GW Weekly Federal Update (May 30)

GW Updates

• International Students
   
  • On May 27, according to reports, Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed U.S. embassies to pause the scheduling of visa interviews for international students and visiting scholars, until the State Department issues additional guidelines that will include expanded social media screening for visa applicants. Students with previously scheduled interviews should confirm their appointments and proceed as planned. Those with no appointment should monitor consulate websites for availability, as new appointments may be delayed.
     
  • On May 28, Secretary Rubio announced new visa policies that would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields” and “revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong.”
    
    GW is monitoring these developments and remains committed to supporting its international community amid evolving federal visa and immigration policies. Additional resources are available on the GW International Services Office website.
     
• Reminder: On June 4 and June 11, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research will host a two-part virtual grant writing workshop that covers tips for seeking federal funding in the current environment. The sessions are open to all members of the GW community. Advance registration is required.
   

Recent Federal Actions

• On May 23, President Trump issued an executive order and related fact sheet aimed at restoring what the administration calls “Gold Standard Science” in federal decision-making. The EO directs all federal departments and agencies to establish policies that align their activities with science conducted in a manner that is: reproducible, transparent, and falsifiable; subject to unbiased peer review; clear about errors and uncertainties; skeptical of assumptions, collaborative and interdisciplinary; accepting of negative results as positive outcomes; and free from conflict of interest. The order reverses several science integrity policies implemented between 2021 and 2025, requiring agencies to reassess and potentially revoke prior guidance, particularly those influenced by DEI initiatives or worst-case scenario assumptions.
   
• Actions involving the U.S. Government and Harvard continue to escalate. On May 22, the Department of Homeland Security informed Harvard that it was revoking its Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS) certification, prohibiting Harvard from enrolling students on F or J nonimmigrant visas and requiring current students on those visas to transfer to another university in order to maintain their nonimmigrant status. On May 23, Harvard filed a lawsuit challenging the action, and on May 23, the U.S. District in Massachusetts granted Harvard’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking the SEVIS termination. During a hearing on May 29, the District Court stated its intention to convert that TRO to a preliminary injunction, despite the fact that on May 28, DHS filed a notice that it was withdrawing its revocation of Harvard’s SEVIS certification and issued instead a notice of its intention to revoke the certification unless Harvard provides evidence rebutting the notice within 30 days. Finally, according to media reports, on May 27, the General Services Administration sent a letter to all federal agency heads recommending that agencies terminate for convenience each contract it has with Harvard and to seek alternative vendors for future services where the agency had previously considered Harvard. GSA requires each agency to report its actions in response by June 6.
   
• In a press release on May 22, HHS announced that it and the Department of Education had issued Columbia University a notice of violation under Title VI, accusing Columbia of acting with deliberate indifference towards student harassment of Jewish students since October 7, 2023.
   
• On May 22, the U.S. District Court in California granted a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by foreign students whose SEVIS status had been revoked enjoining government authorities from revoking international students’ legal status. The preliminary injunction has nationwide effect.
   
• On May 22, the U.S. House narrowly passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R. 1), advancing President Trump’s domestic agenda by extending 2017 tax cuts and making deep reductions to Medicaid and higher education funding. Of interest to higher education, H.R. 1 proposes sweeping changes to higher education financing—eliminating the Grad PLUS loan program, capping borrowing for graduate and medical students, restricting Public Service Loan Forgiveness for physician residents, increasing taxation on university endowments, repealing several existing borrower protections, and establishing a new income-based loan repayment plan. The legislation now moves to the Senate, where it is expected to undergo further review and consideration when the Senate returns from its Memorial Day recess on June 2.
   
• In the May 15 and May 8 editions of the GW Weekly Federal Update, we reported that the National Science Foundation (NSF) would be terminating grant awards that are not aligned with NSF priorities, including those on DEI and misinformation/disinformation, and that it would be capping indirect cost rates for grants awarded on or after May 5 at 15%. AAU and other organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the announced change in the indirect cost rate. On May 28, a number of states filed another lawsuit against NSF in the U.S. District Court in New York, challenging both the change in indirect cost rate and the NSF directive to terminate grant awards that, e.g., seek to increase participation of underrepresented populations in STEM fields.   
   
• On May 22, the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts granted a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by a group of states, school districts, non-profit organizations and labor unions prohibiting the Administration from carrying out massive reductions in force (RIF) in the U.S. Department of Education and reinstating affected ED employees. The Court held among other things that the RIF was tantamount to abolishing the Department which only Congress can do.
   
• On May 21, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on The State of Higher Education. At the hearing, lawmakers examined how to restore public trust in colleges and universities through affordability, transparency, and accountability. Witnesses from higher education institutions spoke to issues of moral clarity, financial accessibility, and workforce alignment in higher education. Lawmakers from both parties voiced deep concern about the rise of antisemitic incidents on college campuses and called on university leaders to act more decisively in protecting student safety and fostering respectful campus environments. Broader themes included student debt reform, simplifying FAFSA and credit transfers, expanding Pell Grants to short-term programs, and ensuring both civic and workforce readiness.
   
• On May 21 the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development held a hearing titled “Restoring Excellence: The Case Against DEI” that featured a sharply divided debate over the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in U.S. colleges and universities. The hearing highlighted fundamental disagreements over how to define fairness, merit, and inclusion in higher education policy, and reflected growing national tensions around the future of DEI initiatives.
   
• In signs of growing congressional advocacy for Title VI and the Fulbright-Hays program, Dear Colleague letters were circulated in both the House and Senate last week that urged appropriators to provide $91 million in FY26 for the U.S. Department of Education’s International Education and Foreign Language Studies account—$80 million for Title VI and $11 million for Fulbright-Hays. The letters stress the critical role these programs play in advancing U.S. national security, economic competitiveness, and global engagement by supporting instruction in less-commonly taught languages, world area studies, and international research.
   
• According to news reports, the State Department required that it approve all recipients of Fulbright scholarship awards to determine whether any projects violated Executive Orders prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion. In one cited example, the State Department ultimately rejected 7 of the 17 Fulbright finalists selected by Norway.
   
• According to news reports, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the body that accredits medical schools, voted to no longer evaluate a medical school’s diversity efforts as part of the accreditation review.
   

Resources and Reminders

About this Newsletter

To ensure that students, faculty and staff feel supported and informed about how federal developments affect higher education and GW, the university launched a weekly Federal Update. This newsletter shares timely information, addresses questions and provides resources.