Straws in the Wind - Part 485

From Inside Higher Ed: A day after it renamed the Obama Scholars Program “ASU Promise Plus,” Arizona State University made a U-turn. The university’s website [had] said ASU Promise Plus “was previously known as the Obama Scholars Program,” Axios reported. Spokesperson Jerry Gonzalez told the outlet, “ASU periodically reviews and updates program names to reflect the university’s priorities and the students served” and “ASU Promise Plus reflects the university’s continued commitment to expanding access and supporting Arizona students on their paths to degrees.” But... the program was once again named the Obama Scholars Program. 

...The scholarship program was established in 2005 and offers up to four years of tuition and fees for qualifying Arizona high school graduates, as well as assistance with housing and meal costs. ASU named the program after then-President Barack Obama in 2009, shortly after university officials faced backlash for not granting the president an honorary degree prior to his commencement address.

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/09/28/asu-puts-obamas-name-back-scholarship-program. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 484

From Axios: The Obama Scholars Program at Arizona State University is now called ASU Promise Plus, according to the university's webpage on special financial assistance programs for state residents... The change comes as ASU and other universities are navigating the contentious political climate of the Trump administration, which has sought to exert pressure on the higher education system... The university changed the name of the ASU Advantage Program to the Obama Scholars Program in 2009 shortly after it faced backlash for not awarding Obama an honorary degree ahead of his commencement address.

...The university wouldn't provide details on what prompted the name change. "ASU periodically reviews and updates program names to reflect the university's priorities and the students served," spokesperson Jerry Gonzalez tells Axios...

Full story at https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix/2026/09/23/arizona-state-university-rename-obama-financial-aid-program. 

UC & Other Universities Support Harvard

From The Dartmouth: [Dartmouth] signed onto an amicus brief filed July 22 with the First Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Harvard University’s April lawsuit against the Trump Administration. Thirty-five other colleges and universities also signed the brief, including all Ivy League universities except Harvard. In the ongoing case, the Trump administration is appealing a September 2025 ruling in favor of Harvard after the administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants because the university refused to comply with federal demands to make institutional changes such as reforming admissions and hiring practices, shutting down diversity, equity and inclusion practices and addressing antisemitism “or other bias” in campus programs. 

The brief argues that “even temporary cuts” to federal research funding could have “permanent effects” which “endangers” the “life-changing and history-altering innovations” that arise from “basic research” conducted at colleges and universities... Amici institutions listed advancements in “scientific progress” made possible by federal funding — such as the computer, DNA sequencing, the pacemaker and the “decades-long collaboration among academia, government and industry” which produced the internet — as “enormous long-term benefits” of university research...

Full story at https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026/08/flavin-dartmouth-signs-brief-in-support-of-harvard-in-research-funding-lawsuit-against-trump-administration. 

List in image above and brief at:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca1.53667/gov.uscourts.ca1.53667.00108480602.0.pdf.