U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Issues National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards; U.S. Department of Education, August 3, 2026

U.S. Department of Education; U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Issues National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards

"Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon issued a national call to action to university presidents and governing boards, urging them to reaffirm higher education’s foundational commitments to academic excellence, pathbreaking research, and national service. Secretary McMahon called on every postsecondary institution to publish, by the end of 2026, a clear public statement outlining its commitment to implementing reforms that will help restore public trust in higher education. 

For nearly four centuries, American higher education has shaped the leaders, institutions, and ideas that fortified the nation’s civic life, powered scientific advancement, and cultivated immense economic opportunity. Yet, as many institutions have drifted from these principles, confidence in higher education has eroded. Recent polling demonstrates that public trust in higher education has reached historic lows across political parties and demographic groups.  

In her letter, Secretary McMahon expressed confidence that bold university leadership will help usher in a renewed era of academic excellence, economic opportunity, scientific discovery, and American leadership. To this end, she urged universities to begin a “forthright conversation with the American people” guided by seven central questions:  

1. Transparency and Merit in Admissions: How will your institution ensure that admissions criteria are transparent and wholly described to prospective applicants? And how will your institution ensure admissions decisions are based on merit, achievement, and your university’s educational purpose?
2. Free Speech and Open Inquiry: How will your institution protect the free exchange of ideas, wide-ranging debate, and openminded campus discourse? And how will you guarantee that unruly and violent protestors do not harass students or disrupt classes, research, public lectures, and campus operations? 
3. Intellectual Pluralism and Academic Vitality: How will your institution encourage intellectual pluralism in all its academic units? How will your faculty hiring and evaluation practices support academic vitality and ensure that all relevant perspectives are taken seriously? And how will your institution ensure the research enterprise is dedicated to advancing knowledge, deepening understanding, and serving the American people who fund it?
4. Affordability, Value, and Student Outcomes: How will your institution ensure that families can access affordable, high-return, degrees? And what will your institution do to contain costs, improve pricing transparency, and ensure that every academic program equips students to repay their loans? 
5. Academic Standards and Rigor in the Age of AI: How will your institution incentivize rigor in the age of AI, combat grade inflation, and prioritize excellence in teaching and learning? 
6. Safeguarding Research Integrity from Malign Foreign Influence: How will your institutions protect academic programs from foreign influence, and safeguard the integrity of the research enterprise? 
7. Prioritizing American Interests: How will your institution answer this national call to action? How can your campus and faculty advance American security interests, deliver academic programs that meet urgent workforce needs, and contribute materially to the Nation’s prosperity? 

Click here to read the full letter."

Department of Education backs down on anti-DEI directive after suit; UPI, February 18, 2026

Lisa Hornung, UPI; Department of Education backs down on anti-DEI directive after suit

"A federal court gave a final ruling Wednesday negating the Department of Education's 2025 directive that sought to prevent federally funded schools and universities from practicing diversity, equity and inclusion.

The U.S. District Court in New Hampshire issued the ruling that permanently invalidated the "Dear Colleague" letter of Feb. 14, 2025, after the Department of Education backed down from the lawsuit. The letter, signed by Craig Trainor, who was then the acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, told schools they had 14 days to comply with the directive or face consequences, including loss of funding. Trainor cited the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling on Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard, which effectively ended affirmative action...

District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ruled earlier in the case that the letter's "isolated characterizations of unlawful DEI" conflicted with the term's meaning, saying that DEI is fostering "a group culture of equitable and inclusive treatment."

McCafferty said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in proving that the letter was vague, viewpoint discriminatory and unlawfully imposed new legal obligations.

Plaintiffs said they were pleased with the decision.

"This ruling affirms what educators and communities have long known: celebrating the full existence of every person and sharing the truth about our history is essential," Sharif El-Mekki, CEO at The Center for Black Educator Development, said in a statement. "Today's decision protects educators' livelihoods and their responsibility to teach honestly."

"While [President Donald] Trump and [Secretary of Education Linda] McMahon want to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion, educators know these values are at the core of our nation," Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said in a statement. "The Trump administration's unlawful Dear Colleague letter and certification requirement have now been vacated and abandoned, underscoring how badly Trump and McMahon overreached in their attempt to interfere with curriculum and instruction."

Judge blocks two Trump efforts to eliminate DEI in schools and colleges; Associated Press via The Guardian, August 14, 2025

 Associated Press via The Guardian; Judge blocks two Trump efforts to eliminate DEI in schools and colleges

"A federal judge on Thursday struck down two Trump administration actions aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the nation’s schools and universities.

In her ruling, US district judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland found that the education department violated the law when it threatened to cut federal funding from educational institutions that continued with DEI initiatives.

The guidance has been on hold since April when three federal judges blocked various portions of the education department’s anti-DEI measures."

Facing Cuts Likely to Worsen Under Trump, Academic Librarians Urgently Organize; Truthout, November 17, 2024

 Emily Drabinski, Truthout; Facing Cuts Likely to Worsen Under Trump, Academic Librarians Urgently Organize

"The Project 2025 blueprint for the next Trump administration sets its sights on two crucial public institutions: libraries and higher education. Librarians show up on page 5 — targeted for their support for LGBTQIA+ reading — while dismantling the Department of Education, eliminating student loan programs, and restricting what can be taught about gender, race and class feature throughout the document. But even as academic librarians live in dread of what will happen to their libraries after January 20, many of them are also already facing termination now...

In March, the Department of Education (DOE) announced plans to eliminate data collection about academic libraries from its Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. In contemporary higher education, resources are allocated to those who can make a data-driven case for them — that’s part of what it means to run a school like a business. Removing libraries from the survey means that they can’t be counted at all. In a joint comment, several major library associations argued that such a decision would make it impossible to benchmark resources and services at the 3,700 academic libraries in the U.S. that data librarians use to argue for increased staffing and materials budgets. Such erasure will also make it impossible “to understand the cost of information over time, as well as the correlation between research expenditures and the cost of information.” The DOE still plans to eliminate academic library data beginning in 2025-26, undercutting the capacity of librarians to articulate their value in the data-driven language required by the contemporary university."