Case in Point

Feb 24 : Data Privacy: A federal judge in Maryland granted a temporary restraining order on Monday blocking the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management from disclosing sensitive data to members of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency team and anyone assisting them. The order, issued by Judge Deborah L. Boardman in Federal District Court for the District of Maryland, prevents Mr. Musk’s representatives from carrying out what they have described as an audit of the Education Department’s student loan systems for two weeks while the lawsuit continues. The American Federation of Teachers, a union representing more than 1.8 million educators, had sued to keep members of the Musk team out of the department’s data systems, which it said contained private information that its members had submitted in connection with student aid for themselves or their families. (link)

Feb 20: Data Breach: On February 7, 2025, the University of Massachusetts Amherst ("UMass Amherst ") filed a notice of data breach with the Attorney General of Massachusetts after discovering that confidential information in the organization’s possession was subject to unauthorized access. In this notice, UMass Amherst explains that the incident resulted in an unauthorized party being able to access certain individuals’ sensitive information, which includes their names and Social Security numbers. Upon completing its investigation, UMass Amherst began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals whose information was affected by the recent data security incident. (link)

Feb 14: Financial Mismanagement: A federal audit published by the National Science Foundation’s Office of the Inspector General Feb. 6 revealed significant financial mismanagement within several of Northeastern’s federally funded research projects. As a result, the university agreed to reimburse the National Science Foundation, or NSF, $616,695. The audit, which was conducted by a contract firm on behalf of the NSF and obtained by the research watchdog Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!, or SAEN, identified significant concerns regarding Northeastern’s use of more than $1.7 million in NSF grants across research projects spanning from 2019 to 2023 of the approximately $12.1 million of costs the institution claimed during that period. (link)

Feb 22 : Title IX: The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Saturday that it is launching an investigation into the University of Maine’s Title IX compliance following President Donald Trump’s threats to pull federal funding from Maine and other states that allow transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. USDA acting general counsel Ralph Linden sent a letter Saturday to the University of Maine System, Gov. Janet Mills and the Office of the Maine Attorney General, accusing the state of "openly disregarding" Trump’s executive order barring transgender athletes assigned male at birth from competing on women’s teams. The federal education department announced investigations earlier this month into athletic associations in two other states -- California and Minnesota -- where it said the federal directive is also not being followed. (link)

Feb 21: Lawsuit Ruling: A state Superior Court judge in Los Angeles County has ruled in a lawsuit that part-time professors in the Long Beach Community College District should be paid for work they do outside the classroom such as preparing lectures, grading papers, and meeting with students. Judge Stuart M. Rice’s 22-page decision issued this week could have ramifications across the state’s community college system, where part-time academics, commonly called adjuncts, have long complained that they are only paid for the time spent in front of a class teaching. A similar suit, brought by adjuncts against 22 community college districts, the state community college system and its board of governors, is proceeding in Sacramento County. (link)

Feb 17: Regulatory Guidance: The Department of Education sent a "Dear Colleague" letter Friday threatening the federal funding of any academic institution that considers race in most aspects of student life. The letter -- geared toward all preschool, elementary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies that receive financial assistance from the federal government -- laid out a sweeping and controversial interpretation of federal law following the 2023 Supreme Court decision that gutted affirmative action. This interpretation could open a wide range of challenges to courses and literature taught in schools, scholarships for non-White students, and various student organizations, including Black fraternities and sororities. (link)

Feb 12: First Amendment: A judge has ordered Louisiana State University to fully reinstate a professor who was removed from his teaching duties last month after he used vulgar language to criticize Gov. Jeff Landry and President Donald Trump during a lecture. The ruling, which allows tenured law professor Ken Levy to return to his classroom this week, was issued following the conclusion of Tuesday’s hearing over a lawsuit Levy filed against the university. During two days of testimony, law students and another professor spoke about the "chilling effect" Levy’s removal had on them and that it exacerbated fears over speaking freely in the classroom. The legal battle stems from an anonymous student complaint pertaining to what the professor said on the first day of a criminal justice course in January. (link)

Feb 11: Title IX: The Trump administration is investigating potential civil rights violations at two universities and a high school sports league that allowed transgender athletes to compete on women's teams, the Education Department said Thursday. The agency is opening reviews at San Jose State, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. The reviews come a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports. The order calls for penalties against schools and leagues, saying competing against transgender athletes deprives female students of equality. The Education Department said it opened the cases over suspected violations of Title IX, the 1972 law barring sex discrimination in education. (link)

