Daily Briefing

Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday, June 11. Rick Seltzer wrote today’s Briefing. Julia Piper compiled Transitions. Get in touch: dailybriefing@chronicle.com.

Grant whiplash

Keep an eye on a delicate dance unfolding around new conditions the Trump administration is trying to attach to federal grants.

The National Institutes of Health yanked, then reinstated, new ideological grant requirements on Monday, STAT reported. The rules, which date back to April, require colleges to certify that they don’t run illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs or boycott Israel to tap federal research funding.

Williams College has paused accepting new grants because of such terms. The Massachusetts liberal-arts college became the first-known institution to take such a stance when it told faculty members at the end of May that it was holding off on accepting new grants from the NIH and the National Science Foundation, Science reported.

• “This new condition goes well beyond a standard certification that the college comply with all applicable nondiscrimination laws,” Eiko Siniawer, the provost, and Lara Shore-Sheppard, dean of faculty, wrote in an email to faculty members, according to Science.

Fourteen NSF grants are under review at Williams. The college isn’t evaluating any NIH grants.

The NSF has maintained its own anti-DEI and anti-BDS grant requirements. A spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Briefing that the conditions, put in place in May, are still in effect.

Did Williams take a principled stand … for clarification? “The college decided on May 30 to temporarily pause acceptance of funds from new NSF or NIH grants to allow for a thorough review amid the rapidly evolving federal enforcement environment,” a spokesperson said in an email to the Daily Briefing.

• “We have already made significant progress toward the clarity we need to resume certification,” the spokesperson added.

The Williams pause left faculty members divided, according to Science. Some saw it as the college upholding its values. Others think it harms research. The college’s website says DEI is “inextricably linked to educational excellence,” The Boston Globe noted.

The bigger picture: Whether or not they’re willing to comply with new strings on federal funding, colleges are walking a fine line. On one side, the Trump administration is very willing to make life miserable for college leaders. On the other, activists are itching for someone to tell the government to pound sand. Watch small wealthy colleges that draw relatively few federal research dollars, because they may be best positioned to tell the government “no” if they think it goes a bridge too far.

Federal news

• Former college presidents lobby against Big, Beautiful Bill: More than 100 former college leaders signed on to a letter to Senate leaders that calls House Republicans’ omnibus legislation “an unprecedented retreat from the federal effort to equalize access to postsecondary education.” The letter, which was shared with the Daily Briefing, specifically criticizes proposed cuts to Pell Grants, student lending, and Medicaid, as well as plans to increase the endowment tax and create a risk-sharing mechanism to penalize colleges for unpaid student loans.
• States land on consumer-protection front lines: As Republicans work to loosen federal oversight, advocates for regulating online-program managers and short-term certificate programs are pushing blueprints for states to take action. State offices have also been flooded with questions from student-loan borrowers as a vastly slimmed-down U.S. Department of Education pushes a return to repayment. (New America, The Institute for College Access & Success, Stateline)
• Big bill for Education Department employees who aren’t allowed to work: The agency has paid $21 million to employees who it moved to fire three months ago, according to the union that represents them. They were originally to have been placed on leave through June 9, then terminated. But they remain on administrative leave, paid but unable to work, amid court challenges. (CNN)
• House jumps on Harvard hiring probe: Republicans on the Committee on Education and Workforce asked the university to share information on how it considers race, color, religion, sex, and national origin when recruiting and hiring. The inquiry comes after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission moved toward starting its own investigation, suggesting Harvard’s practices may violate antidiscrimination laws. The university maintains that it hires based on merit. (Committee on Education and Workforce, The Chronicle)

Quick hits

• Governing-board appointees rejected in Virginia: Senate Democrats said they were protecting their values on Monday when they voted down several appointments from Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican. Among those rejected was Kenneth Cuccinelli, former Virginia attorney general and official in the first Trump administration, whom Youngkin had selected for a closely watched seat on the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors. Senate Democrats vowed not to approve board members they view as unable to understand fiduciary duties, commit to independent governance, or avoid excessive partisanship. (Virginia Mercury, The Chronicle)
• University of Florida board chair survives failed presidential pick: Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, reappointed Fred Ridley and Morteza (Mori) Hosseini to the flagship’s Board of Trustees. Hosseini, the board’s chair, has publicly defended the decision to try to hire Santa Ono as the university’s president even after the pick, which drew criticism from conservatives, was rejected by the university system’s governing board. (WCJB, University of Florida, The Chronicle)
• Survivors of Michigan State shooting settle: The university agreed to pay a total of $30 million to three people who were injured in the deadly 2023 campus shooting. One will also receive free tuition, room, board, and health insurance as he completes undergraduate and graduate degrees. (WJBK, The Chronicle)

Sports report

• Private equity primed for college athletics: A $500-million effort backed by Texas’s sovereign wealth fund and the private-equity firm Velocity Capital Management wants to help finance capital projects for college athletic programs. It could fill in when financing options like bonds don’t suffice, receiving in exchange a cut of future revenue. It comes as major athletic departments are widely expected to undertake capital projects in search of new revenue streams to help pay for a $2.8-billion antitrust settlement. (Sports Business Journal, The Chronicle)
• U. of Michigan plans cuts: The flagship’s athletic department wants to use attrition to reduce staff by 10 percent in the face of the college sports antitrust settlement that will have institutions directly paying athletes. The university has committed to paying players the full amount allowed under the settlement, expected to be $20.5 million in the upcoming year. (MLive)
• Athletic director arrested: Angela Suggs, athletic director at Florida A&M University, faces fraud and theft charges after she was accused of stealing from the Florida Sports Foundation when she was chief executive of the organization, which operates under the state’s Department of Commerce. Suggs allegedly used her employer’s card for more than $24,000 in personal purchases and listed unauthorized spending as meals on expense reports. The university said it’s monitoring the situation. (Associated Press)

Transitions

• Jonathan Farina, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Seton Hall University, has been named to the post permanently.
• Rachel Clapp-Smith, dean of the College of Business at Purdue University Northwest, has been named dean of the University of North Georgia’s Mike Cottrell College of Business.
• Vassilis Syrmos, vice president for research and innovation at the University of Hawaii system, has been named interim provost at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

To submit a new-hire announcement, email people@chronicle.com. You can also find Transitions online here.

Footnote

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year, when the furniture retailer IKEA traditionally gets a jump on dormitory-selling season by reeling in type-A families that just can’t wait to organize their students’ first trip to college.

Who even needs to see the residence-hall layout before buying a Vesken cart? “This slender version is just over seven inches wide, so it can easily fit just about anywhere,” proclaims Good Housekeeping.

Worried Junior will be as territorial about his textbooks as he is with his Xbox? Try a Kallax shelving unit. “The design makes it easy to split between roommates, so there are no battles over shelf space,” the advertorial gushes.

Every parent dreams that their child will make use of under-the-bed storage. Keep the dust bunnies away with Pärkla storage cases: “They’re perfect for extra bedding, seasonal clothes, and lesser-used items like roller skates or Halloween costumes.”

Buy all three to be sure those all-important roller skates don’t get sent home.