Friday updates are usually a little later since I’m waiting out any potential Friday evening news.
Today’s update includes notes from the continuing government shutdown, UCLA begrudgingly posting potential settlement terms, and Texas firing professors because of “ideological differences”, and yet more universities rejecting the Compact for Excellence in Higher Education.
The government is still shut down.
Today is the first day federal employees have gone without a full paycheck since the shutdown began. Yesterday, the Senate failed to advance a Republican-backed measure to pay federal employees, military members and contractors who have continued to work during the shutdown.
According to the President, a “friend” of his has donated $130 million to help pay members of the military during the shutdown. The Pentagon has confirmed receipt of the funds.
The Department of Agriculture has stated it will not dip into its contingency funds to support the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is set to run out of funds in November. At least 25 states have sent notices to program participants stating that they will not receive funds next month. SNAP is the largest anti-hunger program in the country.
The senate adjourned for the weekend and is expected to return Monday afternoon.
The California Supreme Court ruled today that UCLA must release the terms of the Administration’s $1.2 billion settlement proposal to faculty by the end of the day. The UCLA Faculty Association has pushed for more transparency in the negotiations between the institution and the Administration.
I’ve only been able to skim it quickly, but it appears to be very close to the terms given to Columbia University.
Leadership at Emory University and Syracuse University have proactively stated that they will not be signing the Compact for Excellence in Higher Education. Inside Higher Education is tracking which institutions are rejecting or “providing feedback” on the compact
Art Markman, formerly a tenured psychology professor at the University of Texas wrote on LinkedIn this week that he was fired due to “ideological differences”. He did not elaborate on what those differences may have been. Texas Governor Greg Abbot then confirmed this on social media, stating “Texas is targeting professors who are more focused on pushing leftist ideologies rather than preparing students to lead our nation.”
The Chronicle has a piece that tries to lay out what UVa has agreed to in settling with the federal government. The gist is that there is a lot of uncertainty, especially around the status of their DEI-related programs.
The Association of American Universities (AAU) has joined the US Chamber of Commerce's lawsuit over the newly imposed $100K fee for H-1B visas.
Alicia Jackson was sworn in to lead the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) on Monday.
According to reporting in Ars Technica, Richard Woychik, the outgoing director of the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) will be joining the NIH Office of the Director to focus on advancing Make America Healthy Again-related initiatives. The appointment of Dr. Woychik’s replacement at NIEHS, Kyle Walsh, has drawn criticism due to Walsh’s personal relationship with Vice President JD Vance and for bypassing standard search and vetting processes.