Feb 06: NCAA Compliance: Today, the NCAA announced the Board of Governors voted to update the Association's participation policy for transgender student-athletes following the Trump administration's executive order. The new policy limits competition in women's sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only. The policy permits student-athletes assigned male at birth to practice with women's teams and receive benefits such as medical care while practicing. This policy is effective immediately and applies to all student-athletes regardless of previous eligibility reviews under the NCAA's prior transgender participation policy. (link)

Feb 06: Title IX: Three former athletes at the University of Pennsylvania women’s swimming program sued the school, the Ivy League Council of Presidents and athletics organizations Tuesday, claiming they violated federal law to allow transgender athlete Lia Thomas to compete against them. In addition to UPenn and the Ivy League, the lawsuit names the NCAA and Harvard University, which hosted the 2022 league championship event, accusing them of violating Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding. Thomas is not a defendant in the suit. (link)

Feb 01: Research Compliance: In a radical break with tradition, the National Science Foundation (NSF) this week began to search through billions of dollars of grants the agency has already awarded for anything touching on topics that President Donald Trump has criticized. And NSF has blocked grantees and trainees from accessing funds while the review is underway, wreaking havoc across the academic research community. The funding freeze and vetting of research and training projects that NSF previously decided were worthy of support is a response to a slew of presidential directives since 20 January that ban all federal funding for what Trump considers to be "woke gender ideology;" diversity, equity, and inclusion; foreign aid; the green new deal; and support for nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest. (link)

Feb 13: Sexual Assault: The University of Houston student body has been in uproar over campus safety after a string of crimes, including sexual assaults has left the student body on edge. The man identified as the suspect in one of the latest sexual assaults was arrested hours after the crime happened and released from jail just hours after that, according to records. [The suspect] is accused of raping a student in the campus welcome garage on February 7 at 5:30 p.m., according to court records. According to the university's daily crime log, in February thus far (which has been 12 days), there have been four sexual assault reports, four robbery reports and 13 theft reports. (link)

Feb 01: Campus Climate: Hundreds of protesters took to Arizona State University's campus on Friday in a show of support for immigrant communities after a student group encouraged students to report their peers to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. College Republicans United, a conservative group with ties to white supremacy, was allowed to host its event on campus as scheduled but ultimately left after an hour, speaking to very few students. The lone table sat outside Hayden Library with a pair of College Republicans United members brandishing signs directing students to report classmates on ICE’s tip website. They were opposed by hundreds, who protested by marching in a circle around them and led chants in support of the immigrant community. (link)

Feb 01 : Campus Climate: Lunar New Year celebrations had been low-key for years at Michigan State University, a lunch typically attended by about three dozen Chinese students to mark the first calendar day in the Chinese calendar. But Wednesday’s event was abruptly canceled, sparked by fear and confusion over an executive order issued by President Donald Trump. In a Tuesday email obtained by Bridge Michigan, Lauren Gaines, director of the Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at MSU’s college of communications wrote, "This decision comes in response to concerns shared by members of our community regarding the current issuance of Executive Orders related to immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)." The cancellation of a small student lunch in East Lansing is an example of the far-reaching effects of Trump’s anti-DEI efforts. (link)

Feb 01: Assault: UC Berkeley police on Friday arrested a 33-year-old man who allegedly assaulted a female bicyclist Tuesday evening near University Village, authorities said. Police said they arrested [the man], an acquaintance of the victim, on Friday morning. The female was riding on a pathway along the south fence line of the University Village in Albany between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tuesday when [the man] allegedly came out of some bushes and told her he was going to follow her and sexually assault her. The victim verbally responded and continued to ride past the suspect. [The man] then allegedly grabbed her from behind, pulled her off her bike, and began to take her toward the bushes. The female used pepper spray on the suspect and escaped before reaching the bushes. (link)

Feb 01: Campus Climate: The University condemned the insertion of "political views within the lab notes for a class session," according to a statement from Columbia released on Tuesday. The statement attributed the insertions to "a graduate student serving as a teaching assistant." An Astronomy Lab I class’ lab notes obtained by Spectator included a unit titled "Astronomy in Palestine." The lab notes read that students should "understand the privileges" of being able to study astronomy without "worrying about being caught in an airstrike." The University declined to comment beyond the Columbia Office of Public Affairs statement on Tuesday. The University found the lab notes to be in violation of "policy and specific Department guidance." (link)