Why Judge Burroughs ruled against the Trump administration’s DEI-linked funding freeze. (IANS Photo) Retaliation, not regulation The unconstitutional-conditions problem Shortcuts under Title VI and the APA Bottom Line In 2025, Washington tried to redraw how it polices American higher education. A multi-agency push to tackle campus antisemitism quickly morphed into something larger: Using federal research cheques as leverage to force universities to change how they are governed, staffed, and taught. Across the spring, elite campuses from Columbia to MIT were warned that future grants could hinge on sweeping conditions, testing the line between lawful civil-rights enforcement and political control of...