Most clicked story of the week:

On March 7, Ohio State University President Ted Carter resigned suddenly after what the state flagship described as “an inappropriate relationship with someone seeking public resources to support her personal business.” Just days later, trustees unanimously named Provost Ravi Bellamkonda as the university’s new permanent president. They did so over earlier calls to include faculty and students in the search for a new leader.

Number of the week: 17

That’s how many attorneys general — all of whom are Democrats — sued the U.S. Department of Education over new requirements on four-year colleges to provide detailed admissions and applicant data broken down by race and sex. Their complaint pointed to potential privacy concerns and that the colleges weren’t given sufficient time to pull and validate the data. 

More cuts to colleges:

• Portland State University may shutter three academic departments and make cuts to over a dozen others. PSU President Ann Cudd said the public institution was trying to avoid a “financial crisis” as it tries to rein in a $35 million budget gap. The university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors pushed back on that framing and called officials’ plan “hasty and unimaginative.”
• University of Maine officials are readying a plan to shave $5.6 million from the state flagship’s operating budget. It would include fewer than 10 staff layoffs and leave faculty ranks intact. “This approach is in contrast to widespread cuts at other public and private institutions across the country,” President Joan Ferrini-Mundy told stakeholders last week.
• Rutgers University sent non-reappointment letters to some 38 long-term adjunct faculty who collectively teach about 100 classes, according to the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union. Officials told union members the cuts were a precautionary budget measure, while a union leader called them “wholly unnecessary.”
• The University of Wyoming made it through a harrowing budget cycle with its funding intact, after legislators mulled cutting up to $61 million from the institution. But the signed budget bill directs the state flagship to review its programs and staffing levels for possible cuts.

The latest federal news:

• The General Services Administration floated a proposal that would require federal funding recipients, including educational institutions, to certify that they do not engage in “discriminatory practices.” The agency would effectively ban race-based scholarships or programs, “cultural competence” requirements, and “overcoming obstacles” narratives or “diversity statements.”
• Last Monday, the Education Department formally invited public comments for a rule opening up Pell Grants to workforce-focused programs as short as eight weeks. Under the department’s proposed regulations, governors would have to consult with their respective state workforce boards to approve programs. 
• The California State University system sued the Trump administration over its threats to pull San José State University’s federal funding because of the institution’s athletics participation policies that allowed a transgender woman to play on its volleyball team from 2022 to 2024.