Student, national and local groups across US organized day of action to condemn Trump’s assault on academic freedom

Students, faculty and staff at more than 100 campuses across the US rallied against the Trump administration’s assault on higher education on Friday – the first in a planned series of nationwide, coordinated protests that organizers hope will culminate in large-scale students’ and workers’ strikes next May Day and a nationwide general strike in May 2028.

The day of action was organized under the banner of Students Rise Up, a network of students including both local groups and national organizations such as Sunrise Movement and Campus Climate Network. Students were joined by faculty and educational workers’ unions like the American Association of University Professors and Higher Education Labor United.

Upstate New York institution is the fifth university under government investigation to bow to White House demands

Cornell University announced a settlement with the Trump administration on Friday, becoming the fifth university under investigation by the US government to do so.

The agreement will see more than $250m in federal research funding restored. In exchange, the university will share admissions data with the government, pay $30m and invest $30m more in research programs benefiting farmers – a reflection of the university’s longstanding record of agricultural research. Cornell also agreed to continue to “evaluate the campus climate”, particularly for Jewish students, and use the Trump administration’s interpretation of civil rights laws, which views diversity initiatives as unlawful race-based discrimination, in training materials.

A report shared exclusively with the Guardian documents how a civil rights law has become a tool to impose ideological priorities on US schools

US government investigations into universities over antisemitism allegations surged following the 7 October 2023 attacks and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza, with more investigations open in the last two months of that year than in the two decades prior, according to a report published on Monday that was shared exclusively with the Guardian.

The data, compiled by the Middle East Studies Association and the American Association of University Professors and relying on publicly available records, offers a detailed account of how landmark civil rights legislation – and particularly Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act – has become a primary tool to restrict speech on campus.