While the Trump administration has largely targeted its ire at elite, big-name universities like Harvard and Columbia, that may not be the case anymore.

Last week, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that the administration is broadening its scope of higher-ed scrutiny, pointing to a Title IX investigation into Western Carolina University as a prominent example. A conservative outlet wrote recently that the university had declined to update its Title IX policy after President Trump issued an executive order saying the federal government would recognize two sexes. WCU had previously drawn attention after a student posted a video that went viral of a transgender woman in a campus bathroom.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said its actions have “made it clear that it prioritizes all students’ civil rights, regardless of the ‘brand name’ of their university.” WCU told the Chronicle that it believes it’s complying with Title IX and other laws.


—Erin Gretzinger

📚 Today’s Syllabus

1. Higher ed takeaways from the House budget bill
2. Duke Kunshan University’s future
3. Class introductions
4. The board chair of Saint Augustine’s University declares bankruptcy on personal businesses

In This House, We Budget

The N.C. House released its budget bill this week, so let’s dive into the money like Scrooge McDuck. 

Big picture, both chambers would put more money toward higher ed than in the last two-year budget—about $1.5 billion more in the Senate version and $900 million more in the House. But lawmakers also want the North Carolina Community College System and the UNC System to find cuts.

The Senate bill instructed the UNC Board of Governors to find $20 million in cuts to academic programs and reduce funding for centers and institutes by $33.7 million a year for each of the next two years, plus other, smaller cuts. The House plan directs the system to cut $130 million, and it gives officials some latitude but says to start with the UNC System Office and system-wide initiatives before any reductions to campuses.

The House also wants the system to look to Project Kitty Hawk, the oft-troubled online-learning platform, for cuts.

Propel NC Repelled: The House budget allows NCCCS to move forward with its top priority—a new funding model, Propel NC—but doesn’t include $73 million in funding that the Senate had offered. Instead, the House would give NCCCS permission to fund the changes on its own through tuition increases. There are also two bipartisan bills proposed in the House that would offer nearly $100 million for Propel NC.

The House Says Who Wins: Gambling tax revenues are also up for debate. UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State get a cut of proceeds in both bills, but rather than doubling the tax rate like the Senate does, the House just changes the distribution. The biggest winners, in the House version, are the middle-tier athletics programs, like Appalachian State and UNC Charlotte.

NCInnovation Definitely in Trouble: The Senate bill raised question marks for NCInnovation by pulling back $500 million of state funding, but it provided $25 million a year for the next four years. The House would dispense with any funding at all.

Leadership Agreement: One curious thing both chambers agree on: UNC-CH’s future provosts won’t get a say in who is dean of the School of Civic Life and Leadership. The language we reported on from the Senate bill, which says the chancellor and Board of Trustees have sole authority over the school’s leadership and can’t delegate it, appears in the House version, as well. Both plans also would double the number of faculty the school must hire (from 10 to 20).


—Matt Hartman & Erin Gretzinger

Thanks for reading The Quad, a higher education newsletter written by Matt Hartman and Erin Gretzinger and edited by Emily Stephenson. Reach us with tips or ideas at highered@theassemblync.com.

Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here to get The Assembly’s weekly higher education newsletter.

Duke Dinged Over DKU

Shortly after The Quad hit your inboxes last week, we broke the news that the chairmen of two U.S. House of Representatives committees sent a letter to Duke University urging the school to end its partnership with Wuhan University in Kunshan, China.

“Duke is in receipt of Rep. Moolenaar and Rep. Walberg’s letter,” a Duke spokesperson told us. “Duke respects Congress’s important oversight role and will work to further educate Congress about Duke’s global education mission.”

In addition to the two Republicans’ criticisms of Wuhan University as a “direct extension of the Chinese military and intelligence apparatus,” the letter referenced a first-person account we published from a Duke student who said she and other students who took a free trip to China felt pressured to speak with Chinese media and say positive things about the country.

While the letter comes amid tensions between the two countries and the Trump administration’s heightened scrutiny of colleges’ international partnerships, geopolitical pressures on Duke Kunshan University (DKU) are not new. As Inside Higher Ed reported in 2023, U.S. universities operating branch campuses in China have faced intensifying challenges for years.

The Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper, reported in 2022 that President Vincent Price said the university needed to be “clear-eyed” about DKU. “The world is conspiring to make that kind of a project really hard these days,” Price told faculty.

When Duke Kunshan University’s trustees traveled to Durham last fall, the university said the board authorized partners to “begin formal discussions” about their current agreement, which is set to expire in 2028. Duke said those talks would begin in 2025. Duke did not respond to requests for comment about DKU’s future.

Meanwhile, DKU students expressed concerns to The Chronicle this week about the U.S. chairmen’s claims and their framing of Duke’s relationship with China. The Chronicle’s fact check of the letter said multiple claims lacked context or were exaggerated.


—Erin Gretzinger

Class Introductions

Amanda Graham, the associate director of engagement for Carolina Performing Arts at UNC-Chapel Hill, was named the inaugural creative director of the Jeanne Tannenbaum Center for Creative Practice at UNC Greensboro. The new center, opening in 2026, will anchor the university’s Millennial Campus. 

Bethany Meighen, the UNC System’s vice president for academic and student affairs, was named president of Concord University.

Krystyna Puć, a former faculty member at the UNC School of the Arts, will serve as the interim dean of the school’s Division of Liberal Arts, succeeding Rachel Williams, who is leaving to lead the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Radford University.

Martin Brinkley, the dean of UNC-Chapel Hill’s law school, announced that he will retire. Provost Chris Clemens said in a statement that Brinkley will remain as dean until his successor is appointed or until the end of 2025-26 academic year.

Patricia Timmons-Goodson, a former state Supreme Court Justice and the dean of North Carolina Central University’s law school, will resign from the position effective June 30, a spokesperson told The Assembly.

S. Keith Hargrove, the provost and vice president of academic affairs at Tuskegee University, was named the next chancellor of Elizabeth City State University. In his nomination speech, UNC System President Peter Hans lauded Hargrove’s administrative track record and experience at other HBCUs.

Stacy Waters-Bailey, the vice president of transfer excellence and success at Forsyth Technical Community College, was named president of South Piedmont Community College.

The UNC System Board of Governors approved 32 trustee appointments for eight schools. A little more than half are new trustees, while the other half are reappointments of current members. Read more about the new and returning faces.

—Erin Gretzinger

Assigned Reading

Board Chair Bankruptcy: According to court filings obtained by our partners at INDY, Brian Boulware, the board chair of Saint Augustine’s University, declared bankruptcy on three of his cigar bar businesses. The news came in an ongoing legal dispute between Boulware and a former trustee, who is suing him to recoup a $600,000 investment the trustee made in Boulware’s business while the pair served on the university’s board together. That lawsuit is on pause following the bankruptcy declaration, Chloe Courtney Bohl reports.

Let us know what’s on your radar at highered@theassemblync.com.

Matt Hartman is a higher education reporter for The Assembly and co-anchor of our weekly higher education newsletter, The Quad. He was previously a longtime freelance journalist and spent nearly a decade working in higher ed communications before joining The Assembly in 2024.

Erin Gretzinger is a former higher education reporter at The Assembly and co-anchor of our weekly higher education newsletter, The Quad. She was previously a reporting fellow at The Chronicle of Higher Education and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.