Litigation and Higher Education Governance
It’s been a tough stretch for college presidents, but things are about to get tougher. The past few years have been marked by falling enrollment and declining trust in higher education, public frustration with campus protests, and Congressional hearings that helped end the tenures of several high-profile university presidents. Now, the pressure is about to rise to a whole new level.
The vice president-elect has deemed universities “the enemy.” President-elect Trump has promised to dismantle DEI, bust the accreditation cartel, and boost the tax on college endowments. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-chairs of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, have discovered the hefty overhead rates that higher education pockets for taxpayer-funded research and eachsuggested that slashing those is on their to-do list. Another administration priority, getting tough on illegal immigration, will have big ramifications for students and staff at many campuses. It’s going to be a long four years for college presidents.
