Most clicked story from the week:
We rounded up dozens of 2026 conferences aiming to address some of the sector's biggest concerns — including a rapidly changing federal landscape and shifting public perception of college — as the country enters Year 2 of the second Trump administration. College leaders and faculty will gather at different events across the country, from New Orleans to Denver to Washington, D.C., to confront the sector’s challenges and collaborate on solutions.
The latest federal investigations:
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opened a systemwide investigation into California State University over allegations of antisemitism. Chancellor Mildred García said the U.S. Department of Education is also investigating Cal State over its affiliation with The PhD Project, a nonprofit that formerly focused on boosting underrepresented student enrollment in business doctorate programs.
- The Education Department also alleged earlier this year that the University of Kentucky's past work with The PhD Project violated civil rights law. On Oct. 1, President Eli Capilouto signed a resolution agreement with the department to end its investigation, in turn upping the university's reporting requirements.
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights referred Harvard University for suspension and debarment — a process that could cut it off from all federal grants and contracts — over allegations the institution didn’t do enough to prevent antisemitism. Harvard has 20 days from Sept. 29 to request a hearing on the matter.
Courts weigh in on higher education:
- The Education Department under the Trump administration successfully appealed a judicial decision that had required it to return its decimated Office for Civil Rights workforce back to the “status quo” before the agency’s mass layoffs earlier this year. The appeals court ruled the agency can move forward with its efforts to lay off half of its civil rights staff while a lawsuit against the terminations proceeds.
- A federal judge also dismissed a lawsuit against the Education Department that challenged the gainful employment rule, a Biden-era policy. Trade groups for cosmetology schools alleged that the rule overstepped the department's authority and disproportionately affected their institutions.
- Following a court order, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. departments of Defense and Transportation temporarily restored research funding cut en masse from the University of California system. The money will remain available while a lawsuit over the abrupt cancellations goes through the courts.
Quote of the week:
Matters of sex and gender are among the most-discussed social and political issues in our country. But at Texas Tech universities, you can debate and discuss these issues anywhere other than a university classroom
Adam Steinbaugh
Attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Texas Tech University system Chancellor Tedd Mitchell directed college leaders to conform instruction on their campus to a January presidential executive order directing the federal government to only recognize two sexes. Steinbaugh and other free speech advocates condemned the order as an infringement on First Amendment rights and academic freedom.
