution would use proceeds to finance or refinance projects, according to Reuters.
More attacks on DEI:
- Louisiana’s Republican governor on Feb. 23 invited the Trump administration to investigate every college in the state to root out diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Gov. Jeff Landry’s statement followed the February launch of an Education Department investigation into the state’s higher education board over language geared toward boosting underrepresented student enrollment across the state’s public colleges.
- The following day, Trump declared during the State of the Union that his administration “ended DEI in America” after a blitz of executive orders and investigations in 2025. Despite the president's declaration, his administration still has multiple lawsuits and investigations into college DEI pending
- Meanwhile, a community college professor won a legal challenge against the California Community Colleges system over regulations requiring faculty to embed DEI and anti-racist principles in their work. The Bakersfield College instructor argued the rules forced him to espouse an ideology he disagreed with, and a federal judge blocked the college officials from applying the regulations to the professor’s teaching and scholarship.
