NSF No More? When Science Funding Becomes a Political Weapon

By Academic Observer Editorial Board

In a move that has reverberated through American higher education, the federal government has frozen over $2.3 billion in research grants administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This decision has disrupted thousands of projects, stalled career-defining experiments, and triggered wides...

The Academy at a Crossroads: Free Speech, Political Interference, and the Battle for Higher Education

By Prof Kazem Kazerounian, University of Connecticut

Higher education in the United States is in crisis. Not just a crisis of funding, administration, or even ideological battles—though all of these are real and pressing—but a deeper existential crisis about what the university is and what it should be. In an era of heightened political polarization, ...

Restoring Balance: Why Trump's Higher Education Policies Are Necessary Reforms

By Name Withheld at Author’s Request

Identity, institutional affiliation, and conflicts of interest have been verified by the editors....

States of Siege: State Universities Wage a Second War for Academic Independence

By Academic Observer Editorial Board

Gainesville, Fla. — When Harvard’s labs fell silent last week after the White House froze $2.3 billion in federal research grants, the news dominated national headlines. It was the most dramatic skirmish yet in President Trump’s widening campaign to remake higher education by tying federal dollars t...

UConn Launches New Resource Hub to Support International Community

STORRS, CT — June 11, 2025 The University of Connecticut unveiled a dedicated webpage—_Support for UConn’s International Community_—designed to centralize vital information, guidance, and resources for its international students, scholars, and employees. This platform aims to clarify evolving federa...

Harvard Resists Overseas Campus as Response to Trump’s Foreign‑Student Ban

CAMBRIDGE, MA — June 11, 2025 Harvard University has chosen _not_ to establish an overseas campus as a workaround to the Trump administration’s executive order barring most new international students from entering the U.S. to attend the institution—a measure rooted in national‑security concerns and ...

University of Michigan ends covert student surveillance following Guardian exposé

ANN ARBOR, MI — June 10, 2025 The University of Michigan has officially terminated contracts with plain‑clothes private security firms after a Guardian investigation revealed that undercover operatives were surveilling pro‑Palestinian student activists both on and off campus. The university paid at ...

Prominent Ivy League Alumni Unite in Legal Support for Harvard Funding Lawsuit

CAMBRIDGE, MA — June 10, 2025 A coalition of alumni from Harvard, Princeton, and Yale has mobilized to support Harvard University’s legal challenge against the federal government’s attempt to block over $2 billion in federal research funding. The effort comes as Harvard contends that this freeze is ...